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adamzerner comments on Why the culture of exercise/fitness is broken and how to fix it - Less Wrong Discussion

10 [deleted] 10 March 2015 11:24AM

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Comment author: adamzerner 12 March 2015 03:20:25PM 0 points [-]

I don't think of weightlifting and gymnastics as sports, but my definitions don't matter, so you're right. I can't think of many other examples where you actually gain strength from sport though. Rock climbing perhaps?

Comment author: Lumifer 12 March 2015 03:26:49PM *  0 points [-]

Most sports build strength specific to their particular task.

Swimmers (other than long-distance) have pretty huge muscles. A bunch of track-and-field sports rely on explosive strength -- from javelin throw to long jump. Hard martial arts build strength, so does wrestling. It's really not difficult to come up with examples -- e.g. look at pictures of olympic athletes, notice who's ripped :-)

Comment author: adamzerner 12 March 2015 03:39:40PM 0 points [-]

I should have been more specific, my bad. I've been thinking in my head about strength per se, not muscular endurance or explosiveness. I think that those examples build endurance, but not so much strength.

look at pictures of olympic athletes, notice who's ripped

I think that in a lot of sports, you don't build much strength (per se) by participating in the sport, but you need strength to be good at it, and so competitive athletes lift weights.