Does anyone else find that "working out for strength" is a cope?

Does anyone else find that "working out for strength" is a cope? It seems to be used mainly by people who cannot achieve anything on bodybuilding so they shift focus to a key function like strength. And strength is important, everything needs the best strength base they can possibly get, but I feel as though way more people would be into bodybuilding if they had the genetics for it.
Pic related is just a random epic meme, I don't think I have the genetics for bodybuilding either. Even just getting an athletic muscular look is a life or death struggle and my gains fade very quickly after years of being on top of my game.

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  1. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    99% of us won't achieve anything substantial in bodybuilding or powerlifting. Just do what you like. That being said I think recreational bodybuilding makes more sense as a hobby.

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      what do you mean by training for strength
      obviously the idea of “bro just gain 45 pounds of fat to add 95 pounds to your deadlift” that gets made fun of on here is moronic
      but I think training in low rep ranges has a lot of value at times, because it makes it easier to progress in weight on the bar
      high rep ranges build more muscle, but if you do some low rep work on some major compounds for a while and then swap back to high rep work, you’ll be able to do the high rep work with more weight than you would’ve been able to if you never did the high rep work and thus make more gains.

      I know we won't, but training styles matter. Right now I've been trying a hybrid version which is pretty good but that feels like a cope too.

      I literally honestly do NOT give a frick about ANY of the reasons anyone else lifts, and if you lift to compare yourself to others you are a colossal homosexual. I lift to log my past SELF, I lift to be healthy, I lift because it's fun, I lift to be able to protect my girlfriend and loved ones

      >strength lifting is cope
      >bodybuilding is cope
      >calisthenics is cope
      >playing sports is cope

      Mate who the frick CARES. Lift however you want whenever you want because YOU like it. Stop caring about some gay ~~*opinions*~~ posted by autistic virgins on IST. Goddamn it OP have a nice day already

      I will not kill myself, you stupid bastard, but you know very well that there is a world of diametric opposing forces, at least in the e-fitness community. Working out for strength, working out for looks, these sides are firmly entrenched in their own camps. It may not be like that everywhere, but to the average layperson who doesn't know what to do, it is confusing and it seems almost like a rivalry among fitness entities.
      But maybe I should work out my brain more, my opening post was decently composed but I see I made some word placement mistakes that are unfortunate.

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        why is it a “cope”?
        just lift
        It doesn’t matter why you lift
        Just keep lifting
        I don’t care why you do it
        If you lift for strength but do cardio and don’t gorge yourself like a disgusting pig you will also get aesthetic gains too. The importance of rep ranges is so overstated

  2. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    what do you mean by training for strength
    obviously the idea of “bro just gain 45 pounds of fat to add 95 pounds to your deadlift” that gets made fun of on here is moronic
    but I think training in low rep ranges has a lot of value at times, because it makes it easier to progress in weight on the bar
    high rep ranges build more muscle, but if you do some low rep work on some major compounds for a while and then swap back to high rep work, you’ll be able to do the high rep work with more weight than you would’ve been able to if you never did the high rep work and thus make more gains.

  3. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    coping is cope is coping is cope is coping is cope is coping is cope is coping is cope is coping is cope is coping is cope is coping is cope is coping is cope is coping is cope is coping is cope is coping is cope is coping is cope is coping is cope is coping is cope is coping is cope is coping is cope is coping is cope is coping is cope is coping is cope is coping is cope is coping is cope is

  4. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Not really, the powerlifters at my gym look great and are great people. So are the bodybuilders, all very friendly. It's not an us-vs-them situation, I don't get the whole "let's shit on people for having different goals" situation. There's overweight people too that I keep seeing with the PT, I think it's great they're in the gym working out, that's all.

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      The only sane take.

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      >Does anyone else find that "working out for strength" is a cope? It seems to be used mainly by people who cannot achieve anything on bodybuilding so they shift focus to a key function like strength
      No, I've dabbled in higher rep ranges, my body grows surprisingly quickly when I do it. I don't know why I have an issue with following a hypertrophy routine over a powerlifting one

      Honestly this too though. Old bodybuilding owner of my gym always praises my atg squats. Most of this us vs them shit is online

  5. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    I literally honestly do NOT give a frick about ANY of the reasons anyone else lifts, and if you lift to compare yourself to others you are a colossal homosexual. I lift to log my past SELF, I lift to be healthy, I lift because it's fun, I lift to be able to protect my girlfriend and loved ones

    >strength lifting is cope
    >bodybuilding is cope
    >calisthenics is cope
    >playing sports is cope

    Mate who the frick CARES. Lift however you want whenever you want because YOU like it. Stop caring about some gay ~~*opinions*~~ posted by autistic virgins on IST. Goddamn it OP have a nice day already

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      doing gazillion pounds of weight with questionable form while eating millions of pounds of protein is not healthy in any way, nor is it fun to push monotonously same shit in the same way for years, stop coping with muh self improvement bullshit, people lift cause they cant get pussy and/or have nothing else to do, this is it

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        Not other guy but I lift for my sport.
        It’s fun absolutely cleaning the other guy because you’re stronger

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        You are not human
        You lack the spirit of a man

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      ok, lard elemental

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      >I lift to be able to protect my girlfriend and loved ones
      yooo this homie thinks he's some boku no hero protag lol

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      you were doing a based post until you went all
      >I lift to be able to protect my girlfriend and loved ones
      You watch too much anime dyel

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      >I lift to be able to protect my girlfriend and loved ones
      lol
      LMAO even

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      Nobody on this board understands that lifting wont help you protect anyone, if youre fighting against someone with a knife or gun unarmed youre going to lose

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      Based. If you have kit and are prepping for war then double based. Gunless, gearless DYELs thinking America won't be a hellscape and war body strength won't be needed are the first to get artillery striked.

  6. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    I think some people use working out for strength as a cope yes. But working out for strength isn't a cope, just something some people CAN use as a cope. Personally I don't train for either one but I think when you're not looking for minute changes in your body watching your lift numbers go up is pretty good motivation to continue.

  7. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    >Working out for strength is a cope
    Nah. I lift for strength as an accessory to BJJ and boxing.

  8. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    For most people just doing the big compounds is the best use of their time. Doing bent arm twizzlers 6times a week won't give as appreciable gains as actually lifting heavy. That being said it's not like you can't curl on SS.

  9. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    people have different goals and desires. I personally think the obsession with abs is weird since to me that just says "this guy is 20% weaker than he could be". This is ignoring the fact that bodybuilding itself is a cope for an ugly face or being a manlet 99% of the time. I've already gotten advances from men and women while at 20% body fat due to the fact my face is not ugly. So there's no reason for me to 'work on aesthetics'. Picking heavy stuff is more rewarding than dating anyways

  10. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    At the end of the day training for strength is no less vain than training for aesthetics, it's just a different kind of vanity. "I lift for functional strength, not to look like some prettyboy with show muscles" is mostly cope for people who had no chance of looking good to begin with

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      That's a major point I was trying to make. Of course, a lot of guys also lift so they can have experiences like that image. Even if they won't admit it.

      why is it a “cope”?
      just lift
      It doesn’t matter why you lift
      Just keep lifting
      I don’t care why you do it
      If you lift for strength but do cardio and don’t gorge yourself like a disgusting pig you will also get aesthetic gains too. The importance of rep ranges is so overstated

      I have put myself through the motions and my body just will not give in at a certain point. No matter what I do. The body fat stays and the aesthetics gains end. But at least I can admit that I can't into aesthetic lifting.

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        You have to do the cardio too

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      I want to be stronger for the sake a sport, and because I want to age gracefully. My primary concern at the moment is my lower back. Am I vain?

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        Your reasons for playing a sport might be vain, wanting to age gracefully is vain. Point was more just that vanity isn't bad, we all want to be viewed positively by others

        • 1 year ago
          Anonymous

          I don't see how wanting to excel at a sport or how hoping to avoid a walker is vain though? I'm not really interested in how people see me, I think it's something you owe yourself.

        • 1 year ago
          Anonymous

          you don’t get what that word means

          I want to be stronger for the sake a sport, and because I want to age gracefully. My primary concern at the moment is my lower back. Am I vain?

          No because strength and health cannot be divorced. I’ve never seen a 90 year old that could hold a conversation unless they were fit their whole lives

          • 1 year ago
            Anonymous

            >pride in oradmirationof one's own appearance or achievements

            • 1 year ago
              Anonymous

              excessive pride in something you have no claims in. If Eddie Hall says he’s the strongest man alive then it’s not vain as he literally was at one point. If (you) on the other hand go around bragging you’ll be laughed at. get it now?

        • 1 year ago
          Anonymous

          I think he meant he wants to preserve as much function as possible with age anon not stay pretty

    • 1 year ago
      Beedrill

      Source for pic rel?

  11. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    stopping reading at cope.
    It's all cope always has been. If you're lifting to compensate for feeling weak, unintimidating, or for women it's all a forms of making up for your perceived inadequacies. Failure to cope is what leads to suicide if you're lucky or 50 plus years of being a self pitying piece of shit. Beyond that who gives a shit about "why?".

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      People are already miseading what I was saying. Not again a nuanced conversation but the main point I was trying to make is that I think that people who only "work out for strength" are doing it because they lack the genetics to achieve a bodybuilder look or even an athletic muscular look. That shit is hard. I know it's hard.

      You have to do the cardio too

      I did. I don't enjoy cardio but I still do it.

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        >I think that people who only "work out for strength" are doing it because they lack the genetics to achieve a bodybuilder look
        that implies they tied to be body builders at some point and I don't think that's always the case. A lot of it my mind as least it's like an emergent trend based on whether people get a better hypertrophy response from volume or intensity. I blew the frick up fast when I switched to intensity over volume even though I'm not strictly a power lifter or a body builder it's just for whatever dumb reason that's what I grow best with. I could see a lot of people simply going with whatever they see results with even if the results aren't pretty because it's something.

        • 1 year ago
          Anonymous

          Some people scoff at the idea that I am blending the two approaches but in the end I just do what I can and that's that. Perhaps overthinking and overly critical analysis of others is also at play here. It's still going to take me a while to adjust and accept that I won't be able to have an insane physique which is why lots of guys do this, not all, but a lot lie so they don't look vain (people were talking about vanity earlier in the thread).

          • 1 year ago
            Anonymous

            I wouldn't think so unless they're novices (which is very likely) because most elites use some periodization structure that has varied intensity and volume from mesocycle to mesocycle and isn't something as static as what most of the board seems to think should work forever because it worked at a point in time for them. Either direction usually requires some training in the other.

          • 1 year ago
            Anonymous

            That's because they've never heard of PHAT or PHUL.

  12. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    You get stronger when bodybuilding so this whole strength vs size debate is moronic. The powerlifter just gets obese, uses gear and form cheats to minmax 3 autistic lifts nobody cares about, so they're definitely gayer.

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      This
      If you think that doing 3 rep sets will somehow not grow muscle or that doing 12 rep sets will somehow not make you stronger you are blatantly moronic

  13. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    I'm starting to hate the word "cope". It's prevalence in internet discourse has caused moronic overthinkers to become armchair psychoanalysts overnight. Someone can't just be doing something for the sake of doing it, they must be "coping" due to some insecurity.

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      Life is full of copes. The internet has always been a cycle of things that many people embrace, some push back because they think it's moronic, then it either goes away and comes back or stays despite the pressure.
      I think people use cope a lot simply because it adequately describes many situations and how people handle them.

  14. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Lol, I'm not even a roidtroony, but lmao at this cope of a drawing.
    >thinking powerlifter will look this muscular with low bf and chadlike

  15. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Who cares? If you're at the point where you're needing to choose between strength and aesthetics then you're obviously alredy pretty good at both. Most bodybuilders are really strong and most powerlifters are really big. Also I like how the image implies that powerlifters don't roid too, kek.

  16. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    https://youtube.com/shorts/DyGZbdG9yOo?feature=share

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      >You don't need to train like a powerlifter but you do need to push your physique against heavy resistance
      I already knew that, now tell that to the fitness youtubers who turn working out into a complex science exam. I do find that training to failure or close will give me decent results without injury. Whereas lifting heavy but not to failure increases risks of injury.

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        How exactly do you lift heavy but not close to failure. I'm amazed you can frick up like this. I hope you people are watching this shit and understand why you don't come to this place looking for actual lifting advice. These are the people that answer to your questions, these fricking morons that can't into the simplest thing in the world: lift a piece of iron and put it down

        • 1 year ago
          Anonymous

          There are levels to it there have been times I think I am at failure I force with all my willpower to go for another rep or two and I can do it. I am talking about complete muscular failure. Lifting heavy I can feel strain and discomfort but that is not failure. Maybe you ask me this since fitness youtubers now preach against going to failure and say you should only go to 'form failure' it has fallen out of usage.

  17. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    there should be a venn diagram between powerlifters and cope powershitters

  18. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    >deadlift
    5/3/1 pyramid
    >Squat
    5x5 or 4x8
    >OHP
    5/3/1 OR 4x8
    >Bench
    4x8 or 4x15+ (I am laying down to rest)

  19. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    There’s like a 90% overlap between lifting for strength and lifting for looks anyway. Pro bodybuilders lift slowly for high reps weights that you will never hit at any point in your life.

  20. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Yes, it is cope and it's my cope, too.
    You see, strength training is black and white. You either pick up heavy object or not. It's that simple. But building a good body has so many fricking variables. Eating, genetics, sleep, stress just to name a few. You can never be sure where are you lacking and why.

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      lifting for performance has the same variables
      the real difference is if you're bodybuilding you have much less specificity and more freedom to lift how you like
      and you have the responsibility to bring up weak points in your physique and care about your proportions, which someone lifting for performance does not

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      So I guess you're the first guy to admit it in this thread mixed with good points and needlessly angry guys. I include myself in the cope as like I said I find it very hard to build a jacked physique. But there is some comfy reassurance in training for function. You do the action, it's done, there is no arguing with it. When you are bodybuilding you have to contend with so many factors and it's hard to know if you are missing one thing or terribly genetically disadvantaged at another. It's interesting to see if guys have strong enough (no pun intended) egos to admit that they cannot achieve an amazing physique so they go the route of strength.

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        I had a creative hobby before turning to lifting and other sports, you see. I felt I was making progress, but making it as an artist just had too many fricking variables. Do you have the right connections? Is your thing really that good? Why's that some editors like it but others don't? It sucked out the fun for me from it. With sports there's none of that. I go climbing or the boxing gym, I do what I can and that's it. I know progress and results will come if you put in the work. It's relaxing and by the end my mind is swimming in dopamine. I realized, however, that when I started measuring myself and so on that feeling of depression came back I had with arts. And I just told myself to fricking stop. So I intentionally close out all factors from sports which you'd consider "subjective" in a sense and focus on the "objective" side of things, the things I actually have in my control. I can control whether or not I put in the effort today, but I cannot focus on hitting+3k calories 24/7. After a certain point it's a budget issue, not to mention it's one thing to struggle from lifting or struggle from firce feeding yourself.

        lifting for performance has the same variables
        the real difference is if you're bodybuilding you have much less specificity and more freedom to lift how you like
        and you have the responsibility to bring up weak points in your physique and care about your proportions, which someone lifting for performance does not

        I guess after a certain point it's also not easy to lift more, but for where I am now I haven't met with that wall yet.

        • 1 year ago
          Anonymous

          so you're just a homosexual idiot who burns out in something and just gives up. It's your fault not the medium's.

  21. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Does anyone else find that "working out for aesthetics" is a cope? It seems to be used mainly by people who cannot achieve anything on strength training so they shift focus to a key function like bodybuilding. And aesthetics are important, everyone need the best aesthetical profile they can possibly get, but I feel as though way more people would be into strength training if they had the genetics for it.
    Pic related is just a random epic meme, I don't think I have the genetics for strength training either. Even just reaching 1/2/3/4 is a life or death struggle and my gains fade very quickly after years of being on top of my game.

  22. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    What is a cope? What is wrong with a cope? Is the alternative to coping to just give up and languish in mediocrity?

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      In OP's post "cope" is a word he uses to insinuate that no one actually wants to be strong. That all these strong powerlifters are in fact, power copers and wished they were jacked and stacked instead.

      What he doesn't realize is not everyone is a twink with body dysmorphia. Some people do want to be strong, or like competing in powerlifting.

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        Please don't be a homosexual like this. I meant that guys who can't get a jacked bodybuilder physique will switch to a strength-based approach and I have noticed this with different individuals. I am specifically talking about the guys who can't succeed in bodybuilding who do this, not all powerlifters who never wanted the aesthetic look to begin with.

        • 1 year ago
          Anonymous

          That just means they want results the most. At that point they can either hop on drugs, train differently, or cope.
          If what you are saying is true then the differentiation is they maxed out their natty potential, or they couldn't figure out a way to make more aesthetic gains.

          Maybe they got tired of seeing 1lb every year of gains. Maybe their goals changed. IDK man it seems like you have experience with these dudes.

  23. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    >tfw jesus is still on the cross in this picture

  24. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Strength lifting literally gives the same results as bodybuilding, you guys are moronic. The only difference is top bodybuilders who compete take more drugs than top powerlifters and they take different drugs that are more size focused than strength focused. That's the only difference lmao. Look at Ronnie Coleman and Dorian Yates training. They were doing heavy ass weight for reps and they were the biggest and best physiques bodybuilding has ever seen.
    Then look at some of the guys who deadlift more than 1000 pounds in the lower weights. They're big as shit and they aren't even taking a quarter of the shit bodybuilders take.

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      >Strength lifting literally gives the same results as bodybuilding

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        Powerlifting specifically is a bit weird because being a good powerlifter can be as much about min-maxing movement for specific lifts. Candito is also natty and a bit fat.
        A fair comparison to a bodybuilder would be a powerlifter in an untested fed or a strongman

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        Not to mention strength lifters typically mog bodybuilders because most bodybuilders are 5'8-5'10
        Once you stand an actual big and lean guy who can lift a 1000 kg total next to a bodybuilder you can immediately see who mogs

  25. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Working out at all is good in this era of sloth, weakness and gluttony. Don't be negative.

  26. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    I found lifting for strength a lot more fun but at certain point if you're natural you just hit a never ending plateau unless you're willing to put on 50lbs and get fat or do steroids. So then you just end up lifting for maintenance.

  27. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    why do roidtrannies and their chases care so much about if things are "cope"? Why are you so convinced that everyone who doesn't share your values is lying about it?

    Imagine telling a Chess player that they only play Chess because they're no good at Poker.

    Even if that were true, they'd still be making the right decision, because they're fricking better at chess.

    Everyone who isn't a fricking moron finds what works for them in the world and does that. Some pursuits are more noble or more worthwhile or more beneficial, but I'd rather we had more decent bus drivers instead of more dogshit doctors, because I don't have the infantile delusion that everyone should want and do exactly the same fricking things in their life.

  28. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Without fail whenever this argument comes up it’s actually comparing natty lifters to roiding influencers, it’s completely pointless. Lifting for strength is also not a cope it’s the easiest way to see progress, set goals and motivate yourself. Bodybuilding does the opposite you just get body dysmorphia and start injecting hormones.

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