The difference between fitness exercises and bodybuilding exercises

The most essential difference between the two is that the underlying goals are completely different - the core appeal of fitness is to improve overall health, improve body functions, and ultimately serve daily life; while bodybuilding belongs to the category of competitive sports, and the core goal is to maximize muscle dimensions, proportions, and separation through controllable training and dietary adjustments, and ultimately pursue the visual beauty of human sculpture. Almost all the behavioral differences you see are extensions of this core goal.

I often go to the gym, and the most common misunderstanding I see is confusing the two evaluation systems. A while ago, I saw someone complaining about the uncle next to me, "I have practiced squatting and pulling for a year and can't even lift 200kg, so my training was in vain." He turned around and was criticized by the uncle, "My lumbar protrusion has healed, my blood pressure has dropped, and I can climb twenty stories without panting. You squat 200kg and still suffer from back pain and insomnia every day. Who's practicing in vain?" Seriously, this is the typical bodybuilding standard required of fitness enthusiasts. That uncle has the most typical fitness needs. The movements he practices are not even all strength training. Sometimes he does core training for half an hour, sometimes he plays table tennis with friends for forty minutes. After training, he buys a pickled elbow and goes home. There is no need to consume calories at all, as long as the overall intake does not exceed the standard. He doesn't need good-looking muscle lines, as long as his body is comfortable and can cope with the demands of daily life, that's enough.

If you look at Xiao Zhou, who prepares for competitions all year round in the gym, he is in a completely different state. When training the chest, you need to take care of the upper edge, middle seam, and lower edge precisely. The feeling of exhaustion in each set is not bad at all, and you will frown for more than 10 seconds between sets. The meals are even more exaggerated. Chicken breasts, broccoli, and oats are all measured by the gram. Even the amount of soy sauce is included in the sodium intake. When a friend invites him to make skewers, he sits next to him and gnaws on the boiled chicken breasts he brought, without touching the iced Coke. One week before the competition, I had to control my water intake and add carbs. My mouth was so dry that I didn’t dare to take another sip of water, just so that when the lights came on when I went on stage, my muscles would have a clear and stringy feel, my peaks would be high enough, and their proportions would be coordinated enough, so that I could get high scores from the judges.

Of course, the two are not completely distinct. In fact, most of the points where there is fierce quarrel online are standing in one's own position and undermining the other party. Functional fitness people often say that the training model of bodybuilding is unnatural, and long-term isolation training can easily cause compensation. Professional athletes also need to rely on medication to assist. Visceral hypertrophy and joint damage are commonplace, which is completely contrary to "health". But people in the bodybuilding circle also have their own reasons: Competitive sports are not meant to serve "health". Professional marathon runners still have knee wear and tear, and most professional table tennis players have waist injuries. The value of the entire project cannot be denied at the cost of professional level. The training system of ordinary natural bodybuilding enthusiasts is more scientific than that of many bodybuilders who practice blindly. Sufficient muscle mass is beneficial to metabolism and joint protection. To be honest, there is nothing wrong with what both sides said. The core point is that the position of the buttocks is different, and the appeal is naturally different.

I also encountered this pitfall when I first started training. I followed the plan of a professional bodybuilding blogger for three months. Each group had to push to the limit of exhaustion. I forced myself to stuff 7 egg whites and two chicken breasts every day. After eating it, I felt sick when I saw boiled eggs. I also developed acromion impingement on my shoulders, which made it painful to lift my arms and put on clothes. Only later did I realize that I didn’t want to compete on stage, and I didn’t need to pursue a 40cm arm circumference. After adjusting the plan, I took into account core and functional strength three times a week, and played badminton for half an hour when I had free time. My body fat was stable at around 15, and I could see the outline of my chest and shoulders when I wore a T-shirt.

There is no need to forcefully separate the two. Many people have practiced fitness for a year or two and feel that the seam in their chest muscles is not obvious or their shoulders are unsightly. So they deliberately take two months to polish their shape with bodybuilding isolation movements. There is no problem at all. Some people always ask, "I practice natural bodybuilding, does it count as fitness?" In fact, it all depends on what you want in the end. If you are rushing to compete in natural competitions to get rankings, control your body fat to single digits, and accurately calculate the calories of each bite, then you are essentially following the bodybuilding route; if you just like the state of full muscles, do not pursue the ultimate dryness and separation, and can still eat hot pot and barbecue when you are greedy, then it is still in the category of fitness, and there is no need to label yourself.

In the final analysis, whether it is fitness or bodybuilding, it is essentially the way you get along with your body. No one is better than the other. As long as you know what you want, don't impose other people's standards, and practice happily and in a way that meets your own needs, that's better than anything else.