olympic weightlifters: why so fat?

[aftershavedave]

anyone watch the weightlifting last night? won by a huge iranian bloke who looked like bernard manning.

my question is: why are they all so fat? huge beer bellies all of them? surely if they are fit and strong they don't all need to be so lardy? why is that?

 

[Easy 10]

So they can rest the bar on their tits in the "clean and jerk" mainly, I'd have thought.

 

[Zebedee]

Beats me. Incredible feats of strength though.

 

[zefarelly]

because they eat a lot of pies, simple really

 

[Man of Harveys]

The ones at the start of the Olympics aren't that fat or that big in any direction really: the magnificent little Turkish fella who won his third gold in a row was only 4'11'' - but you still wouldn't spill his pint. I guess he doesn't have to lift the bar as far as everyone else.

They get bigger during the fortnight, er, that's the weight categories, not the competitors themselves.

 

[Josky]

I imagine these guys carry a huge amount of muscle which requires them to take in a huge amount of protein on a daily basis - eating up to 5 or 6 meals a day in order to keep the weight on - in the region of 5,000 calories.

I also imagine that they don't do any cardiovascular work so, or at least don't do enough to burn off the excess fat they gain.

 

[METALMICKY]

I imagine these guys carry a huge amount of muscle which requires them to take in a huge amount of protein on a daily basis - eating up to 5 or 6 meals a day in order to keep the weight on - in the region of 5,000 calories.

I also imagine that they don't do any cardiovascular work so, or at least don't do enough to burn off the excess fat they gain.

That's a pretty fair assessment and don't forget that the actual size and definition of the muscle does not necessarily equate to actual strength. When you see those Worlds Strongest Man TV shows very few of them are ripped bodybuilders who look like a condom full of walnuts!