Jag är lika stark som “The Mountain” – relativt sett

De flesta som styrketränar har ett intresse för många olika typer av grenar och inriktningar: alltifrån crossfit, athletic fitness, strongman, Men’s Physique, bodybuilding, styrkelyft, och tynglyftning, till halvplojiga men krävande tävlingar som Tough Viking och Ninja Warrior.

Det ena behöver heller inte nödvändigtvis utesluta det andra. Kroppsbyggning handlar mest om fysiken men träningen kan vara nog så tuff. Men’s Physqiue är en sorts metrosexuell fitnessmodelltävling i badshorts, men till och med benträningen kan vara riktigt jobbig för en del.

Sedan handlar det ändå om smak, till viss del. En del tycker att fitness och bodybuilding är alltför “mesigt”, och att bodybuilding mest är en steroidsport. Andra stör sig på att styrkelyft handlar om att “fuska” med korta lyft, framför allt i bänkpress, och att både styrkelyftare och strongman-utövare snarast är tjockisar med plufsiga magar och kinder.

För egen del är jag förstås ödmjuk, ärlig och så objektiv som det går. Jag har gjort några hyfsade eller halvdana insatser i diverse tävlingar, och siktar på att förbättra mig varje gång – det är Men’s Physique på amatörnivå och Tough Viking som gäller. Resten är inget för mig.

Något som man kan dock kan vara en aning stolt över är att jag – och många andra – faktiskt är starkare än, eller i alla fall jämbördiga med, världens starkaste män, relativt sett. Trots att vi inte tar steroider, knappt ens kreatin eller aminosyror. Ja så är det faktiskt.

I absolut styrka är förstås sådana som Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, mer känd som “The Mountain” i omättligt populära tv-serien Game of Thrones, helt överlägsna. Björnsson lyfter 472 kg i marklyft medan den 186 kilo tunge Eddie Hall lyfter hela 500 kg.

Men slår man ut vikten och mäter den i relation till deras kroppsvikt är det dock inte lika imponerande. Björnsson väger cirka 195 kg och lyfter då “bara” 2,42 gånger sin kroppsvikt. Hall lyfter nästan 2,7 gånger kroppsvikten. Dock misstänker jag att han vägde mer vid själva lyftet.

Inom fitness brukar 2,5 gånger kroppsvikt ses som att man är i bra form och relativt stark i just marklyft. 1,5 gånger kroppsvikten gäller för chins, dips och bänkpress – minst ett helt, strikt lyft. 2 gånger kroppsvikt gäller som riktlinje i knäböj (squats).

Att se saker i relation till kroppsvikt är också det enda som är rimligt i ett större sammanhang. Det är därför som man tävlar i olika viktklasser inom tyngdlyftning, styrkelyft, bodybuilding, och även strongman på åtminstone amatörnivå.

Här är några av mina stats som jag har klarat nyligen eller ganska nyligen:

Bänkpress: 115 kg. Kroppsvikt: 72 kg = 1,6 gånger kroppsvikten. Björnsson lyfter 232,5 (517 Pounds), två gånger. Detta motsvarar cirka 1,2 gånger kroppsvikten.

Marklyft: 170 kg. Kroppsvikt 72 kg = 2,4 gånger kroppsvikten. Jämbördigt med Björnsson.

Jag släpar dock efter i knäböj och har “bara” gjort några mindre strikta reps på 150 kg, vägande 75. Förmodligen kan jag i nuläget klara av 120 kg utan problem, vägande omkring 73. Det är inte jättedåligt men inte särskilt imponerande heller.

Sammantaget handlar det om att försöka ge en mer nyanserad bild av hur saker är. Världens starkaste män är sjukt imponerande, även om de flesta har överflödsfett och trycker sprutor. “The Mountain” är underhållande att se på, och är ändå förhållandevis atletisk för sin storlek.

Men även exempelvis vi styvt 170 centimeter långa, metrosexuella amatörfitnessmänniskor som bara käkar kvarg, kycklingfilé, styrketränar året runt och intervalltränar på våren och sommaren, vandrar lite i berg etcetera, är inte helt värdelösa. I relativ styrka är vi jämbördiga eller till och med bättre än vissa av jättarna.

The parallels between K-pop and fitness and bodybuilding

K-pop is not just the name of an umbrella music genre – South Korean pop music – which mainly attracts teenagers and young adults in East Asia and other locations of the world, but a phenomenon that is used as a means for national branding by the South Korean government and even as a concrete soft power tool in the context of a seemingly even more rancorous armistice between the two rivalry Korean states. Hence it is far from trivial, although a large share of the K-pop content indeed is very banal (and that is in turn an integrated part of the contemporary South Korean culture and something which its isolated northern neighbor lacks).

However, in this post I will not dwell on these particular sub-topics but instead briefly describe some of the characteristics that K-pop shares with bodybuilding and fitness. The increasing popularity of bodybuilding and fitness in South Korea is a subject of its own, and I may eventually write more about that as well. Nevertheless, there are some interesting parallels between the K-pop industry and the fitness industry that I will focus on. Part of the inspiration is obtained from this article and other observations.

First of all, both K-pop and bodybuilding/fitness are mostly about appearance and to make money out of it. (And this is not the same as to say that there is no passion in it.) The obvious difference in this regard, on the other hand, is that within K-pop a thin model look is praised while bodybuilding and fitness are, more or less, about muscle volume and definition. Even Men’s Physique competitors appear quite distant from their male K-pop counterparts, although there is also a partial overlap in terms of low percentage of body fat and even in relationship to the universal ideal face, as well as with regard to other secondary traits such as hairstyle and make-up (especially among girls/women). An additional difference is that K-pop, of course, is more audio-visual than fitness and bodybuilding which are mainly visual-only.

As with most comparative analyses, one can focus on either differences or similarities, or both. In terms of similarities, I think that one of the most striking parallels is the extent to which K-pop artists – often called idols – and competitors as well a large amount of non-competitors within fitness/bodybuilding are willing to go to succeed. The types of training within these two fields are of course very different from each other: dancing, singing, social etiquette and language practice are not being part of bodybuilding and fitness, whereas hypertrophy training and particular posing routines are not being part of K-pop. Additionally, the amount of training in total is not the same since K-pop artists train much more and more diligently than fitness athletes and bodybuilders.

Moreoever, K-pop performers are mostly educated and trained from an early age within the frames of their entertainment agencies’ talent systems, whereas bodybuilders and fitness athletes tend to start while they are teenagers or young adults and mainly as mere amateurs before they eventuallty become some kind of professional and then can make a living out of it. And within both categories, one is expected to smile most of the time, especially in a stage setting. The analogy between these two categories is perhaps harder to imagine with regard to heavy-weight bodybuilding, such as the Mr. Olympia, but easier in relationship to fitness and Men’s Physique. ‘A total package’ – and oft-repeated phrase within fitness – implies good looks and an overall appealing presence.

Another parallel that I can come to think of is the far-reaching changes of outer appearances by means of various ‘unnatural’ – besides ‘natural’ ones such as the conventional training and dieting patterns – measures: in K-pop plastic surgery and cosmetics, and in bodybuilding and fitness, the frequent and widespread use of anabolic steroids. Perhaps Brazilian butt lift and breast implants are used by females within both K-pop and Bikini Fitness but these are much more widespread within the latter domain, whereas alteration of facial features is the main route within the South Korean entertainment industry (and in fact, the South Korean society in general).

There are of course some ‘naturals’ within in K-pop that do not require any double eyelid and/or nose surgery, as there are some professionals in fitness modelling, Men’s Physique and even bodybuilding classes that do not use so called performance-enhancing drugs. And needless to say, not everyone uses either plastic surgery or anabolic steroids to the same degree and extent, and there is also a quite broad spectrum of different mixtures and components that may be utilized. In this respect, there is also an interesting difference in that sense that plastic surgery is completely legal and vastly promoted in public, particularly in Seoul, while anabolic steroids are illegal and banned from sports of all kind.

Further, another analogy is the visual extremes in terms of perfection – not just in relationship to training and dieting – but also regarding stage presence and performance. While among people in general, a large share may often tend to think that good are well enough for themselves, their friends and families and what they achieve, in K-pop, as in professional fitness, bodybuilding, and Men’s Physique there is virtually no limit to how perfect, ripped and/or big a group or individual and their performances should become. Just look at acts such as TVXQ, Girls’ Generation, Super Junior, EXO, and GOT7 among many other; and then at Men’s Physique competitors and fitness models such as Jeremy Buendia, Sadik Hadzovic, Jeff Seid and Sergi Constance to mention just a few. Of course, people’s tastes may differ but the ideals of perfection are rougly the same. Just good is definitely not good enough.

Spectators and audiences of K-pop on one hand, and bodybuilding, Men’s Physique and (Bikini or Figure) fitness on the other, may be stunned by the skills and perfection – and sometimes, in a seemingly contradictory and implicitly resentful fashion – wish for some balance and slack to it; but still want more and complain if they find flaws after scrutiny of the individuals who are blessed to act as the stars in their respective orbit. And this is also the case with the global fitness industry’s main marketing tool and, at least indirectly, primary consumer platform: social media, and its innumerable amounts of pictures that paint the individual strivings for quasi-perfection, also among millions of amateurs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NE2GWQQ5_k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVRfjdiYAzs

The importance of branched chain amino acids

Slightly more than one week before the IFBB-related event, Nordic Grand Prix – a part of Fitnessgalan in Globen arena in Stockholm – I will in fact not, somewhat unexpected, show any pictures of my shape. I will save that until the actual show, or probably, a bit afterwards.

Instead I will just briefly emphasize the importance of branched chain amino acids [1] and in conjunction with this mention my new favorite, BCAA with cola taste, from Delta nutrition in Stockholm.

Branched chain amino acids are essential – in this word’s both concrete and symbolic sense – if a fitness athlete strives for to optimize one’s results, and is a very useful complement to a general proper nutritional approach. It gives one’s muscles additional endurance, strength, recovery and particularly ‘pressure’ in the good sense. It may thus be regarded as a piece of a puzzle that one needs in order to come into great shape, not the least the weeks before a show.

The products of Delta nutrition’s can be bought online.

[1] For scientific research on BCAA, look at for instance this study and this study.


Lite mer än en vecka innan Nordic Grand Prix i Globen, där jag tävlar i Men’s Physique, kan det vara värt att lyfta fram betydelsen av grenade aminosyror.

Dessa är essentiella – i så att säga båda konkret och metaforisk mening – om målet är att optimera sina styrketräningsresultat, och hjälper till att ge extra styrka, återhämtning och bidrar till ge minimera både muskelförlust och att öka “trycket” på musklerna. På så sätt blir det en viktig pusselbit för träning, kost och att toppa formen inför en tävling men även i allmänhet.

Delta nutritions grenade aminosyroprodukter, till exempel den oerhört goda colasorten, kan köpas på Delta gym i Stockholm eller online.


제가 새로 Delta nutrition 한테서 좋은 BCAA 를 받았어요. BCAA는 까닭으로
강하고 건강 해요. 경기가 전에 특히 좋어요.

delta

Participation at the Nordic Grand Prix in Globen

After a period of some uncertainty regarding this spring’s competition, things have become clearer. First of all, I will not compete at all in any WBFF-related events but focus entirely on the IFBB-linked competition form Men’s Physique (Men’s Physique 경기). There might be some other interesting, and perhaps more artistic, alternatives that emerge in the future, but at the moment it is MP that I do solely aim for competition-wise.

More specifically, I will compete at the Nordic Grand Prix in Globen in Stockholm at May 10, and I represent Team Delta for the second time. I am pleased to be a part of one of Sweden’s most dedicated and experienced competion teams, especially since things are more serious and well-structured than earlier. Fitness is a growing phenomenon and sub-industry and thus a person like me – who has trained for ten years, been a PT since 2007, and considered the idea of competing at some point for a long time – wants to be in a place where things happen. It should also be emphasized that the Nordic Grand Prix is a part of Fitnessgalan, which is one of the biggest fitness and wellness events in Sweden. So there is much more going on than competitions.

Apart from the general support of Team Delta, I have one of Stockholm’s most well-experienced personal trainers, Anders Hellquist, as my specific competition coach, and he will help me with – in particular – training tips and posing practice. I am relatively skilled with regard to nutrition, and training-wise as well, but there are always new things to learn and/or new ways of thinking in these respects. Habits may be good, but sometimes one has to make relevant modifications.

My aim is to make a good result, and I will hence focus more on posing and stage presence, and to be seriously shredded when it really matters. That is, in slightly more than five weeks.


Efter en period av viss oklarhet kommer jag att tävla i Men’s Physique Nordic på Grand Prix i Globen den 10 maj, vilken är IFBB-sanktionerad. Denna tävling är en del av ett större event, Fitnessgalan, som är en av branschens allra största händelser gällande fitness och wellness.

Även denna gång kommer jag att representera Team Delta, och strävar efter att göra avsevärt bättre ifrån mig än tidigare. Mycket fokus ligger på posering och scennärvaro, men också att peaka formen och därmed ha mycket lite underhudsfett kvar. Jag har erfarne Anders Hellquist som tävlingscoach, och han kommer att hjälpa mig med bland annat posering, och vi för även en kontinuerlig dialog om kost och träning. Det kan därmed bli aktuellt att göra smärre modifieringar i träningsprogrammet.