Muscles - More Than an Exercise in Vanity

[THE BOUNCER]

DR. PAUL D. THOMPSON, a 60-year-old marathon runner and chief of cardiology at Hartford Hospital, stood in front of a medical audience recently and began his talk with a story about himself.

“I’ve been lifting weights since I was 12 years old and look at me,” he said. Dr. Thompson is small and wiry with not a bulging muscle on him. He speculated that he must have a genetic inability to build muscles, no matter how hard he works at it.

Full Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/13/he...ss&oref=slogin

[Nekrawulf]

Good article, very positive for the weightlifting community.

[Scrumhalf]

I like the last paragraph - very true and appropriate for everyone, not just athletes or bodybuilders:

“I still lift,” he said, “because it makes doing other stuff — yardwork, carrying groceries, carrying grandkids — easier. “I think some folks outlive their muscles, meaning that they are fine mentally and cardiacwise but have so little muscle strength that they can’t catch themselves with their other leg when they start to fall,” Dr. Thompson added. “And if they fall they cannot get up.”

[3v1lj03]

Originally Posted by Scrumhalf

I like the last paragraph - very true and appropriate for everyone, not just athletes or bodybuilders:

“I still lift,” he said, “because it makes doing other stuff — yardwork, carrying groceries, carrying grandkids — easier. “I think some folks outlive their muscles, meaning that they are fine mentally and cardiacwise but have so little muscle strength that they can’t catch themselves with their other leg when they start to fall,” Dr. Thompson added. “And if they fall they cannot get up.”

I really liked that part too. So often I see the weightlifters argue about funtional strengh vs bodybuilding or anything else but the real key is doing some kind of resistance training and according to the article heavy enough weight. What ever your goals.