For people who follow bodybuilding and competitive lifting, it’s not a surprise at all to see Phil Heath and Brian Shaw standing next to each other and comparing their size…
but for people who don’t really follow the sports or understand the basic principles, if you showed them a picture of Phil Heath and a picture of Brian Shaw and asked them who could lift more, they’d almost all choose Phil based on his appearance.
You need to watch what happened when these two beasts finally met each other. No, the world didn’t implode into a black hole of mass leaving us all turned into space dust… but almost!
Phil Heath is absolutely dominating the world of bodybuilding, he’s the leader and everyone else is in his shadow for now. He could end up taking the record for the most Olympia wins, and nobody would even be all that surprised at this point.
via mphstrong.com
Brian Shaw is the winner of 2015’s World Strongest Man, and a staple in the strongman circuits. He’s huge, he’s strong as hell, and he dwarfs Phil Heath. What would Brian Shaw look like if he got into competition shape?
Brian Shaw lifting cars for reps.
It’s not uncommon to see power lifters and strongmen who have some extra meat on their bones because they aren’t trying to look dry and cut, they’re trying to optimize their bodies in order to achieve maximum output.
Now let’s talk about Phil and Bodybuilding…
A bodybuilder on stage is going to look strong as hell because you can see every single one of their muscles and they have almost no fat and no water inside of them. Go ask a bodybuilder to perform intense physical feats after stepping off stage, though.
via bodybuilding.com
Strongmen, on the other hand, realize that a few extra pounds and a stomach with food in it will help them with endurance. Cutting weight takes a massive toll on the body, and not having to cut weight means that they’re much more prepared to lift really heavy things.
Don’t get it twisted, these guys can lift heavy things too, but peak numbers aren’t their top priority in the same way as a strongman competitor.
via thegymlifestyle.com
Bodybuilders prepping for a show compared to guys who are in the off-season look very different, we’re putting up an article very soon that highlights the detransformations that they under go.
