# muscle man (informal)



## gargamel80

Hi Folk!


How do we say '*muscle man*' in Russian? It is used to define a strong person with well-developed muscles.


Thanks!


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## rusita preciosa

Muscular man = *мускулистый мужчина

*If If you are looking for an equivalent of the slang expression "muscle man", it would be something like *качо́к*, but is will depend on the context.


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## Budspok

бугАй, кабАн, шкаф, амбАл


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## willem81

Budspok, do you believe that to say 'You are a muscle man' is equivalent to "Ты кабан" ? ))


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## Budspok

In many cases I do...


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## Maroseika

I also think that in many cases "Какой ты мускулистый мужчина!" will sound much more weird and ambiguous than "Ну ты и кабан!". 
However in the third person it may sound quite well: "В вагон вошел мускулистый мужчина".


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## willem81

It may sound ambiguous since being a wild boar (кабан) can as well mean a very fat man, not necessarily muscular. Not to mention that it may also sound offensive.))


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## rusita preciosa

I think we are all wasting our time playing the guessing game. Until the OP provides the context, this is an exercise in futility. I'm not even sure he wanted the slang/sarcastic  expression rather than simply the term “muscular”.


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## Maroseika

willem81 said:


> It may sound ambiguous since being a wild boar (кабан) can as well mean a very fat man, not necessarily muscular. Not to mention that it may also sound offensive.))



I'd say, a fat man is rather боров, than кабан. Wild boars are far not fat, but very strong, unlike a hog (боров, кладеный кабан), fattened for slaughter. 
Anyway, I think it is clear that the correct word for a "muscle man" is strongly context dependable.


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## gargamel80

Hi again

Actually I have to explain every word in a very detailed way otherwise it is difficult for you to 'guess', yes. Muscle man is an *informal *way of defining a 'strong man with well-developed muscles'. If you use it as a *slang *word, then it means 'bodyguard'. I am looking for a Russian word that would give the *informal *meaning. An informal way of talking about any kind of strong man with well-developed muscles.

Thanks!


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## willem81

The possible informal interpretations of the English expression 'muscle man' are:
Качок (as was also mentioned by Rusita Preciosa in #2)
Накачанный мужик
Жилистый мужик

What suggests Budspok in #3 I would judge as rather slangy expressions, however they also may be an option.


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## Caballero_Andante

willem81 said:


> Жилистый мужик



I'd say жилистый refers to a thin but strong man, not a muscular man.


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## willem81

Caballero_Andante said:


> I'd say жилистый refers to a thin but strong man, not a muscular man.



Formally, yes, I agree. But I think the point here is not only in the muscle mass but rather in being strong. Жилистый also indicates lack of fat, which comes from an intensive physical training or a hard physical work. _Накачанный_ and _жилистый_ are not totally equivalent, but somehow close.


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## Caballero_Andante

I'd say накачанный and жилистый are two opposite outcomes of a workout: we get either a muscular man or a thin one in the end (no fat in either case), though both are rather strong


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## willem81

In the first case muscles get not only strong but also more prominent, in the second case muscles are as strong but less prominent. In both cases he has strong muscles, hasn't he?


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## willem81

By the way, Google translate says that _muscular_ (_мускулистый_) and _sinewy (жилистый)_ are synonyms.


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## horace.mik

First of all, as someone just said, a muscular man can be muscular and thin or muscolar and fat. I would allude to Bruce Lee, he was very muscular and decidedly strong, but for any reason in the world I wouldn't describe him as "бугай, кабан, шкаф, амбал". I'd use "шифоньер" or "гора" (the litteral translation of the first is "wardrobe", but it seems to me that in English I can say "tank" as figurative; the second one is "mountain") to define a tall, big and muscolar bouncer.


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## Caballero_Andante

willem81
I rarely trust google translate, but I looked it up on multitran and looks like they're really somewhat sinonyms.
horace.mik
The case is that to me, мускулистый would always mean possessing mighty shape, while жилистый is slim/slender, though very agile and strong. I may be wrong, of course, but I have never heard any Russian to use жилистый in the sense of "muscular". Surely you can't call any muscular man кабан or амбал, sometimes гора and even танк (like in English) will suit better indeed. I assume шифоньер is somewhat old-fashioned, though.


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## Enquiring Mind

I searched силач in Google images, and what did I find?  Musclemen.


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## Caballero_Andante

Силач may be a perfect equivalent for muscle man, but it's fairly neutral. Not even informal.


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## willem81

Neither formal nor informal)) yes, силач is precisely 'muscle man'. The most obvious things are not always on the surface.)


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## Caballero_Andante

It just may be. It's all context-defined, so in some cases силач will fit, in others качок or even мордоворот will fit better.
Btw, please note the topic starter was looking for an informal term.


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