So while I really hate performative tough guy bullshit as a former MMA practitioner, I would really caution you against thinking the guy in the picture on the left is not really fucking strong. the guy who’s all cut up and striated with the ideal visible body often isn’t stronger than the dude with a couple layers of fat over his muscles that has been lifting his heavy body around his whole life. There’s also a class of dude I run into that just have some kind of genetics for absurd super colossal strength without any particular background in weightlifting or anything to justify why they are that strong (I’m sadly not in that cohort).
Additionally, we have weight classes for a reason. There was a fight recently where a chunky out of shape dude was put up against two female fighters and he won pretty handily. The gold medal winning women’s soccer team got absolutely destroyed by a boy’s 15-year-old club. Having trained with plenty of women in the gym over the years, none of them have ever expressed a rhetoric where they think that they can realistically fight a man in a venue where grappling is allowed. I will definitely take a lady Thai fighter over Joe barstool in a stand-up only bout though. There’s plenty of footage of foreigners in Thailand trying their hand and getting absolutely pasted with some devastating leg kicks.
There is no endurance, but the power is there. Someone in the example won’t last a minute, but they wont have to if they drop 250lbs on your throat in that first minute.
I also bet you ask most women fighters if they feel comfortable taking on any guy at 230-245, they are having none of it. 100lbs of fat is still an absurd advantage.
I once did some fun boxing with a friend of mine. He punched me just in my arm without any effort and it was enough to make me stumble. He is around 10-15cm taller than me, and around 20-30kgs heavier. My arm was blue for weeks.
Also you can compensate a lot with training. I‘m also in this picture. But since I do regular cardio, I can run for hours and move my dad body the whole day without getting tired. With a bit of strength training I am able to build some serious invisible strength. I wouldn’t underestimate a guy with a bit of body fat.
I’ve got some martial arts training, but only did like a month of BJJ with no other real grappling training. A girl-jock friend of mine, super active in BJJ and pretty big and buff for a girl, wanted to do a little playful sparring.
I pinned her so fast, with so little effort, it wasn’t even funny. She’d been training for years, and she was in great shape for it, but my amateur ass absolutely destroyed her.
Also, I did do some powerlifting for a while, and everyone who actually lifts heavy looks like a chubby farm boy.
To counter this, I could share that the guy who consistently took on all sparring partners at my BJJ gym was about 145 pounds.
I never got to see him in a real match, but his grappling was unmatched. Big BIG guys would train with him. He would teach the class while in the middle of a spar, instructing the group in a low key way, never getting oit of breath. Meanwhile, the 240 pound guy underneath him struggled and strained and grunted and could never pin him successfully.
So while I really hate performative tough guy bullshit as a former MMA practitioner, I would really caution you against thinking the guy in the picture on the left is not really fucking strong. the guy who’s all cut up and striated with the ideal visible body often isn’t stronger than the dude with a couple layers of fat over his muscles that has been lifting his heavy body around his whole life. There’s also a class of dude I run into that just have some kind of genetics for absurd super colossal strength without any particular background in weightlifting or anything to justify why they are that strong (I’m sadly not in that cohort).
Additionally, we have weight classes for a reason. There was a fight recently where a chunky out of shape dude was put up against two female fighters and he won pretty handily. The gold medal winning women’s soccer team got absolutely destroyed by a boy’s 15-year-old club. Having trained with plenty of women in the gym over the years, none of them have ever expressed a rhetoric where they think that they can realistically fight a man in a venue where grappling is allowed. I will definitely take a lady Thai fighter over Joe barstool in a stand-up only bout though. There’s plenty of footage of foreigners in Thailand trying their hand and getting absolutely pasted with some devastating leg kicks.
I give this starter a pack only a 5 out of 10.
Many a man underestimated Butter Bean.
There is no endurance, but the power is there. Someone in the example won’t last a minute, but they wont have to if they drop 250lbs on your throat in that first minute.
I also bet you ask most women fighters if they feel comfortable taking on any guy at 230-245, they are having none of it. 100lbs of fat is still an absurd advantage.
I once did some fun boxing with a friend of mine. He punched me just in my arm without any effort and it was enough to make me stumble. He is around 10-15cm taller than me, and around 20-30kgs heavier. My arm was blue for weeks.
Weight absolutely matters. It’s simple physics (kinetic energy)
Also you can compensate a lot with training. I‘m also in this picture. But since I do regular cardio, I can run for hours and move my dad body the whole day without getting tired. With a bit of strength training I am able to build some serious invisible strength. I wouldn’t underestimate a guy with a bit of body fat.
I’ve got some martial arts training, but only did like a month of BJJ with no other real grappling training. A girl-jock friend of mine, super active in BJJ and pretty big and buff for a girl, wanted to do a little playful sparring.
I pinned her so fast, with so little effort, it wasn’t even funny. She’d been training for years, and she was in great shape for it, but my amateur ass absolutely destroyed her.
Also, I did do some powerlifting for a while, and everyone who actually lifts heavy looks like a chubby farm boy.
To counter this, I could share that the guy who consistently took on all sparring partners at my BJJ gym was about 145 pounds.
I never got to see him in a real match, but his grappling was unmatched. Big BIG guys would train with him. He would teach the class while in the middle of a spar, instructing the group in a low key way, never getting oit of breath. Meanwhile, the 240 pound guy underneath him struggled and strained and grunted and could never pin him successfully.