Poll: Winter Is Coming - HBO's A Game of Thrones [READ WARNING]

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Who will rule Westeros?

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    471
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Errol said:
NO.

If anything, the men used to wielding weapons and wearing heavy armour since the age of 10 (or thereabouts) would be even bigger.

From digging up the remains of gladiators in Italy, they have discovered that their arm/shoulder bones (size and density) were 4-5 times or more greater than a 'normal' man. With the muscle that comes from building up this density and carrying very heavy weapons you would expect them to be enormous. Probably bigger than most of the people on the GOT tv show.
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Not so sure. Sure might have high bone density (rugby players have high bone density from repeat impacts for example - would imagine the impact of practise weapons would be similar), doesn't mean they'll have the massive bulk. You have plenty of folk these days who do manual work day in day out and don't look anything like hulking bodybuilders.
Just looking at suits of armour from a few hundred years ago and the average height was at least a foot lower than now too - mostly I assume to do with diet.
 
Errol said:
NO.

If anything, the men used to wielding weapons and wearing heavy armour since the age of 10 (or thereabouts) would be even bigger.

From digging up the remains of gladiators in Italy, they have discovered that their arm/shoulder bones (size and density) were 4-5 times or more greater than a 'normal' man. With the muscle that comes from building up this density and carrying very heavy weapons you would expect them to be enormous. Probably bigger than most of the people on the GOT tv show.
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I think you're completely missing the point I made I'd expect them to be muscular/strong to some extent but not to look like bodybuilders... they're not scoffing protein shakes or working out different muscle groups for no reason, they're training with swords and getting an all round workout secondary to that - Bron is probably the sort of physique you'd expect for a knight/soldier in the middle ages. Any strong man types considered 'big' back then would probably have a bit of bodyfat too and be quite stocky... not 'ripped'.
 
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Not 'ripped', but I would expect very large muscle mass due to the very high protein diet in conjunction with spending the whole time lifting heavy weapons/fighting etc. (since they were young boys). Bear in mind that Greek Hoplite amour weighed in the region of 35kg (excluding the weapons) - and people had to fight in this!

Train using just a 10kg weighted vest and you WILL get massive in time. No question.

However, 'six packs' were understood in Roman/Greek times and common enough to have people include them in various forms of art - statues etc.
 
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Errol said:
Not 'ripped', but I would expect very large muscle mass due to the very high protein diet in conjunction with spending the whole time lifting heavy weapons/fighting etc. (since they were young boys). Bear in mind that Greek Hoplite amour weighed in the region of 35kg (excluding the weapons) - and people had to fight in this!

Train using just a 10kg weighted vest and you WILL get massive in time. No question.

However, 'six packs' were understood in Roman/Greek times and common enough to have people include them in various forms of art - statues etc.
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It isn't the same really... and I wouldn't expect very large muscle mass in general, we're not talking about gladiators here but soldiers.

As for wearing a weighted vest making you massive - look at say solders or marines today even... they're still carrying heavy equipment everywhere. The guys who are massive are the gym queens, the bodybuilding physique isn't a natural result of soldiering/carrying heavy kit it is the artificial result of supplements and working specific muscle groups with weights/gym equipment. For guys aren't gym queens they'll still build muscle/strength but in a different way, they won't have excess muscle. And when soldiers go on exercise for a prolonged period, out in the field eating rations they tend to lose body-weight/muscle mass.
 
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Errol said:
NO.

If anything, the men used to wielding weapons and wearing heavy armour since the age of 10 (or thereabouts) would be even bigger.

From digging up the remains of gladiators in Italy, they have discovered that their arm/shoulder bones (size and density) were 4-5 times or more greater than a 'normal' man. With the muscle that comes from building up this density and carrying very heavy weapons you would expect them to be enormous. Probably bigger than most of the people on the GOT tv show.
Click to expand...

History has proven that warriors did not need to be big. Average heights in the Roman Empire were less than 5ft 8, England about the same, and even training daily with a weapon you can only put on as much mass as your diet and natural body type allows. You would have had relatively short guys with dense whip corded muscle that would have been both strong and fast. And likely a layer or two of fat on them too.

Apparently gladiators were mainly vegetarians and drank plant ash rich in calcium to increase bone density, but I can't find any claims for your 4-5x greater density claim http://www.ancient-origins.net/news...ators-consumed-plant-ash-bone-strength-002262
 
Errol said:
Train using just a 10kg weighted vest and you WILL get massive in time. No question.
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Haha is it that easy? I've been lifting weights 10x that for years and I'm only slightly muscular.

Doing physical activity will increase your bone density, that's true for any exercise. You won't gain significant amounts of muscle unless you're eating a lot of food and continuously lifting heavier and heavier weight (this is called progressive overload and is what bodybuilders do). If you throw a sword around in armour all day you'll be in good shape and have some muscle, but you won't be particularly big, you'd probably look like Bronn as someone else said
 
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I'm starting to hate Ramsey more than Joffrey... and I didn't think that would be possible.
 
Jono said:
I'm starting to hate Ramsey more than Joffrey... and I didn't think that would be possible.
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The difference is that while we hated Joffrey, we didn't fear him so much as he was just a spoilt and temperamental, if admittedly cruel, brat.

Ramsay in comparison, however, is a true inhuman psycho and would make you crap your load and pray for a quick death as soon as he looked at you.
 
Richdog said:
The difference is that while we hated Joffrey, we didn't fear him so much as he was just a spoilt and temperamental, if admittedly cruel, brat.

Ramsay in comparison, however, is a true inhuman psycho and would make you crap your load and pray for a quick death as soon as he looked at you.
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Only with the safety of his men nearby and his weapons.

Would love to fight him one on one :D
 
Richdog said:
The difference is that while we hated Joffrey, we didn't fear him so much as he was just a spoilt and temperamental, if admittedly cruel, brat.

Ramsay in comparison, however, is a true inhuman psycho and would make you crap your load and pray for a quick death as soon as he looked at you.
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Yep, the type of guy who'd do your wife in front of you.
 
Jono said:
I'm starting to hate Ramsey more than Joffrey... and I didn't think that would be possible.
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Ramsey is awesome, he's creative in his evilness and pretty sharp too.

Joffrey was just an evil little **** and not particularly bright. For whoever was talking about taking Ramsey on one on one - he's already shown he's not afraid to fight and was happy to ride into battle against Stannis. These people have been training to fight regularly since they were little kids, unless you're a seriously good MMA fighter the average knight/lord from the middle ages would kick your ass - Ramsey would shank you from nowhere before you even got in a punch.

Joffrey on the other hand is the one completely reliant on being surrounded by others - he was a little coward who ran back to the Red Keep when Kings Landing was under threat.
 
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Unfortunately for Ramsey he is about to run into (a resurrected) John Snow... and a somewhat pee'd off Sansa. I know who my money is on :)

Winterfell is going to be back in Stark hands in short order :p

Littlefinger is going to have massively underestimated Sansa :)
 
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