I’ve honestly never been more offended in my life 
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The ironic thing is, to look like a lot of best physiques in Hollywood, you either have to take drugs or train and act like a bodybuilder (and do so for years) lol
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I think originally what got me into powerlifting was how those guys looked. My father had old magazines from the 80’s with dudes like Larry Pacifico and Doug young in them. I remember thinking, “those guys look strong.” Like mature dense muscle.
When I saw this video, I wanted to look like Konstantin. I never bothered to think how my wrist dimensions may hold me back. But to your point, my father was there to give me the right advice. Simple and brutally honest. Whenever id talk to him about something in muscle and fitness that was bullshit, he’d call it out.
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Well personally what got me curious about this is the fact that every maximum muscle size calculator asks for wrist and ankle size. It didn’t make sense to me at first, but now I see that what they are actually trying to do is get a sense of your skeletal frame, which I would imagine puts limits on muscle potential
Wdym ? I actually do have a very fast metabolism lol
These calculators are just unreliable. My suggestion is just to make some short term and long term goals. If your biceps are 12” now, perhaps make a goal for them to be 13” in 8 months or something like that. That’s totally reasonable. The same applies for any muscle group you’re trying to improve. From there, just ensure that your training, eating and sleeping align with your goals. If you want big arms, don’t be following a program like Starting Strength that basically neglects arms. If getting bigger muscles is indeed your interest, I was searching through programs on this site that I thought would be suitable for a beginner in your position and I thought this looked like a perfect place to start:
Then in about a year or year and a half whenever progress starts slowing down you could switch to this, which will give certain muscle groups more individualized attention, which is doubly important once you’ve built a base and discovered your weak points:
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Genuine questions.
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What got you to looking at these? What was the path that brought you there?
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Are you going to change anything based on what the calculators say?
I’ve always been very small and bad at every sport I’ve tried, so I was wondering what my potential was and stumbled upon them
And every one of them is likely grossly miscalculating something as @davemccright said above.
For kicks I put my measurements in this one (guess on the bf% because I really don’t care to know what mine is)
FYI I am 6’3 with large wrists/ankles
It came out with gross underestimates for most measurements for me as a natural lifter. Off by well over an inch to almost three on the thigh measurement. And I know I haven’t reached my full potential - ever.
Start lifting weights and eating in a protein surplus if you want to get bigger/stronger and feel better. If you think you will be “small” you always will be.
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I think folks also tend to forget these calculators are based on a level of leanness very few of us ever attempt to achieve.
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Agreed. The body is a dynamic system that responds to outside inputs and has limits based on ever changing internal boundary conditions (nutrition, physical health, stress, etc…).
Yep. If I somehow get a six pack one day it will be from mostly luck and unintentional. I will never be lean enough to step on a bodybuilding stage and I am more than okay with that.
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I’m not being purposefully argumentative, but I don’t completely understand what you’re saying: why do you think there is no soft tissue in places like wrists/ fingers?
I do agree with your general point that all these variables are dynamic and individual.
Great job on the weight, by the way! 100lbs is an impressive feat
Worrying about the destination instead of the journey is where most people fail.
What’s that quote? Something like “The man who enjoys walking will go further than the man who wants the destination”. Analyzing this shit just takes enjoyment anyway.
Just get at it and see where you end up. If you ever do the obscene and reach your natural limit, worst case scenario is you find out it holds you back but you’re still better than 99.999999% of the World. Doesn’t seem like a bad gamble to me.
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Stan Efferding said in an interview he didn’t make a soccer team because the coach told him was too small and should start lifting weights.
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I was taught many years ago that the goal was to be in pool ready shape (all abs in) and weigh three pounds for every inch of height. I suspect for all but the most gifted natural lifters, that’s about the limit.
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That’s what I’d always heard, too, and find it insane people are ever worried about hitting that ceiling. An average height dude would be 210 and lean… I daresay I don’t see that very often.
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With celebrities employing pro-wrestling style “Billed height/weights”, folks really can’t appreciate what a SOLID 200lbs looks like on a human. That’s like looking like a goddamn Marvel Superhero.
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They need to start looking at pro rugby players. Total forwards Average is around 112kg - 247 lbs
Even the backs are averaging 90kgs - over 200lbs.
The average height and weight of pro-rugby players by position in Europe (rugbypass.com)
At about 6’ and hovering around 212 and with abs and veins in, I’ve pretty much decimated a lot of these natural muscle gain calculators and I still feel as though I’ve got room to grow. I remember doing one of those tests when I was about 16 and it said that my genetic potential was like 190 at 10% Bodyfat. I thought that sounded huge Back then but the bigger I get, the more I move the goalposts of what “huge” means.
No one should ever limit themselves because of another man’s ideas. Genetic freaks exist, who’s to say you aren’t one of them?
“A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man”
-Jebediah Springfield
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This is 100% my mentality on this. For a bell curve to exist, SOMEONE has to be on the ends. Why not Zoidberg?
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