Big Z's weight loss/New look

[Saint Of The K]

Well, now that our resident expert has weighed in...

Losing weight isn't a hindrance for all lifts, especially a lot of the strongman events.

I'm no expert by any means and my experience is not even comparable to yours, but I think I've read enough articles on powerlifting to remember that all powerlifters with a 1000 lbs squat are f'n huge and have stated that extra mass helps to reach the high numbers. Connective tissue and all that IIRC.

Who after a diet retains the same amount of strength? Do you have an example of someone who maybe dropped weight classes in competition and achieve close to the same numbers?

Maybe his new-found mobility will indeed help in some events, I really have only basic lurker knowledge of WSM events, but in pure strenght ones I'd be surprised.

What's the advantage of gaining stupidly large amounts of fat?

I didn't say that all the weight difference was fat. Obviously he had more muscle mass before his diet than now. Even with drugs I don't think he could have lost only or almost only fat and kept the same strength. Again, who has?

 

[DM1982]

Well, belly fat just weight's the athlete down. What I'm suggesting is that a better aproach to nutrition that just put on as much weight as possible could wok for Big Z. I mean, his belly is huuuuuuge compared to any other strongman, and putting on extra fat doesn't give you extra muscle... it can even make it harder (nutrition partitioning and all that, not in Savickas case with his genes and drugs I guess).

Evidently not in Z's case; multiple strongman event winner - seems very good in carrying/race events.


Obviously that's just how his body deals with putting on mass; some of it goes to his belly - not really like he can stop that.


There's no way Big Z on right can out truck-pull Big Z on left - cos of less body weight.

 

[Viskovitz]

I didn't say that all the weight difference was fat. Obviously he had more muscle mass before his diet than now. Even with drugs I don't think he could have lost only or almost only fat and kept the same strength. Again, who has?

I guess he will put on mass to compete next year, but in a more conservative way to not gain that much fat. An that's kinda my point I think: the idea that SHW must just eat everything and be as fat as possible to be stronger doesn't resonate well with me. They are as human as everyone... gaining fat just to gain fat shouldn't be an advantage, and a better diet should allow them to gain the muscle without gaining that much fat.

 

[Saint Of The K]

I don't think it is to be as fat as possible, rather as big as possible. They are willing to put on some fat for the increase in muscle mass, even a marginal one, because this increase can take their lifts to the next level. Gaining the same amount of muscle without any or very little fat will be very difficult, especially at the weight these guys are.

 

[Viskovitz]

Yes, of course. But Savickas was the fayttest of the lot, much more than Shaw, Thor, Magnugsson, Jenkins or whoever... i think he can be competitive without that big belly. A middle ground betweeen those 2 pics.

 

[TheeFaulted]

Evidently not in Z's case; multiple strongman event winner - seems very good in carrying/race events.


Obviously that's just how his body deals with putting on mass; some of it goes to his belly - not really like he can stop that.


There's no way Big Z on right can out truck-pull Big Z on left - cos of less body weight.

That decrease in bodyweight may have other benefits in strongman though, like better grip strength, better conditioning, and better recovery time.

 

[DM1982]

That decrease in bodyweight may have other benefits in strongman though, like better grip strength, better conditioning, and better recovery time.

Ok, cool.


You gonna tell Zydrunas, 'hey fella, you're too fat; lose some weight and you might do better at strongman'?


; )

 

[Viskovitz]

Ok, cool.


You gonna tell Zydrunas, 'hey fella, you're too fat; lose some weight and you might do better at strongman'?


; )

Well, he agrees with us.

 

[DM1982]

Well, he agrees with us.

No.

He'll be bulking up again for next years WSM.

 

[Saint Of The K]

^ You mentioned that twice already so I guess you read somewhere that's his intent. I wonder why he would choose a cut/bulk instead of slow cut, that's interesting. Let's see what his bulk looks like. I'm a bit concerned about this kind of weight swings on one's health, especially since he's not young and those are huge body weights (or could be, we'll see).

 

[Viskovitz]

I think I will share this even tough I've only listened to the first 5 minutes.



Edit: I'm done. Some things he said:

- On year after his injury in Arnold's 2015 things went really bad and he could only press 120kg log.
- That's the reason he lost so much weight, to heal his injury.
- He will be back 5 kg lighter or so, but much more muscular.
- He tried the Z press once because it was "his" exercise, didn't like it much.
- He's a fan of smith machines, machines in general, seated pressing...
- He mentions Kaz as the strongest ever.

 

[Urban]

I think I will share this even tough I've only listened to the first 5 minutes.



Edit: I'm done. Some things he said:

- On year after his injury in Arnold's 2015 things went really bad and he could only press 120kg log.
- That's the reason he lost so much weight, to heal his injury.
- He will be back 5 kg lighter or so, but much more muscular.
- He tried the Z press once because it was "his" exercise, didn't like it much.
- He's a fan of smith machines, machines in general, seated pressing...
- He mentions Kaz as the strongest ever.

that was a good interview thanks for posting. And he's right, virtually everyone has misunderstood his weight loss.

The machine thing is interesting, but I guess like a lot of athletes he trains his sport and tries to minimize injury in his non sport training. Machines are Still not something I'd reccomend to most people, but it's interesting how well it works for him.

 

[LatFlare]

 

[chubbman]

I think I will share this even tough I've only listened to the first 5 minutes.



Edit: I'm done. Some things he said:

- On year after his injury in Arnold's 2015 things went really bad and he could only press 120kg log.
- That's the reason he lost so much weight, to heal his injury.
- He will be back 5 kg lighter or so, but much more muscular.
- He tried the Z press once because it was "his" exercise, didn't like it much.
- He's a fan of smith machines, machines in general, seated pressing...
- He mentions Kaz as the strongest ever.

i enjoyed that, good post bro