Results 1 to 29 of 29
  1. #1
    bicepsual is offline Banned
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Posts
    20

    Lightbulb bicep measurment

    i recently read some alleged measurments of ppl claiming over 20 inch biceps, so i thought this would clarify



    When Johnny Weismuller—the first screen Tarzan—first swung across movie theater screens, he was considered to be very muscular. Kids all over the country beat their chests, bellowed their Tarzan cries, and dreamed of building up their arms to look like the apeman's. Too bad his upper arm measurement was a paltry 15 inches in circumference.

    Personally, I remember as a kid watching Charles Bronson in a movie called "Cold Sweat." He wore a T-shirt that would've even been tight on Woody Allen, and I remember being awestruck by his muscularity. Now, when I think about that movie, I realize that his arms were probably about 11 or 12 inches around. Nowadays, even six-year-old kids know that a big arm has to be at least 20 inches.

    Bodybuilders have always been obsessed with arm size, but even the general public seems to recognize an impressive pair of guns when they see them, and maybe it has something to do with those old movies that we used to watch. I mean, most people wouldn't recognize a well-developed chest or pair of legs if they were on anyone else other than Marilyn Monroe, Raquel Welch, or the girl next-door who tanned in that little bikini that we could just barely see if we crawled under the hedges and peeked through the little knothole in the fence.

    Somehow, arm measurement commands respect. I remember meeting with the Mighty Ducks hockey team and, although some of the players were attentive to what I had to say, others obviously weren't impressed. It wasn't until one of them asked me to show my biceps that they all started listening. After that, I attained immediate status among them, and many of them practically asked me to move in with them and/or date their sisters.

    Maybe it's because of the obsession with arm measurement that so many bodybuilders flat-out lie about them. Most arm measurements in the bodybuilding world are so exaggerated, they make Wilt Chamberlain's claims about his sexual conquests seem kind of tame.

    If you look at most Weider publications, 20-inch arms are within the grasp of just about anybody who can afford his supplements, and 22-inch arms are about a dime a dozen in the IFBB pro circuit. However, take it from me—this is far from the truth. As the old saying goes, don't piss on my leg and tell me that it's raining.

    One of the first authors to tell the truth about bodybuilding measurements was Nautilus inventor Arthur Jones. He published the real arm measurements of elite bodybuilders like Casey Viator, Mike Mentzer, Sergio Oliva, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

    In "The Nautilus Book, Volume II," Jones recounts that the most muscular arm he ever measured was that of Sergio Oliva. At 20-1/8 inches, Sergio's arms literally dwarfed his head, making him appear the target of some weird, voodoo curse. However, the book was published in the early '70s. Since then, the average bodybuilder has "evolved" considerably, mostly thanks to improvements in nutrition, training methodologies, and—how shall I put it?—"recuperative" methods which come in little bottles that are sold by guys in trench coats and named Guido.

    In general, improvements in arm measurement are related to gains in lean body mass. A good rule of thumb is that for every inch you want to gain on your arms, you need to gain roughly 15 pounds of equally distributed body mass. In other words, to make significant improvements in your arms, you have to gain mass all over your entire body.

    The human body is a finely-tuned machine that will only allow for a certain amount of asymmetry. Therefore, if you devote your training energies solely to building big arms, you'd eventually reach a point of total stagnation because you weren't training your legs. In other words, no wheels, no wings! Furthermore, if arms grew without some sort of concurrent development in the legs, most bodybuilders would have to walk on their hands.

    There are some interesting correlations and relationships when you compare bodybuilders' heights, weights, and arm measurements. For instance, a 5'7" tall bodybuilder who weighs 214 pounds and has a bodyfat percentage of 8% should have arm development between 19-1/4 and 19-5/8 inches. Yet many of these same individuals will claim to have arms that are over 21 inches, a measurement that's quite rare, regardless of height and bodyweight.

    I've personally measured the arms of the hulking individuals listed below. All of them had placed in the top eight of a recent show, and the measurements were taken about ten days after the show, presumably when they were at their biggest from all of the post-competition carbs ingested.

    Bodybuilder A
    Height: 6'0"
    Weight: 286 pounds
    Cold arm measurement: 20.62"

    Bodybuilder B
    Height: 5'3"
    Weight: 228 pounds
    Cold arm measurement: 20.25"

    Bodybuilder C
    Height: 5'7"
    Weight: 214 pounds
    Cold arm measurement: 19.62"

    Bodybuilder D
    Height: 5'11"
    Weight: 258 pounds
    Cold arm measurement: 18.9"

    If I published pictures of these bodybuilders, you'd see that Bodybuilders A and D were famous for their leg development, while Bodybuilders B and C sported larger arms in relation to their lower bodies, which were still quite well-developed by any standard.

    Bodybuilder B, though, had the highest ponderal index (weight/height), so his arms were enormous in comparison to all of the other bodybuilders. To put things in perspective, Bodybuilder A would need to weigh about 310 pounds to match the ponderal index of Bodybuilder B.

    Let's say that you weigh 176 pounds and stand 5'8" tall. Assuming that your bodyfat is below 10%, your arm should measure roughly 16 inches. If you've calculated it to be 20 inches, you've probably done one of the following things:

    • Added the sum of both arm measurements.
    • Added your age to your arm measurement.
    • Suffered from delusions of grandeur and refused to see that your arm is really an inflated piece of licorice.

    If you've done none of these things and still insist that your guns are 20 inches or bigger, you'd better start walking on your hands—your symmetry is bizarre, at best, and such big arms must create an enormous amount of stress on your traps and spine!

    Anyhow, the Olympian who keeps bragging about his arms having been over 22 inches (in fact, I think that he may have won an Olympia, or maybe two, or seven) is, in fact, pissing mighty rivers down your leg and insisting that the mother of all rain storms is upon you. At 6'1" tall, this Olympian would have had to weigh about 308 pounds for his arms to be even close to 22 inches around. However, his competition weight was roughly 235 pounds. Of course, maybe his bodyfat was minus 15%...


    Measurement Goals

    When you first started lifting weights, no doubt your initial goal was to fill up the sleeve of your T-shirt so that when the wind blew, all of that flapping cloth wouldn't inadvertently signal fighter planes to take off. As you grew more experienced, you probably set some concrete goals for yourself.

    Traditionally, there have been three different methods for estimating arm growth potential. The first two are wrong:

    1) Your arm should be a certain multiple of your wrist measurement (I can't remember what the exact multiple or factor is anymore, but trust me, it doesn't matter). This is what antiquated authors like Stuart McRobert recommend. In practice, it just doesn't work.

    For example, if I applied this theory to my own arm development, my arms should never have grown to their present size. Obviously, they did. But it shouldn't have been possible, given my wrist measurement. If I'd taken this advice seriously, I would've psychologically sabotaged my arm development. If I believed that it was limited to a certain amount, based on this silly equation, my arms probably would've stopped growing long ago.

    2) Your arms should be a certain number of inches above and beyond your wrist measurement. This advice has long been propagated by bodybuilding authors like Bradley J. Steiner who, with the exception of "my house is on fire," really hasn't said anything new since 1968.

    Some authors would say that a realistic goal of arm development is ten inches over your wrist measurement. Again, had I taken this advice to heart, it would've given me an arm measurement of 17 inches, again shortchanging my potential.

    3) Your arm size should reflect your ponderal index (how much muscle mass you have for your height). In my opinion, this is the best approach, as it takes into account that arm size is a byproduct of overall mass gains.

    Genetic factors play a big part in arm potential. If you come from a family whose members all resemble comedian JJ Walker, chances are that you'll never really have arms that serve as shade for small forest animals.

    Generally, three genetic factors ultimately determine arm growth potential:

    1) Number of muscle cells
    A Canadian study of elite bodybuilders revealed that those bodybuilders with the greatest amount of cells are, in fact, the ones who normally achieve the largest cross-sections of muscle.

    2) Length of muscle belly
    The lower a muscle inserts (the closer to the elbow joint), the greater its potential for hypertrophy. Just look at Larry Scott's biceps compared to Franco Columbo's biceps. Larry's have a very low insertion point, which gave him great potential for arm growth. Columbo's insertion was relatively high, but his lats inserted very low—and that, of course, was his most famous bodypart.

    3) Hormonal make-up
    This is obviously the easiest one to circumvent, and that's why steroids are so popular with the genetically challenged.

    Regardless of your particular genetic limitation (if you have any), don't simply resign yourself to fate and accept that you'll never have big arms. Anyone, with the proper knowledge in hand, can expect to gain a significant amount of overall muscle—and that, of course, will translate into arm mass.


    How to Take Measurements

    If you're really going to get serious about developing your arms, you should periodically take measurements to allow you to gauge your progress. For instance, you should definitely take some measurements before you begin a serious arm-training program.

    To be accurate, always take your arm measurements "cold" or, in other words, in an unpumped condition. Furthermore, always measure your arms at the same time of day, and in the same state of hydration. It may be initially damaging to your ego, but perhaps that will give you the added impetus to train harder.

    The most accurate measurements are done with a flexible steel tape attached to a tension measuring device. Kinesiologists call this a Gullick tape. It allows you to always take measurements with the same degree of tension on the tape, ensuring that your measurements are accurate and not influenced by wishful thinking.

    It's also a good idea to let someone else take the measurement for you so that you're not tempted to stick a finger under the tape.

    To take accurate measurements, position your upper arm so that it's parallel to the floor, with the elbow pointing directly ahead of you. Measure the arm at its greatest girth, which should be at the peak of the biceps. Make sure that the "circle" formed by the tape is perpendicular to the ground.

    The most accurate measurements are, of course, taken by kinesiologists who specialize in kinanthropometry. But if you're conscientious about how you do it, you can get very accurate measurements.

    As far as the frequency of measurements, some bodybuilders are so compulsive that they measure their arms every morning. Take my word for it, that method will only lead to anxiety. Arms don't grow on a linear basis—rather, they grow in spurts.

    I remember having a conversation with a bodybuilder who was obsessed with improving his pitiful calves which, truthfully, would've looked more at home on a pigeon. As a result, he measured them five times a day. He asked me if I thought that he was too compulsive. I assured him that he wasn't but, at the same time, I cautiously suggested that he double his intake of St. John's Wort and invest in a straitjacket. Similarly, measuring your arms every day will only drive you and everyone around you insane.

    From an empirical standpoint, increases in arm size are correlated to progressions in arm-training poundages. Therefore, I recommend that you only take measurements 48 hours after hitting a previously determined arm-training poundage goal. Or, have measurements taken every six weeks by a kinesiologist familiar with kinanthropometry.

    Although measurements may seem like an exercise in vanity, they provide a good yardstick (or, in this case, tape measure) of progress and may help spur on your training.

    Editor's note: Charles is just putting the finishing touches on his new arm-training book and video. With any luck, both should be available within six weeks or so.









  2. #2
    bicepsual is offline Banned
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Posts
    20
    king kamali who admits to pumped biceps of 21 inches so next time u want 2 lie about bicep size think...even arnold had 19.5s

  3. #3
    Pete235's Avatar
    Pete235 is offline Retired Moderator
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    6,289
    Who wrote that article? Was it Charles Poliquin? CP is one of the best strength trainers there is.

    Btw...I don't think too many guys on this web site have ever claimed to have 20" upper arms (except for one "BIG" guy who backed it up with a photograph )

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2002
    Location
    wonderful world of oz,where juice is free,plentiful,sterile, and not toxic to the liver
    Posts
    720
    this is pretty good stuff here,bump it up,and this is your first post,welcome to the board bro,hope to see some pics and some more usefull info soon .

  5. #5
    GenuinePL's Avatar
    GenuinePL is offline Senior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    United States of America
    Posts
    1,693
    Great Article

  6. #6
    JRob is offline Associate Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    PA
    Posts
    191
    So when people measure their arms is it flexed or relaxed? Because that can make a huge difference.

  7. #7
    jleighty17 is offline Associate Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2002
    Location
    ohio
    Posts
    459
    that was a realy interesting post . i like to read stuff like that keep up the good work

  8. #8
    Kaz's Avatar
    Kaz
    Kaz is offline Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    London UK
    Posts
    661
    Originally posted by Pete235
    Who wrote that article? Was it Charles Poliquin? CP is one of the best strength trainers there is.

    Btw...I don't think too many guys on this web site have ever claimed to have 20" upper arms (except for one "BIG" guy who backed it up with a photograph )
    im gettin my camera ready my arms are 20" cold and im 315lbs

    excellent post by the way

  9. #9
    Canes4Ever's Avatar
    Canes4Ever is offline Banned
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    Miami, Fla
    Posts
    4,744
    Originally posted by JRob
    So when people measure their arms is it flexed or relaxed? Because that can make a huge difference.
    Well most folks measure from a pumped and flexed point, but officially you *supposed* to do it relaxed and cold to get a true measurement.

  10. #10
    jon
    jon is offline Associate Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Posts
    239
    Interesting post bicepsual

  11. #11
    JRob is offline Associate Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    PA
    Posts
    191
    Thanks canes. My arms cold and unflexed are 16.5 inches and flexed 18. So from now on I guess I could say 18 which sounds far more impressive. My arms are by far my best body part, if only the rest could catch up.

  12. #12
    NightOp is offline Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    896
    good post.

  13. #13
    G Child's Avatar
    G Child is offline Anabolic Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    Some kind of padded room...wearing some kinda white jacket...can't move...help!
    Posts
    2,572
    Great post, and there's no denying that Arny was and still is the man!

  14. #14
    REM
    REM is offline Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Posts
    957
    Man with that long as typing you did bro,
    you don't need to workout, probably you earned
    couple of inches in your bi's man......

  15. #15
    Full Intensity's Avatar
    Full Intensity is offline Anabolic Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    Toronto, Canada
    Posts
    3,295
    a very good and informative post! Definately deserves a bump

  16. #16
    basskiller's Avatar
    basskiller is offline Associate Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    finaplix legend
    Posts
    418
    It's been a while but only but I think only Kevin has an arm over 20" and Like someone said, He has the pics!

    As for mine, they're 19 57/64 ths...... LOL But not 20"

  17. #17
    PADDLER's Avatar
    PADDLER is offline Associate Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    BOONIES
    Posts
    178
    yep. great post
    bump
    LATE

  18. #18
    The Emperor's Avatar
    The Emperor is offline Associate Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    The dark jungle...
    Posts
    177
    Good post and may I add Arnold had the sickest arms ever!

  19. #19
    bicepsual is offline Banned
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Posts
    20
    thanks guys
    no denyin arnie had the sickest bis anyday
    and a lot of pros are on synthol
    peace out

  20. #20
    bicho's Avatar
    bicho is offline New Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2002
    Location
    Mexico
    Posts
    16
    Great post my friend. I will show you some pics of my 23 inch biceps j/k

  21. #21
    Pete235's Avatar
    Pete235 is offline Retired Moderator
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    6,289
    Originally posted by bicepsual
    thanks guys
    no denyin arnie had the sickest bis anyday
    and a lot of pros are on synthol
    peace out
    What a friggin dick!! This bicepsual wingnut not only knows jack shit about the game, but actually tried to pawn off his initial post as his own (some of you guys thanked him for it) when it was obviously written by somebody with KNOWLEDGE!!! THAT is why I called him on it right away and asked if it was Charles Poliquin who wrote the article...if you notice he declined to answer. It's wannabes like this fuckwad who give AAS message boards a bad name...they flame others yet refuse to provide their own stats or pics. He posted some stats of his buddy (obvious lies) and that was about it. I know he's banned now but I hope he comes back and reads this just so he knows that we know what a fucking phony he really is!!! BITCH!!
    Last edited by Pete235; 04-03-2002 at 06:59 AM.

  22. #22
    Kaz's Avatar
    Kaz
    Kaz is offline Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    London UK
    Posts
    661
    hope i got the URL right! just posted a pic in the pics section

    http://www.anabolicreview.com/vbulle...threadid=15671

    just wanted to show you that

  23. #23
    TheStromba's Avatar
    TheStromba is offline Associate Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2002
    Location
    Florida
    Posts
    270
    Wow Kaz, great arms.

    Well I guess there are at least 2 guys at 20+ here !

  24. #24
    Gear101's Avatar
    Gear101 is offline Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    739
    what ever flots our boat bro.. i think it's weak..

    kaz.. nice pic and sweet tats

  25. #25
    Brutus The Buckeye is offline Junior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Posts
    62
    Note to self,

    Do not piss off Juice Junkie

    Keep tellin it like it is. good work Bro!


    Brutus

  26. #26
    hoss827's Avatar
    hoss827 is offline Banned
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Somewhere in cyberspace..
    Posts
    1,292
    Nice post, informative and very educational. I gained 40 pounds over summer and im now at 170 with about 16.5 inch biceps, and i'm happy with those, but for now well just have to wait and see how much bigger they get....

  27. #27
    BigBoyUpnYa is offline New Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Posts
    11

    20 inch arms are the norm at any respectable gym!

    Are you people serious??? 20 inch arms are like seeing a 360 dunk in a basketball game, or 4.4 40 yard dash. NOT THAT RARE ANYMORE! I'm settin around 20.5 cold and I just started my first cycle of test last week. I hope this shit does more for me than it did for a lot of you, I thought this board had some big boys on it? Trying not to insult anyone but damn...I'm 21 and been on cell tech for a year and 20 inches was a nice goal but definately something that was easily accomplished. I'll be postin some pics soon to shut anyone up that thinks I'm playin. 20 inch arms, hahahahahaha! GO LIFT!

  28. #28
    PurePower is offline Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Antarctica
    Posts
    1,919
    that is the biggest bullshit i have ever heard
    Yea arnold had 19inch arms..........HAVE YOU EVER SEEN PUMPING IRON BRO.............Thank you, that post made me laugh

  29. #29
    hoss827's Avatar
    hoss827 is offline Banned
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Somewhere in cyberspace..
    Posts
    1,292
    Yeah...watch pumping iron man. Then go and tell Arnold or Lou Ferrigno they have 19 inch arms. .

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •