Big Arms: Why Are They Important in Bodybuilding?

I always thought the image of Tarzan was the most amazing drawing of the ideal physique

Considering my age and the number of times I watched Tarzan on TV on Sundays in the '50’s and '60’s, the image I see is of Johnny Wiessmuller. While he had a nice physique for those days, IMO, it fell far from ideal. Especially when Steve Reeves was thrown on the screen from time to time.

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Especially if Tarzan was drawn by Frank Frazetta !
Scott

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Weismuller was my favorite movie tarzan, but I was referring to the comic books that I had

Reeves was my fav hercules

Back in 1978, I spent an hour talking to Steve Reeves at the Nautilus headquarters in Florida. He was still in good shape, but didn’t want to discuss his bodybuilding days. It was like he was gun-shy, perhaps because he had been taken advantage of after he won the Mr. America in 1947.

He did, however, talk about his time in the movies. That’s where he damaged his shoulder – which was the reason he visited Nautilus.

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That’s awesome…was Reeves a Full body 3x/week one set failure guy?

I couldn’t get him to talk about his workouts. I got the impression he was a more of a follower, not a leader. I put him on a couple of upper-body machines only as a demonstration. He did not want to train.

Wow…a follower not a leader…thats definitely a different image than I would have guessed

Like Elvis said once…its hard to live up to an image

Must ring true for a lot of celebrities

I think I know how he felt. I’m a TV video cameraman . When I get together with other TV cameramen all they want to talk about is f stops and camera gadgets etc. All I can think of is don’t you guys have any life beyond camera stuff?
My son rowed in college on a highly ranked team and when they would hang out with other schools the subject of talk would always be crew stuff, hey, do you remember what your 2 K was on June 3rd? I love those new uni suits , bla bla bla. My son would joke, hey guys, can we talk some more about crew! Ha ha .
Scott

Big arms are important for the mirror industry :smile:

Good observation, and gets me to thinking about earlier observations made by Arthur Jones way back, regarding the genetic predisposition observed in many bodybuilders towards being either torso dominant or ā€œlimbā€ dominant. In addition to those you mentioned, Franco Colombu, Lee Haney, and Tony Pearson could be seen as torso dominant. Examples of limb dominance could be Mike Mentzer, Casey Viator, Vince Taylor and even Arthur himself. Then there are examples of individuals who seem to demonstrate both attributes, such as Sergio or Boyer.

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Bit of a random entry I know but…call me crazy, the person who’s arms I’ve always envied the most is John Cena. His Triceps insertions look absolutely beyond belief.

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When I was a teenager, John Cena was my goal physique. His arms were insane!

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Hey Tim, are you the buffed out singer/musician from the Lost Boys?

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According to Ken Hutchins, Nautilus sold more abdominal machines between 1980 - 1984, than pullover machines from 1970 - 1984.

And if I recall correctly the ab machines weren’t very effective.
Scott

Why do you think that is so?

Lots of friction and not designed to well. I couldn’t wait to get the old ab clam. I didn’t get good feel in my abs. Same for the newer model. I guess that was a time people were more hyped on chiseled abs . They fell for the sell of a machine that will give them washboard abs.
Scott

Abs are built in the kitchen

IMO, this is one of the saddest examples of people’s understanding of weight training.