Physical Training Intensity and Discipline Crucial in Bodybuilding Practice
The number of bodybuilding fans in Brazil is growing. Currently, there are approximately 20 thousand competitors in the country and 90 events per year. The activity is not yet considered a sport, but it continues to gain space. Carlos Bueno Júnior, professor at the School of Physical Education and Sport at USP in Ribeirão Preto, explains that “bodybuilding is undergoing a process of sportivization, that is, of becoming an Olympic sport. The activity was already part of the Pan American competitions in Peru in 2019, but, for example, it was left out of the Paris 2024 Olympic modalities.”
Bodybuilding is often compared to weightlifting. The difference is that your goal is to create a muscular body; In weightlifting, the athlete must perform the strength exercise with the greatest possible load. To achieve a muscular body, the athlete must follow several goals. It is necessary to have a lot of discipline, a lot of renunciations, in addition to a high level of physical training, a very regulated food intake and with several restrictions.
Says Bueno: “The individual will only remain in the sport if he has great meaning in this practice. For most people who are not weightlifters, training strength through weight training, for example, three hours a week, will already result in a gain in lean mass that improves your health. Studies show that it increases life expectancy.”
Follow-up is important
Monitoring by trained professionals will provide athletes with much more security and good results. Any goal that a person has in relation to physical activity and nutrition, with the support of extremely qualified nutrition and physical education professionals, will provide enhanced results. According to Professor Bueno, it is recommended to choose “trained professionals who follow the scientific literature on the subject, that is, if it does not act against science”.
The practice of bodybuilding only becomes a problem when there is excess on the part of the athlete. “It stops being healthy if the individual accumulates a series of injuries, puts their health at risk or even if they have to train or compete without seeing any point in it.” The professor cites an example of great repercussion, which was the case of North American gymnast Simone Biles, who stopped competing for a period of time.
The use of drugs such as anabolic steroids is a risk for anyone who practices bodybuilding. A 2022 study, analyzing 100 bodybuilders for one year, showed that four of them had serious health problems, such as heart failure, suicidal ideation and intestinal inflammation. The conclusion of the study was that these individuals already had a predisposition to the problem before starting to use anabolic steroids.