arm size

LunaHotel said:
Hear, hear... I have big forearms, just naturally so, about 14.75" with my 17.25" arms, and people sometimes tell me "hey you have pretty big arms, do you work out?" LMAO... Now, my arms are underdeveloped compared to the rest of me, but I wear loose clothes. Call it modesty. :D

Then there's this other guy at work with maybe 16" or 16.5" arms with a 40" waist but he's wearing very short sleeves all the time, with leather wrist bands, and the whole thang to try and "look" big. People think HE's big and don't even notice me... Sometimes people think I'm 5'8" when I'm really 5'11" because how I "seem" not big, just wide for my height? ;) Then it's so funny when I roll up my sleeve and flex a little, they all go "Damn! You're, like, lots bigger than THAT guy!" I think it's hilarious because I'm always thinking about how smallish my arms really are...

So? Looking big and BEING big are two different stories. I prefer the latter. :D

Now, how much are Coleman's arms again? I wonder if HE could find a way to dress so as to simply look short? Very short. ;)
I hear you man...this one guy cracked me up! He had maybe 15.5" or 16" arms and was a fat ass. He always wore these skin tight shirts, and rubbed his arms in class, and every chance he got, he'd talk about his aspirations as a "professional wrestler" ;)

I'm pretty wide myself, not "huge" wide, but I'm pretty wide. I'm 5'11" and everyone thinks I'm like 5'9" or shorter until they stand right next to me. It kinda sucks... (shoulders are like 54-55", so for regular persion, I guess that's wide). Just out of curiousity, how "wide" are you mr modest? ;)
 
The Men's Health covers - powerlifters
NOT
Actually, guys on the cover of Men's Health and Men's Fitness are usually too big for most modeling jobs that make the biggest bucks.
 
that is true. the reasons are several. first of all, in general, models are supposed to make clothes look good, moreso than looking good themselves. there is a difference. clothes, especially as designed, simply hang and look better on thin people.
 
rrgg said:
Actually, guys on the cover of Men's Health and Men's Fitness are usually too big for most modeling jobs that make the biggest bucks.
True...High Fashion models are usually lean but kinda lanky. The clothes have to kinda "hang" off of them. If you've got a big ass chest, the shirt you're wearing will look like a skirt!

My g/f is a model and I've seen the clowns who were chosen for $5,000, 2 day jobs. Most of the chicks were ugly, too. My g/f and like 3 other girls were hot out of a group of like 100 girls. The rest looked like a more human version of Jar-Jar Binks from starwars. The guys n girls who get their pictures taken don't make jack crap in comparison. Maybe a few hundred bucks a photoshoot usually.
 
a few hundred bucks to have my picture taken... hmm i'm down with that
its better than a few hundred bucks a week to bust your ass with a shitty job lol
 
jminis said:
. I say don't be as concerned about size worry more about quality..
I hope you haven't heard this from too many women, it's a lie :))

Some of the pro bodybuilers back in the 80's didn't have 20" guns but they looked huge all the same. You get yourself some 17 inchers (I think I saw a pair for sale on E-bay), get that vain going down it like Mark Bavaro had going, and some cuts in them and I'll guarentee you'll have a woman hanging on that arm who is worth of such god like muscles.
 
My arms are 17.5-18, had them at 18.5 while I was on my M1T cycle a while back, but it was all the water. :(

The problem for me is, I'm tall, and have a 78.5 inch wingspan, so filling in my arms is a bitch. Plus in pictures, I think they still look small.

None of us will ever be happy with how they look though. That's what keeps us working at it.
 
So your about 6'6" Ivan....you got an inch on me. I hear ya on gettin them guns. I can curl 135 lbs but my arms still dont peak out like some of the shorter guys hitting 115. Thats why theres more weight on the rack though. :)
 
I think mine are around 17.5 cold, but I'm not super lean right now. My problem is that I have "high" biceps so I have really concentrated on reverse curls and triceps in order to full out my arms.

Strange thing is that I do tend to get comments about my arms but I think that it's just because when you look at me from the side my arms look much bigger than they are, but from the front they lack that true thickness that I really want.

Maybe another reason is that my wrists are pretty tiny, so it's really an optical illusion I believe.

Dang, this thread is inspiring me. I have a bad habit of not training arms as hard as I should.
 
jjjd said:
the thing with usher is he's a singer. look at steve perry (ok, so i'm dating myself). women loved him. but he was kinda ugly. women love singers. because they are sexy. usher is actualy a good looking guy AND he signs. so, of course women are going to like him. for what it's worth, i definitely get more attention from women in general, since I "buffed up". however, i think there is a point where you get big enough that less women will find you attractive. freakish size (and for most women, freakish is a lot smaller than what we consider freakish) is a turn off. it even goes back to evolutionary cues. women are programmed to like a certain shoulder/waist ratio, just as men like a certain waist/hip ratio in women. far more women are going to find a men's fitness cover model attractive vs. a big bodybuilder. and ESPECIALLY the bloated guy is out. a guy like darrem charles is going to be way more attractive to women than markus ruhl or ronnie
I guess that puts me in the same demographics as you because I remember all too well Steve Perry. Let's face it, if you're rich and famous you're going to attract a lot of women.

I have to disagree that if you get too large women find you less attractive. Women fell all over Arnold and he was freakish for that time. But he was also well proportioned. They always said Frank Zane wasn't "big" but the guy was still pretty big compared to most guys even today. He just didn't have a blocky look to him. One thing both Arnold and Zane had were small waists, or the apprearance of such. Some of the lifters today just look bloated. It probably doesn't look very masculain if it looks like you're going to give birth at any moment.
 
I dunno, how do you measure that? From one delt to the other?

Well, I'm at the office and it looks like I am exactly 23" wide. Well, I actually took the measure with a ruler, and from the edge of my left delt to my sternum, there is 11½". Since I am about 5" thick, that would make me about 56" around the delts, more or less. I'll measure tonight with a tape and let you know tomorrow.
 
Seriously, how much were Ronnie's arms at the last O?

What I want to do is put my measurements in a spreadsheet and have, say, 20" as the ultimate goal, with a 28" waist at the same time, calculate that ratio, and from now on, just calculate everything in terms of size/waist.

I mean, what if my arms are 19" but my waist is 42"?
Much better to have 18" and 30" :)
Same for legs, calves, shoulders, etc...

It'll make it much easier to track REAL progress, I think.
 
Boss_K said:
So your about 6'6" Ivan....you got an inch on me. I hear ya on gettin them guns. I can curl 135 lbs but my arms still dont peak out like some of the shorter guys hitting 115. Thats why theres more weight on the rack though. :)

Yep, 6'5 and 3/4 to be exact.

I have long flat biceps that when flexed, are nearly the same from beginning to end, with no real peak. I think that makes them look smaller than they are too. :frustrate

Same with the curling thing, I've curled 135 for 8 as a personal best, but I see guys with 30lbs less on who have much better looking arms. Ah well, just keeps you going. :)
 
kwyckemynd00 said:
I hear you man...this one guy cracked me up! He had maybe 15.5" or 16" arms and was a fat ass. He always wore these skin tight shirts, and rubbed his arms in class, and every chance he got, he'd talk about his aspirations as a "professional wrestler" ;)

I'm pretty wide myself, not "huge" wide, but I'm pretty wide. I'm 5'11" and everyone thinks I'm like 5'9" or shorter until they stand right next to me. It kinda sucks... (shoulders are like 54-55", so for regular persion, I guess that's wide). Just out of curiousity, how "wide" are you mr modest? ;)

I measured myself around the delts. I come up with 55". We're about the same size I guess.
 
What is your waist size? I wonder what the ideal raio would be between shoulders and waist. We need a research grant to figure this out.
 
Right now my waist is at 33".

So I've got 17.5" arms more or less - difficult to figure out since I stopped training my oversized triceps in favor of my undersize biceps for the last month or so - 55" 'round the delts and 33" waist.

Of course, I'm aiming at 20" arms, 60" delts and 28" waist... That's ideal, IMO.

Post yours?
 
I'll have to measure around the delts, but my arms are slightly under 17", 34" waist ( I should be able to get that down to 32" except that cardio is a total bore). I do know that I'm 50" around the chest. I'm 210lbs and 5'8 and I'm old, just like Luna.

I can tell you this, whatever the magical ratio is, I don't have it. There's not exactly a line of women at my desk. Or I do have the magically ratio and I'm just such an incrediable pain in the ass. Hmmm, I might need to rethink my hypothesis.
 
OK, I checked it out. The tape measure wasn't big enough so I had someone reset the tachometer on their car and drive around my shoulders. Just kidding. The tape was big enough and it came to 56"

But still no line of women at my desk :(
 
Damn it you guys made me go an get the tape measure out of my girlfriend's sewing basket....:)

Height: 6'
Weight: 225#
Waist: 36"
Arms: 18"
Forearms: 14"
Shoulders: 56"
Quads: 26"
Calves: 17"

One more all out bulkfest and then Im slicing off all the chunk starting next March. Id like to put another 1" on everything. (And I mean EVERYTHING - now where'd I put that shlong pump order form....):)

BV
 
So it sounds like we're all pretty close to the same. Do any of you guys feel like you're big? I get people saying I'm big but I just don't see it. I'm wondering if I just don't see it because I see myself all the time, and it ain't a pretty sight.

Since we are so close, maybe we need some kind of friendly compitition to get us going. But BV, there are just somethings I won't compare :)
 
Yeah I hear you JayHawkk I can't wait to cut down, but I want to be about the size I am now and *ripped*, so I need another 20lbs of good solid mass. I havent gained much this year just a little strength. Been so busy with a new job and recovering from tendon injuries. (which are a BITCH to heal)

Skoal - I guess I feel like Im bigger than most guys. When I look in the mirror, I feel pretty small though. I need to do one more bulking cycle and then I know Ill be a decent size.

You guys dont want to have a wiener competition? Aw, come on!!! Ive been rubbing Systenhance on it for months.:)

BV
 
Depends really. SDome days I feel small and some days I feel big. I get comliments on my arms which is a good motivator to keep in the gym.
 
BigVrunga said:
Skoal - I need to do one more bulking cycle and then I know Ill be a decent size.

BV

LOL How many times have you said that before. I know I've said that atleast 3-4times myself.
 
I think I've had one compliment on my arms, ever. Most people compliment me on my thighs but I can't exactly wear a speedo to work. When I was 180lbs I thought I'd be big at 200. Now I'm 210lbs and think maybe 230 would be good.

I'm in that group too who are looking to do some bulking for the next 6 months and then drop. I'm hoping to hit 220-230 without adding much fat and then come back down to 200. From the look of my waist, I'm ready for winter now.
 
Yeah but I *really* want to be cut. I think my BF is around 12-14% which isnt all that bad, but I want to see all this musculature Ive been working on for the past few years!!! I never saw a point to constant bulking/cutting, my plan was to get as big as I could and then rip down and maintain. Almost there....one more cycle:):)

BV
 
We need a good get big and get cut supplement :)

But can you honestly say once you get your arms to 18 1/2" you aren't going to be tempted to go for 19"? Don't get me wrong, I'd kill for your arms and calves. But you get my drift.

I think one of the things that keeps us going is getting to that next rung. If you're benching 300 you want 315 and so on. And that constant pursuit is probably a good thing.
 
Yeah its a great thing but the bigger/stronger you get the harder the gains come. Im sure we could all be 250lb, ripped monsters if we chose to, but it comes down to how much of your life do you want to dedicate to maintaining that level? I think I can naturally support a ripped 215 - 220 or so without spending 100% of my free time training and dieting (even though its great when I can do that - its just not feasable if I want to get anything else done, so it has to be short bouts of extreme dedication interspersed with maitenence training/diet. Damn job!!!:)

We need a good get big and get cut supplement

We do! Its called Fina:)

BV
 
JonBlaze said:
guy's think 17" is big, girls think 15" is big

I had a girl recently tell me i was "buff like usher"....I dont hit women, but she was pushin me.

LOL, I can't stop laughing over that one. :rofl:
 
BV: word on the fina! Where else can you find something that'll strip almost a pound a day of fat off and increase your strength at the same time?!

As for looking huge... Honestly I think the biggest thing that really makes your arms stand out is how "thick" your torso is (vertically and horizontally)... I have big arms, but my torso is also very thick, and the proportion is fucked :/ It's a common problem among powerlifters, some of which are fairly lean and HUGE (ryan kennelly or scot mendelsohn both come in at ~6'1" 325 and about 13-15% bodyfat) because they are naturally thick and train the core to the point that they can have a 40-42" lean waist with a 6 pack. Jay cutler has a similar problem, his arms don't look NEARLY as freaky as ronnie's, though ronnie has an inch and a half on jay in the arms, jay's waist is so much thicker than ronnie's that his arms just don't stand out.
 
I dont know guys, I think a lot of it is, of course, genetics. My brother and I are genetically very similar, and our arms grow without even trying. My arms, at 18" ,are by no means huge, but again I hardly work them by themselves. For the first 1.5 years I got 'serious' about getting bigger, I didnt even have an arm day. I'd do three sets of bi's on back day, and three sets for tri's on chest day. That was it. I focused on overall body mass with big lifts like the bench, squat, and deadlifts, and my arms grew right along with it. From around 15" to just over 17" in a year or so. The last 1" came with a lot of heavy weighted dips, skull crushers, and standing EZ-bar curls with alternating inner/outer grips.

Of course, dedicating a day to arms brings increased size, but I havent had time for that for almost a year. I would say, if you view your arms as a 'problem' area, beat the hell out of them for a time. Use the 'shocking principles' outlined in Arnold's Encyclopedia for a while, then drop back to low volume to give them time to recover.

Eating a crapload of good food and doing intense leg, chest, and back workouts is of course a given.

BV
 
I'll second the genetics. I don't think I've had arms smaller than 17" since I was a teenager...

Given the size of my frame I think I'll need to get up to about 21.5-22 before they really look huge in relation to the rest of me... what a pain. Guys with small frames who can pimp 17.5" arms are lucky mofos :D
 
Gotta chime in here

What is large for a women? I've had comments on my arms: 14 inches and I'm relatively tall with long arms (5'7"). Not bad for female I figure.
 
LunaHotel said:
Right now my waist is at 33".

So I've got 17.5" arms more or less - difficult to figure out since I stopped training my oversized triceps in favor of my undersize biceps for the last month or so - 55" 'round the delts and 33" waist.

Of course, I'm aiming at 20" arms, 60" delts and 28" waist... That's ideal, IMO.

Post yours?

LOL 28" is a girly waist :D And just try finding a pair of pants that fit a 28" waist that you can get your legs into - there's a reason bodybuilders wear clown pants! haha!

My core was thick naturally, and I've developed it into a solid block of rock hard muscle, and even then, most size 40 pants don't fit my thighs properly, I have to buy those super super relaxed fit jenes. I can't imagine having 30" legs and a 34" waist, there'd be no way to shop :/ Even at 36" I'd probably have to wear those ridiculously baggy rapper jeans. For right now I've mostly given up on jeans, I just stick with the adidas sportswear pants - they're comfy, affordable and cool.
 
Well i will join the fray in here-- I am 5'11'' 245 arms 18.5" and my girlfriend tells me I look "exaggerated"--always wondeing why i train to get bigger even though I have shoulder inuries that pain me with every lift ( but, alas, no health insurance so it is the shoulder Horn for me)---I have more of a powerlifter type frame so no cuts really but look big in clothes and my stomach is not a big belly---I think the most compliments i get is when I wear shorts for I was gifted with great genetics for my legs--I think I will be satisfied when I hit 20" arms ( I said that when I wanted 18" as well LOL) ahh the iron game marches on
 
exnihilo said:
Heh *cough* *cough* don't you mean arm training 'motivation' there skaol :D
Er, ah...... Yeah, that's the ticket. Hey too many guys forget to train their forearms anyway.
 
1.) "Big" for the public is not big for people like us. "Big" for people like us is "gross" to many a woman out there. Oh well, their loss. Many women like it, just won't admit it.
2.) "Nice" is lean and quite frankly, scrawny when most show us THEIR ideal.
3.) Just as your body gets used to you being a certain weight, so do your eyes and you'll always say 'Ah, could be bigger!'.


I only got one chance here, this ain't no dress rehearsal and tomorrow morning at 4:30 I'll be curling my ass off. Bet on it.
 
I hear you man. I'm always like "do you have a loose-fit cut?" and they go "well, sir, this IS the loose-fit cut"... And then they are skin tight at the thighs (can't wear jeans for 2 days after training legs) and still looooooose at the waist. Gonna buy clown pants for the office soon :P

Seriously though, I have all my suits, jackets and dress pants tailored. At $700 a suit minimum, there's not much for supplements that will allow me to outgrow them quick... ;)
 
I'm lucky, I'm a powerlifter, I train the **** out of my core AND I'm smoothed over, so if I get baggy style jeans I can actually fit my thighs in there. With 31.5" legs and a 40" waist, there are pants out there that fit, albiet not comfortably - If I was just about the bodybuilding and had a 34 or 36 inch waist, forget it. I actually mostly wear the stretchy sportswear pants these days for exactly that reason.
 
Damn JonBlaze, I'm just now reading this, and I'm laughing my ass off at the usher comment, dude, usher is about 140 maybe and his ears weigh about 20 pounds a piece
 
Ript22Swole said:
Damn JonBlaze, I'm just now reading this, and I'm laughing my ass off at the usher comment, dude, usher is about 140 maybe and his ears weigh about 20 pounds a piece
And his lips are another 10.
 
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