Increasing upper/lower body frame WIDTH

[|D_J^B_J|]

This may sound a bit stupid, but take one look at my old man and you'll understand why I was born with such sh*tty ectomorphic genetics...

Anyway, I began a clean bulk a few months ago and have been training each muscle group hard, but my muscles appear to be increasing more in depth (outward) rather than width. Can the width of one's frame be increased by weight training and proper dieting? If so, does the width take longer to increase than depth?

To get a better understanding of what I mean, my chest is growing outwards but the width of my frame seems to be growing much less in comparison.

I mainly do compound exercises such as squats, deadlifts, barbell rows, chin-ups, bench-press, shoulder press etc, as well as isolating some muscle groups such as triceps and biceps.

Thanks for your help

 

[Madcow2]

You can't regrow the proportions of your skelleton. You can add muscle mass to it but that's about it. Your on the right track in your training though, you are doing the right exercises but unfortunately nothing is going to make your bone structure broader or change how your muscles are attached/laid out on your body.

 

[|D_J^B_J|]

Well, I'm only 19 at the moment so I guess my body frame/bone structure would still be developing for a few more years, wouldn't it?

 

[casualbb]

your clavicle and pelvis grow til age 25 or so, so take heart

those control how wide you'll appear

 

[psilo]

Huge lats will also help you look thicker and wider, as will some monstrous quads.

 

[6_pak]

definitely agree with psilo. Its all about illusion. Take for instance, one bb'er who, no matter how hard he diets and does cardio, he cant get his waste line under 34 inches, but he's still cut up. THen you look at his lats and you would think his waste is 29 in. due to his lat size. Another bb'er has a waist size of 30in but due to the lack of size of his lats he looks bigger around the waste than the previous bb'er. Its all an illusion. If you have an underdevelope bodypart there are ways to accentuate the size by building up another bodypart. Your still young and you have more yrs of, what i like to call, genetic growing, so just keep what your doing and stay consistant,

 

[Madcow2]

Well, I'm only 19 at the moment so I guess my body frame/bone structure would still be developing for a few more years, wouldn't it?

You're still growing and you might indeed experience a change in structure (likely not a big one) but it won't be due to weightlifting. Weightlifting builds muscle. Muscle is laid out on your bone structure. The structure and layout are determined by genetics but you can change the amount of muscle you have.

I wouldn't worry about it. Just train and enjoy.

 

[curgeo]

When I was bodybuilding I used to dwell on my faults all the time. I never took the time to look at my physique and be proud for what I had accomplished. I look back on pictures now and wish I would have looked at the positives a bit more.

Madcow is right, you can change the muscular size, but not the structure too much. Weight training does incourage bone growth due to the bones undergoing stress and adaptation........but not to an appreciable amount.

The one thing I have noticed and other have is that overhead presses and standing presses have been taken out of most olympic training routines and the athletes are not nearly as wide as they once were.....would you agree Madcow?

 

[Madcow2]

The one thing I have noticed and other have is that overhead presses and standing presses have been taken out of most olympic training routines and the athletes are not nearly as wide as they once were.....would you agree Madcow?

If you are talking about removing the press from weightlifting in the olympics and leaving just the snatch and C&J yeah. The press became a huge cheater exercise and dramatically favored certain body types (notably the wider, thicker, and slower guys). By elminating that lift the sport became much faster. What you see today is very developed backs and legs. A lot of shoulder mass can restrict flexability in the snatch and one can win or loose as a result of body weight so no one is adding muscle to areas simply for aesthetics. As far as other athletes, throwers are upper body beasts but a lot of other sports don't have as strong a performance carryover from overhead work. I don't know, the majority of the athletes today look pretty solid, specifically the sprinters. I'm always impressed by their musculature and speed.

 

[curgeo]

I mistyped it, I meant to say Olympic Weightlifting.

I agree. The sprinters are amazing athletes. Steroids or no steroids, Ben Johnson was a remarkable specimen. Have you ever checked out www.charliefrancis.com ? You obviously know about charles...it's an interesting board that has plenty of training advise for not only sprinters, but for power and speed athletes. I believe it's worth taking a look at.

 

[Madcow2]

Have you ever checked out www.charliefrancis.com ? You obviously know about charles...it's an interesting board that has plenty of training advise for not only sprinters, but for power and speed athletes. I believe it's worth taking a look at.

Kick ass! I've been looking to do some research into that area anyway. I haven't been in the forums yet (have to register) but I'll definitely check it out.

I'd give you karma for the link but apparently I need to spread it around more (2nd time this happened today very frustrating). In reality, we need more quality posters - I'm simply not going to praise someone for suggesting a superset variation to burn fat. I'm the first one to recognize quality, excellence, and even passion but I simply will not praise mediocrity or ignorance. It would be nice if the button worked once in a while. Just venting.

 

[curgeo]

Mc...I don't spread karma because to me it is worthless. I check out every post you read not to give you karma, but because of the intelligent and well articulated information that you give. I don't spread it to anybody.

I appreciate all the advise on my training log and I have been getting "off the box" more often to see how my squats are without it. Your contribution is really very important over here. The links from meso were great.....Bob Smith really knows what he is talking about. I figure if I keep reading and learning I will have the amount of information you guys have in about 50 years.

When I'm 80 I'm going to kick some major ass...LOL

Check out AF once in a while...we could you use your imput over there.......There are some very intell. people over there and you would be a welcome addition. There is not as much activity, but a lot of quality posts.

Take Good Care.

 

[kansasfarmman]

Make your muscles larger. Squats, Deads, Rows, Presses, Cleans, and Good Mornings, and big eating is the answer.