Bodybuilding vs Strength Training

[iCookie]

What works best for 'looking good'?

By looking good I mean having good physique, obviously...

[WhiteGorilla]

I think that strength training should come first and then bodybuilding if you just want to look good. You can get way more out of bodybuilding if you already have a good base of strength. I think a lot of bodybuilders were powerlifters first like Arnold.

[Portillo]

Both. Eventually alot of ppl want to sculpt there body, and thats where bodybuilding comes in.

[22Alpha]

You can get way more out of bodybuilding if you already have a good base of strength.

This.

[doit]

One issue that most of those who is fixed on just looking good, is that the results on strength training when it comes to "look" is slower than the way of bodybuilding. They get impatient and quits strength training, then convert over to bodybuilding were the pump in the muscles satisfies them and keep them going.

I would be most satisfied with a strength training kind of look.

[FilthyMcNasty]

Strenght training. Look like you're carved from mahogany and not inflated like a water balloon.

[ricepower]

This is kind of a ridiculous question.

If you are training with the goal improving body appearance, but only doing heavy deadlifts & bench presses. Then you are BODYBUILDING.

Bodybuilding & strength training are intentions/goals. Bodybuilding for non-advanced trainees would probably best be done by doing the same exercises as someone who is strength training. But if they do them, they are still bodybuilding because that is their goal.

[iCookie]

I'm just thinking since my goal is to look good, maybe I should switch to bodybuilding, I dont know...

[WhiteGorilla]

I'm just thinking since my goal is to look good, maybe I should switch to bodybuilding, I dont know...

I think what ricepower is saying is that if your goal is ti look good then you are bodybuilding.

[atypical1]

Random thoughts:

We all respond to different training stimulus which means that you might respond better to a full body routine or you might respond better to a bodypart split.

If you're not training to go on stage then you're not bodybuilding.

"Looking good" is not a goal. 8% bodyfat, 50" chest, 30"thighs, etc is a goal. Same as "getting strong" is not a goal but 500lb deadlift, 405lb squat, and 300lb bench is. I suggest you establish goals that run along the detailed lines if you're going to set goals at all.

If your goal is to simply get lean then that's diet and you can do that on any training regimen. That is what most people seem to mean by "looking good" anyway.

james

[iCookie]

Random thoughts:

We all respond to different training stimulus which means that you might respond better to a full body routine or you might respond better to a bodypart split.

If you're not training to go on stage then you're not bodybuilding.

"Looking good" is not a goal. 8% bodyfat, 50" chest, 30"thighs, etc is a goal. Same as "getting strong" is not a goal but 500lb deadlift, 405lb squat, and 300lb bench is. I suggest you establish goals that run along the detailed lines if you're going to set goals at all.

If your goal is to simply get lean then that's diet and you can do that on any training regimen. That is what most people seem to mean by "looking good" anyway.

james

I don't have any spesific measurements for what I want, as I don't know if I will look good when if my bench is 200lbs...I don't know if I will look good when my waistline is 34,5 inches.
I'm just thinking something like this:
(no homo)

[itsbruce]

I think it depends very much on your physique. We're all different shapes and we respond differently to the training. Some people will naturally put on muscle in aesthetically pleasing shapes in response to strength training, other people will end up looking like crudely carved lumps of cheese. Bodybuilding techniques may be kinder to the latter type.

Of course, it also depends on your definition of "looking good". To me, professional bodybuilders look like distorted freaks and I can't really understand why anybody would want to look like that. Then again, if the strength training ever seems to me to be distorting my body into a shape I don't like, then that's the point where I'll switch to some other athletic activity that helps me maintain strength without turning into something I don't want to be. So while I'm not a bodybuilder, I'm also not a hardcore strength trainee.

[WhiteGorilla]

My definition of looking good and a girl's definition of me looking good are very different. If I looked like that guy in the picture, then girls would go crazy, but he doesn't look strong at all. It looks like the only exercises he's done are curls and lateral raises. My definition of looking good would be something like an X shaped body as opposed to the A-shaped body above. Wide lats, with big ass calves and traps with huge forearms would look pretty coll with a slim waist. But I don't worry about how I look because I just wanna get strong and however I turn out looking when I can squat 400lbs, DL 500lbs and Bench 250lbs is fine with me. (As long as I'm not fat like powerlifters such as Dave Tate.)

[Shoke]

Looking "good" (to 90% of girls) : Low body fat (the most important), good diet that doesn't involve consuming 5000 calories a day in hamburgers, and a balanced exercise program (basically any program that involves free weights + cardio).

Getting strong (with the side effect of possibility looking "good") : program that focuses on heavy compound lifts like 5x5.

What I'm trying to say is that most women don't really care too much about your body shape as long as you aren't a fat lazy slob.

[knoted]

What I'm trying to say is that most women don't really care too much about your body shape as long as you aren't a fat lazy slob.

Of course not, women care about how much money you have (or represent having). Looking good is like number 5 on the priority list.