Who is the BEST out of shape player of alltime?

[Perfect_Drug]

That's not true at all. Muscles improve the body's elasticity, and guard against injury. If Gretzky had a good build on him, he may have eclipsed 100 goals/season.

The thing about Gretzky was the way he played required him to be laterally agile, and shifty as hell.

Think about what Patrick Kane would play like if you added 30lbs of muscle on him. I don't think it's quite as beneficial as you think given the type of game Gretzky played.

 

[Jee]

Not even close to the best of all-time, but Mike Ribeiro was a great player for someone that looked like Christian Bale in The Machinist

 

[Jets4Life]

The thing about Gretzky was the way he played required him to be laterally agile, and shifty as hell.

Think about what Patrick Kane would play like if you added 30lbs of muscle on him. I don't think it's quite as beneficial as you think given the type of game Gretzky played.

Building muscle, especially weight training, is beneficial for nearly all athletes. The attitude that being muscular "will slow elite athletes down" went out the window in the late 70s, as better conditioned athletes always excel better, than ones who avoid building their bodies. You may be thinking of stereotypical bodybuilders, who inject themselves full of steroids.

Two examples of better conditioned athletes at their time, were Pavel Bure and Teemu Selanne, who both had tree-trunks as legs. Selanne remarked during his first season with the Jets, that he could not believe how cavalier the team took training, and how out of shape players were when returning from the off season.

The game has evolved so much, especially when Europeans came over and started to dominate in the 90s, that todays players are more muscular, faster, and take their diet far more serious. Gone are the days of players like Guy Lafleur smoking a pack a day, in between periods, then going for drinks after each game.

 

[Fitzy]

Not even close to the best of all-time, but Mike Ribeiro was a great player for someone that looked like Christian Bale in The Machinist

I remember as a kid pulling a hockey card of him out of a tops pack in 2000 and reading he was 147 lbs, I was sure it was a typo

 

[Perfect_Drug]

Building muscle, especially weight training, is beneficial for nearly all athletes. The attitude that being muscular "will slow elite athletes down" went out the window in the late 70s, as better conditioned athletes always excel better, than ones who avoid building their bodies. You may be thinking of stereotypical bodybuilders, who inject themselves full of steroids.

I don't think it would slow them down per se.

But you could say Gretzky's build was optimal for his style of play.
And he likely did the type of training that optimized his style of play (could be weights, maybe not).

You realise Fedor might be considered the greatest MMA fighter of all time:

Adding muscle mass to players like Kane or Gretzky might actually change them.

 

[Thierry]

I don't get it. What's so funny? Maybe I misunderstand the term "man possessed", I'm French... can someone be kind enough to explain me what's funny? I feel like I'm missing something good!

 

[Baberham Lincoln]

Wasn't there a rumour that Lemieux couldn't even bench 100lbs? I would vote him.

 

[Los merengues]

Ovie is definitely one.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Big buff. That guy just insane.

 

[Trinstin]

That is not being out of shape, not being bulked. Gretzky was a finesse player, more muscles would have made him slower.

Just because you put on muscle it doesnt automatically make you slower. Putting on muscle can make you faster/more explosive. See: MacKinnon

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Tim Thomas

 

[Rorschach]

Wasn't there a rumour that Lemieux couldn't even bench 100lbs? I would vote him.

I vote Lemieux too...after all, I saw him routinely smoking cigarettes inbetween periods of games back in the 80s.

Sincerely,

- Wayne Gretzky

 

[Rorschach]

On a serious note, many of the 70s/80s players were out of shape despite being stars. I remember Bernie Nicholls of the Kings scoring more than PPG and was notorious for not working out at all. I think Mike Bossy was similar in not taking care of himself.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Ovie is definitely one.

Seeing him in person, I wanna say Ovi at his heaviest was like 260-280. Absolute tank.

 

[Bertuzzzi44]

Thread. Lol the guy retired cause he hated working out.

 

[Fantomas]

Ovie is definitely one.

Ovechkin is not out of shape. Too many people have a misguided understanding of what an athlete's body should look like.

As one can see with Emelianenko's body - posted above - there are different athletic body types and they're not all ripped.

The fact of the matter is that Ovechkin plays many minutes, does not get tired, and barely misses games. He's in amazing shape.

 

[Fantomas]

I don't know if Sergei Zubov was necessarily completely out of shape. He was fit in many respects.

But he smoked like a chimney his whole career.

 

[SFKingshomer]

Marcel Dionne looked chubby

 

[JD1]

Marcel Dionne looked chubby

I spent an hour about 5 years ago chatting with Dionne while we waited out a rain delay while golfing. His fingers were thicker than the cuban he was smoking.

 

[JD1]

If you switch this to baseball you've got plenty of candidates

David Wells
Jon Kruk
Prince Fielder
Miggy

There's just tons of fat guys that either pitched or played 1st

 

[Fixxer]

Mario Lemieux

 

[The Andrew Peeke Fan]

Mario

 

[teravaineSAROS]

Building muscle, especially weight training, is beneficial for nearly all athletes. The attitude that being muscular "will slow elite athletes down" went out the window in the late 70s, as better conditioned athletes always excel better, than ones who avoid building their bodies.

You're right, however in endurance sports having too much muscle isn't beneficial. Bulked up MMA fighters can be very fast but they run out of gas much quicker because there's so much more muscle you need to supply oxygen to.

Being tired does slow you down.

If you're a defenseman playing 30 minutes a night you definitely don't want to be too buff; you want your body to be more efficient.

 

[Channelcat]

Ovechkin is not out of shape. Too many people have a misguided understanding of what an athlete's body should look like.

As one can see with Emelianenko's body - posted above - there are different athletic body types and they're not all ripped.

The fact of the matter is that Ovechkin plays many minutes, does not get tired, and barely misses games. He's in amazing shape.

Ya, he may have a larger mid section, but I think it's just body type. I suspect his body fat is very low.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Just because you put on muscle it doesnt automatically make you slower. Putting on muscle can make you faster/more explosive. See: MacKinnon

I see it as different kinds of fast, though- Mac is all power, he uses his leg strength to beat his opponents. He got to a point where he realized that was his edge. Gretzky was more about agility, quick slippery movements to minimize contact. I just don’t think bulk woulda helped his particular game all that much as it woulda altered his style- McD might be faster but somewhat similar- he could add some weight for injury prevention, but it could also easily modify his game to be slightly less effective/natural. Kinda like how some people feel Subban has bulked up too much. So.. adding muscle can definitely speed a player up, ala Mac. But other guys have built a game around their unique skills, and I find it difficult to say an elite athlete might be better if they did X.