What Is Bodybuilding? Does It Bring Health Benefits?

Bodybuilding raises a lot of controversy because, to achieve this muscular hypertrophy, it is necessary to resort to external aids, such as hormones or artificial proteins.

Also known in Spanish as bodybuilding, the bodybuilding is a physical activity that is based on lifting weights and perform various anaerobic exercises.

Anaerobic exercises are all those high intensity activities in which a great effort is required for a short period of time. Thus, the objective is to burn fat and mark the muscles.

What is bodybuilding?

This activity is carried out mainly in the gym, where they have all the equipment and different weights to perform the exercises. The purpose of bodybuilding is to have a well “marked” body, strong and defined, as well as to maintain a symmetry between the torso and the legs.

Another name to call bodybuilding in Spanish is simply bodybuilding, where the muscles are hypertrophied and it is not necessary to do different poses to show the changes. While they may seem similar, this discipline is very different from weightlifting,  powerlifting, or  crossfit .

In some countries, it is recognized as a competitive sport and has associations or councils that bring together athletes as well as teachers and gyms.

The origins of this discipline date back to the time of the Greeks. It should be remembered that men were preparing to compete in the Olympic Games and the winner, as it was believed, was the most similar to the gods of Olympus.

The word bodybuilding , as we know it today, comes from French, since it is in this country where the discipline with an aesthetic purpose arises. Eugen Sandow was a Prussian athlete and was the first to put on exhibitions in which he showed off his musculature. For this reason, he is known as the “father of modern bodybuilding.”

This man also sold equipment or mechanical devices to do exercises such as pulleys and weights. Thus, he was in charge of organizing the first contest in 1901.

3 premises to be a bodybuilder

If you are thinking of being a bodybuilder at some point in your life, you should know that those who practice bodybuilding have to follow 3 main rules.

Weightlifting Against Resistance

• In this way, transformations take place in the muscle fibers (microtraumas , according to the medical term).
• Routines divided into series and repetitions are used, as well as temporary plans, interspersing the cycles of more or less weight.
• In addition, the areas are worked separately: arms, back, torso or legs, according to each routine.

High quality diet

It is composed, for the most part, of natural proteins and, in certain cases, artificial ones. This aids in superior muscle growth and repair, as this article published in the journal Nutrients points out .

In addition to these supplements ingested daily, bodybuilders eat more protein than any “normal” person. Thanks to this, they can repair the damage produced in the muscles during the training routine.

Carbohydrates are also part of a bodybuilder’s diet. This is because they provide the energy that is needed to be able to perform the exercises.

Adequate rest

Without getting enough sleep, an athlete cannot see results in his body. Sleep helps rebuild and repair fibers damaged during exercise. Therefore, it is necessary to sleep 8 hours every day and train about 5 times a week. In this way, you will be in a position to train better each time you go to the gym.

Bodybuilding: is it an “artificial” sport?

Various investigations have been carried out, such as this study published in Medicine and science in sports and exercise , to find out the health problems that bodybuilding can cause but, above all, the indiscriminate use of substances and drugs to improve the appearance of muscles. The latter is associated mostly with those who compete in various competitions.

That is why this activity is quite questioned by doctors and other athletes. Even  h to and who does not consider it a sport, although it is practiced in the gym.

In order to get muscles like those seen on TV or in movies, not only weightlifting work is done, but it must be combined with artificial elements. For this reason, there are doping controls at major competitions.

The human body is not designed to support 50 kilos more of muscle. Therefore, bodybuilding is something artificial, as can be anything that is added, such as breast implants, for example.

In nature there is no way to get such a marked body just with exercise ; This is where the controversy begins. Many athletes use hormones to enlarge their muscles. This can cause considerable hypertrophy since, when they stop training or ingesting them, they cause the loss of what has been achieved.

Side effects of bodybuilding

It is valid to clarify that the problem does not lie in lifting weights and having marked muscles, nor in reducing fat from certain parts of the body through exercise. The dangers can begin when certain substances are consumed to speed up the process or more weight is lifted than we can.

The disadvantages of artificial proteins are

• Overload on the kidneys, which leads to all kinds of kidney diseases such as stones, failure, etc. However, as this study published in Nutrition & metabolism shows , more research is required in this regard.

• Damage to blood vessels (also caused by kidney imbalances), hypertension and heart attacks (possibility of death), as evidenced by this research published in the journal Heart .
• Descaling of bones, osteoporosis, brittle and brittle bones.
• Dehydration of cells and organs.
• Sexual impotence and infertility problems, as shown in this work published in Basic and clinical andrology .

When it comes to the practice of bodybuilding itself, these side effects stand out:

• Possibility of injury from not performing the exercises properly.
• Muscle fatigue from increasing loads.
• Herniated disc, spinal problems.
• Dislocation of bones, tendonitis, inflammation.

So is bodybuilding beneficial for your health?

In all sports disciplines there are risks, however, in this particular case, it is convenient to know that the body has its limits and that it is not always beneficial to exceed them. In summary, we can say that, if you want to develop muscles above normal, it is convenient to make sure that you do not sacrifice health to achieve it.