Arm size threads on other boards

[Marc]

So I read alot of crap on various forums, and after reading a hilarious post today about a guy with the goal of having a 16 inch bicep... I got to thinking, I train biceps just for fun once a week like 3x8, sometimes not even once a week, but I train my triceps hard and often, I love tricep workouts. So I got to thinking, I wonder how big my arms are. Cold, I sit at 17 inches... Now I thought I had pretty small arms personally? Could also be that I have a large wingspan being 6'5" My question is, what percentage of your arms are tricep vs bicep? Also Hamstring vs quad? Reading that morons post got me thinking and actually got me wondering about these things, just never did any research before.

[onetiredkris]

Originally Posted by Marc

So I read alot of crap on various forums, and after reading a hilarious post today about a guy with the goal of having a 16 inch bicep... I got to thinking, I train biceps just for fun once a week like 3x8, sometimes not even once a week, but I train my triceps hard and often, I love tricep workouts. So I got to thinking, I wonder how big my arms are. Cold, I sit at 17 inches... Now I thought I had pretty small arms personally? Could also be that I have a large wingspan being 6'5" My question is, what percentage of your arms are tricep vs bicep? Also Hamstring vs quad? Reading that morons post got me thinking and actually got me wondering about these things, just never did any research before.

I know the arm is 2/3 tricep so that leave the bi being a measly 1/3 of the total size. No clue on quad to ham ratio though.

[big valsalva]

Good question. My simple answer (and not necessarily the right answer) is 3:2 Tricep:Bicep. I'm not so sure on the legs, but I'm guessing somewhere close. Maybe 4:2 or 4:3 in favor of the quads. My reasoning for saying so is only because of the number of muscles that make up the various groups (bicep, tricep, quads, hammies). My guess is only a guess and not scientific at all. But since there are three muscles making up the tricep group and two muscles making up the bicep group, to me it only makes sense that the potential for size favors the group made up of more muscles. If you want big arms, then bomb the tri's.

Again, this is all supposition. I realize that I'm setting myself up for much ridicule, but you have a good question. I just wanted to get the ball rolling.

[big_swede]

How to measure that? I would go with 3:2 ratio too if i had to guess

[BendtheBar]

OTK had it dead on. In general, the triceps to bicep ratio is 2:1.

Hamstrings/quads are a mystery to me though.

[Kyle Aaron]

Basically 2:1 in both cases, assuming more or less proportional development. I mean, look at sprint cyclists...

Overall size includes fat, remember. Big difference between even 15" arms at 10% bodyfat and 15" arms at 20% bodyfat.

And then there are the different ways of measuring, is the elbow extended, is the elbow flexed with the biceps contracted as much as possible, do you hold the tape tight or just kind of hang it there...

It's like measuring your penis, really. Always a smaller measurement when someone else does it.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by Kyle Aaron

Overall size includes fat, remember. Big difference between even 15" arms at 10% bodyfat and 15" arms at 20% bodyfat.

^ True dat.

I have 19 inch fat man arms at the moment and will be lucky to have 16.5 inch arms at 10% bodyfat.

[jslep]

Originally Posted by Kyle Aaron

It's like measuring your penis, really. Always a smaller measurement when someone else does it.

i usually try not to let to many other people measure mine............takes away from the illusion that its actually 6 inches!