question

[SAGAT]

alright help me on this one; what determines the difference in size between a flexed arm and a relaxed one? is it genetics? blood circulation?? a combination? i gotta know this

 

[lemur]

If I understand the question, I would say bone size predominantly, and then the amount of muscle in the arm.

 

[Thaibox]

IMO genetics. The muscle bellies/length of attachment. For example, I have more overall muscle mass than my lifting buddy, but his arm is bigger when flexed because of very short attachment. Since mine is so stretched out, it doesn't increase as much when flexing. He will always have a better peak(and larger measurement) than me because of this.

 

[needsize]

I think a lot depends on how big you were to start. ie, take 2 guys with 18 inch arms, dude #1 started with 13 inch guns, dude #2 started with 16 inchers. The first guy added 5" to his arm, so he will have a bigger difference between flexed and unflexed.

 

[SAGAT]

thats what i kinda was thinking too, so in other words, if you start out as a boney dude and pack on a lot of mass, the difference will be greater? well, it DOES sound logical

 

[needsize]

thats what i kinda was thinking too, so in other words, if you start out as a boney dude and pack on a lot of mass, the difference will be greater? well, it DOES sound logical

That's the way it was with me and my old training partner, he was a huge bastard to begin with, so the day he started training his arms were the same measurement that mine were after many years of hitting the weights. But the difference is that his unflexed measurement was pretyy close to the flexed one, where are there is a really big difference with mine

 

[SAGAT]

i see, so that must be it then. by the way, you're not about to tell me you started out as a skinny dude, are you?

 

[needsize]

i see, so that must be it then. by the way, you're not about to tell me you started out as a skinny dude, are you?

145lbs soaking wet with oil

 

[Thaibox]

I see what needsize is saying, and generally thats probably the case. But, if your attachments are like mine(long), then you can start as a skinny bastard and become pretty massive, but the muscle will still be stretched way out and will contract without a huge increase. Whereas the guy with shorter attachments will probably always have a greater difference becuase at full contraction, his bis will be much more compacted relative to their extended state, giving a wider measurement.

I've seen guys with very small arms, flex and near double their width; simply because of the muscle's length.

 

[SAGAT]

145lbs soaking wet with oil

holy shiznit. that's some transformation. makes me wonder why i seem to have trouble packing on the mass!

 

[SAGAT]

I see what needsize is saying, and generally thats probably the case. But, if your attachments are like mine(long), then you can start as a skinny bastard and become pretty massive, but the muscle will still be stretched way out and will contract without a huge increase. Whereas the guy with shorter attachments will probably always have a greater difference becuase at full contraction, his bis will be much more compacted relative to their extended state, giving a wider measurement.

I've seen guys with very small arms, flex and near double their width; simply because of the muscle's length.

i think i see what you're saying here. so, what determines the length of the attachments then? i'm guessin' it's genetics? or is it height? cause i seem to have long attachments, and i'm quite tall (not very) at 6'2".

 

[needsize]

holy shiznit. that's some transformation. makes me wonder why i seem to have trouble packing on the mass!

Thanks, but the fact that I've been at it for over 10 years now kinda helps

 

[SAGAT]

10 years? hmmm then i'm not far behind you in training years, i've been busy for 6 years now. i AM far behind you physique-wise though, you've got that look i'm shooting for, not too big but solid and ripped. just curious; how old were you when you started? what weight are you at now? (i always find those before/after stories interesting)

 

[needsize]

10 years? hmmm then i'm not far behind you in training years, i've been busy for 6 years now. i AM far behind you physique-wise though, you've got that look i'm shooting for, not too big but solid and ripped. just curious; how old were you when you started? what weight are you at now? (i always find those before/after stories interesting)

I started training in my teens, cant rememeber exactly when, and I'm 27 almost 28 now. Right now I'm sitting at about 220lbs, guessing about 10%, pretty close to what I was in that pic I posted in the pics forum recently, I was up to 228lbs before ZI dieted a few lbs off. I'm shooting for somewhere between 240-250lbs at this level of bf, so if I competed I'd still be over 200lbs at 5'9"

 

[SAGAT]

well that would be even more impressive, 250 at your current bodyfat%. are you planning to compete then?

 

[needsize]

well that would be even more impressive, 250 at your current bodyfat%. are you planning to compete then?

Yup, I'm going to try a local level 1 comp next september. I'm told I would place well now, but I figure I have time to run at least 2 mass building cycles between now and then, so I figure another 20lbs should be easy to gain, then I'll give the stage a shot

 

[SAGAT]

i don't think you'd do bad either! good luck with that comp then, let us know how you did !

 

[needsize]

i don't think you'd do bad either! good luck with that comp then, let us know how you did !

Thanks, what I plan on doing is getting the rest of my pics up here, and getting the board to help me hit all the weak spots between now and competition day

 

[Thaibox]

NS, you should post some before pics like B did. Those are always motivating

 

[needsize]

NS, you should post some before pics like B did. Those are always motivating

I'll see what i can find

 

[SAGAT]

NS, you should post some before pics like B did. Those are always motivating

yeah i agree. they make me look less skinny