I’ve been on and off lifting for the last seven years or so. Decided to really go for it this last year and I’ve been wholly consistent and worked hard for 12 months.
I’ve made good progress in both strength and muscle, but I’ve gone down a bit of a rabbit hole recently so far as reading about how the skeleton relates to muscle gain.
I don’t have a tiny frame. My shoulders are about average width but my wrists are only 6.6 inches.
A lot of people say that small joints are a blessing when it comes to looking big, but I don’t really see how this is the case. I can see how a muscle will look bigger comparatively to smaller joints, but isn’t this only relevant in solo photos or if you’re competing on stage?
If you had big muscles but small wrists in real life and stood next to people with average size or large joints, wouldn’t you just look like small person with oddly large muscles? Struggling to get my head around it.
Of course, I know that ultimately it’s not worth worrying about considering you can’t do anything about it, and that thinking about limitations is never a good idea, but it’s just been eating away at me a bit.
I feel that even if I build a technically impressive physique, I’ll just look a bit strange because I have small joints – that rather than my physique standing out, it’ll be more so the contrast.
Would appreciate it if any big but small jointed guys could chime in? Do you feel your joints have limited you so far as muscle building potential? (I’ve heard smaller wrists can ultimately dictate arm size, too, so I’m unsure if my dreams of having 17 inch arms are shot).
We are limited to an extent by joint size , like it or not.
Few of us have 8 inch wrists either
I suspect the online calculator can be surpassed too…I have 7 1/4 inch wrists. I am sure they were 7 inches to begin with. Wrist size can be manipulated with a great deal of direct wrist work.
@LG18, as someone who previously struggled with body image issues, my advice is to stop consuming all fitness-related content on the internet. It is shocking what that can do for your mental health and, ironically, your training.
Do you guys remember when Joe Burrow found out at the combine his hands were too small to play quarterback at a high level? I’m not picking on you, OP, this just reminded me and it was kind of funny
I just measured my wrists for literally the first time in my life: 6 1/4". And that’s me in my profile pic for reference. 100% of the time I will get comments about “getting bigger” it’s when I’m cutting, getting leaner, and technically smaller…never while bulking. The illusion thing is real. I have a very narrow frame too, and even at my most jacked my chest is just 42". Tiny ankles as well, and guess what? The #1 bodypart I get compliments from women on is actually my calves…lol. I never even train them, I just do jumps on my lower body days and walk alot. But next to tiny ankles they look pretty developed.
