Sommerfeld realized a painful lesson in Las Vegas
Final up to date on October thirty first, 2024
Ordinarily, when bodybuilders discuss muscle recovery, it’s usually in a post-workout context. However for Mike Sommerfeld, it wasn’t lifting weights that rendered him sore for a number of days.
Relatively, the 2024 Classic Physique Olympia runner-up rapidly realized that going toe-to-toe with Chris Bumstead is a brutal enterprise with an costly post-pose-off tax hooked up.
In an episode of the Trensparent Podcast revealed on Oct. 30, Sommerfeld mentioned the painful penalties of his battle in opposition to the six-time champion.
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Mike Sommerfeld Received Extra Than He Bargained For
Boasting a well-balanced physique and precisely-coordinated routine, the German-born bodybuilder introduced his A-game to Las Vegas, main the judges to pit him immediately in opposition to “CBum” in a pose-down throughout the occasion Finals.
- “I’m like, ‘There’s no likelihood that I’m combating Chris Bumstead,’” Sommerfield instructed host Nyle Nayga. “Then they switched the locations and the poses, and we did the poses once more.”
Sadly for Sommerfeld, emptying the tank didn’t result in the monumental upset he possible hoped for. It did, nevertheless, end in greater than only a silver medal and a $20,000 prize purse:
- “I used to be posing like hell,” Sommerfeld stated. “I’m nonetheless sore from the posing 5 days later.”
Catapulting from eighth in 2023 to second in 2024 and truly vying with essentially the most dominant Traditional Physique athlete of all time ought to give Sommerfeld a passable feeling. Then once more, coping with DOMS is by no means a enjoyable ordeal.
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Posing Has Its Penalties
Nonetheless feeling sore nearly every week after being on stage sounds like a stretch, nevertheless it’s not hyperbolic primarily based on what the science says about bodybuilding posing routines.
To the informal viewer, a bodybuilder flexing their biceps or performing a lat spread might appear like a low-impact exercise or type of inventive expression moderately than a exercise.
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That’s not the case.
Not solely does bodybuilding posing burn calories, however in accordance with the authors of a July 2024 research revealed within the journal Utilized Physiology, Vitamin, and Metabolism, posing coaching “meets the standards for vigorous train depth.”
Right here’s how they arrived at that conclusion:
- Researchers measured oxygen consumption, metabolic equivalents (METs), and complete estimated power expenditure of 15 male, steroid-using bodybuilders.
- The topics carried out a number of rounds of a dozen bodybuilding poses, offering a fee of perceived exertion (RPE) after every spherical.
- Contributors’ maximum heart rate measured round 77%, with the common fee coronary heart clocking in at round 135 beats per minute.
- Contributors burned about 100 energy throughout 4 rounds of posing.
Whereas Sommerfeld can be unwise to ditch conventional cardio, it’s clear channeling all of your power and energy into hitting your poses completely does take a toll.
However with Bumstead retiring—at the least from Traditional Physique—maybe the times after the 2025 Olympia received’t be as painful.
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References
- Peixoto DL, Nacimento DC, Moura RF, de Moraes WMAM, Magalhães B, de Sousa LL, Rolnick N, Prestes J. A quasi-experimental research on the power expenditure, train depth, and score of perceived exertion of a male bodybuilding posing coaching. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2024 Jul 30. doi: 10.1139/apnm-2024-0151. Epub forward of print. PMID: 39079174.
Featured picture: @mikethebadass / Instagram