eli5: Why do people who are actually strong look different than bodybuilders who train all week?

Question

eli5: Why do people who are actually strong look different than bodybuilders who train all week?

In: Biology

Answer 1

I’m surprised it isn’t mentioned yet, although it is first necessary to define what you mean by ’actually strong’. Anyway, the reason is that strength to a large degree is a neurological adaptation and one can become very *efficient* at utilizing the muscles(and brain) to do a specific movement. Bodybuilders however don’t train to become proficient in certain movements, they are concerned with size and aesthetics and size. They engage therefore more with 1) alternating phases of weight gain followed by weight loss, and 2) a large variety of exercises, in particular isolated exercises to exhaust each muscle group.