do gamers make great bodybuilders?

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/14/health/video-gamers-bodybuilders-fitocracy/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

"they've been trained to focus for weeks at a time on a single goal. they know how to clearly identify obstacles and form step-by-step plans to overcome them. they're obsessed with improving specific skills but judge success only by overall progress made in the world they've decided to conquer -- as realistic or fantastical as it may be. It's precisely these traits that make video-gamers great bodybuilders."

i thought this was pretty interesting because i know we have some athletes here on giantbomb. what are your thoughts?

I've done more than 'leveled up' from losing 65 lbs this year. That article is awesome.

I've been at it for more than seven years and I've considered finally competing next year. I've never drawn that parallel but I guess there may be some truth in it, but the rewards come to you way slower than they would in video games.

I personally want to increase my STR and END stats really soon.

i think so. i have been lifting for like maybe 2 years now. pretty good feeling. i want to become a jacked up video game nerd. you know i like video games. 

So, I'll just say this. I felt like a fat slob when I weighed 205 lbs and I wasn't a fan of myself when I looked in the mirror. I started the university and ate like everyone else, cheeseburgers, pizza, quesedias followed by sitting in my room and not moving for hours playing some Red Dead. I wanted to change that. I started going to the gym Jan. 1st this year and my workout has changed throughout but right 1/3 running and 2/3 lifting and I think (?) I look better, I certianly feel better. I lost 65 lbs this year so far. Have gone from a large to a small, a 34 waist to a 29. I'm not bodybulder (yet?) but just start going to the gym, eat less shitty foods and well, the rest should hopefully come naturally as a system forms around you (at least for me). I have used fitocracy in the past few months and love it, it really is a good incentive to keep on going. The article does a nice job in showing that the pejorative 'gamer' is misplaced.

@Dany: Dude, congratulations. That's seriously impressive.

As far as setting goals for oneself sure. But that's about it. In video games we want instant gratification and for games that don't have them, we can still grind an ungodly amount of hours to obtain the same thing. However, that doesn't translate since while somebody can grind 20 hrs in a day with no sleep, working out don't quite work like that.

"Take Vin Diesel, one of the buffest men in Hollywood. Diesel used to play "D&D" on his days off as a bouncer in one of New York's nightclubs."

Another reason why Vin Diesel in cool in my book.

Not only can gamers handle going into bodybuilding, they can also handle surgeries better as a doctor because most of the time you're looking through an endoscope camera and moving instruments so the better hand-and-eye coordination helps us in that. I'm proof of this, I was really good at key-hole surgery when tested in one of the years of Medicine.

I started jogging and lifting some weights recently, it has nothing to do with being or not being a gamer, just a desire to be healthy. Of course i still smoke...but yeah :D

If anyone wants to check out the fitocracy site, we have a Whiskey Media invite code. Just use the code WMEDIA and you should be able to sign up. There is also a thread on it here. And don't worry. It's not just for body builders. Anyone doing anything to get fit can get something out of it.

It's an interesting possibility actually. I've went to the gym some times and I have been alright even though I'd never set the world on fire at. Seeing that article, it has a good point though.

Seems like a bit of a stretch to me.

@Dany: Holy shit man. Great work!

There is definitely a similarity. I think seeing your progress while working out triggers the same pleasure zones as progress in games does. I know several people that were especially deep into gaming and later were really into fitness/bodybuilding.

I guess they might. I wouldn't.

Brian Wang and Dick Talens

You have to be fucking kidding me.

Duder, just look at Dave...

Yeah, I guess. We are a determined group, instead of playing a game and dying repeatedly until we figure out the puzzle/weakness etc...We're lifting weights until our arms feel like they'll fall off. I guess that's cool? :P

I'm highly looking forward into getting more heavily involved in Fitocracy. This week, I planned to heavily start working out, but then I got sick. But this week will be better!

Actually I did look at my health as a project a few years back. I dropped from 240 lbs to 180 lbs in six months or so and have been in the best shape of my life. I pretty much pictured myself grinding like one would do in an MMO (I used to be real into FFXI, so doing repetitive boring shit several hours a day is right up my alley) while working out, jogging, or min/maxing when choosing the right foods to eat and my fitness schedule, as nerdy as that sounds. Looking at the way I handle a lot of things in my life, I do treat a lot of my issues and goals as "challenges" the same way I would in a game. It helps me get a better focus on the situation.

I keep trying to do the Konami code while I work out in hopes of finding some kind of cheat, but I can't figure out the A/B button press parts.

Gamers are people too. People have lives outside of their hobbies ( I would hope so) . Putting that aside, A gamer is a person when it comes right down to it. And a person can do anything. ANYTHING!

This seems like a poor correlation.

i'd say no.

working out and generally being healthy is much different than being an actual body builder.

gaming is a pretty time consuming hobby, and being a body builder takes alot of commitment.

so no. gamers dont make great bodybuilders.

@crusader8463 said:

I keep trying to do the Konami code while I work out in hopes of finding some kind of cheat, but I can't figure out the A/B button press parts.

Ass/Bollocks? That makes sense for A/B for me. A slap on the ass then a tug of the bollocks. But what is the start button?

Wow that is really crazy. Earlier this year, I decided I would work out much more. Instead of coming up with a schedual, and forcing myself to stick with it. I came up with goals and "rewards" for hitting those goals. Almost like a level up system, mainly to keep my mind off the fact that my body wants to stop. Also, whenever I try to meditate, since my mind always wanders from "thinking about nothing" instead I try to generate a game of tetris in my head. I randomize the pieces, and try to remember everything on the board. That amount of concentration on practicily nothing, is a great form of meditation.

Anyway so far I have lost 45lbs and am going to try to lose more. Very interesting article, I think that gamers may have a different type of motivation then most people.

Just have a big cock. Then it doesn't matter if you lift or not because the cardio keeps you nice and tone.

I'd go so far as to point to the Creative Obsessive personality type many 'gamers' (I feel dirty using that word) fit into as beneficial. They're right with the problem-solving and improvement aspects of our personality but bodybuilding is only one part of a spectrum.

I've lost 20 lbs and increased muscle tone in the last 2 months by identifying creative solutions to my challenges and experimenting. Experimenting is the key trait many gamers are familiar with. The standard game mechanic: observe phenomena, attempt solution 1, fail, attempt solution 2, fail, attempt solution 2, succeed. Puzzles in games require the player to externalize lessons learned from previous phenomena.

I'm back at school getting my Master's Degree in International Affairs, I left my consoles and gaming setup back home and have no time for anything else. If I'm lucky, I fit in 30 mins a week of low-key PC games just to unwind. What I do have is a gym on campus; my body-improvement has become the game. I know what I need to achieve, I research solutions to obstacles online and always search for ways to improve my performance.

Creative Obsessive personalities are awesome.

I would think so. When I finally decided to stop being a fat slob I weighed 205 lbs and couldn't bench 100 lbs. I downloaded an app that records how far you travel and in what time and compares it to friends you have added. I used then when running everyday and kept trying to push myself to do the same distance faster. Then when I got down to 140 lbs I decided I was to skinny and needed to bulk up, so I bought protein and creatine and started benching. Since then about 9 months ago I have put on 25 lbs of muscle, and can bench 200 lbs. All the motivation I had was driven by the same thing that drove me to sit down leveling in WoW for hours. Just to see a higher number and be better then all my friends. Which is now true irl.

I lost 40 pounds myself

I have no interest in "body building," I think body builders look pretty abnormal.

I do go to the gym though, I often laugh to myself when I see people with pen and paper at the gym keeping track of their workouts.

Maybe the gamer part of me makes that easier to remember/keep track of.

I guess in a funny way it is like leveling up, but yes, as mentioned previously "a lot slower."

On another note, just cuz you go to the gym does not qualify you as an "athelete."

You can be ripped as hell and not be able to throw a baseball well or catch a foodball.

Does not mean you can smash a golfball hundreds of yards away and still land it in the fairway.

Or handle flying down a hillside on a mountain bike, hitting jumps, avoiding obstacles or balancing on technical areas.

That is an athelete.

that dude in that first picture is gross looking. also do you think a lot of gamers were picked on during school so now they lift weights to be the tough guy? just a thought.