The volume of Jean-Claude Van Damme's biceps - how many centimeters is it?

Biography of Jean-Claude Van Damme

In the 90s, throughout the entire post-Soviet space, there was not a single person who did not know this actor and did not admire the action films with his participation: “Bloody Sport”, “Universal Soldier”, “Nowhere to Run”, “Time Patrol”, “Kickboxer” " Thanks to perseverance and determination, the young Belgian first made a brilliant sports career and then conquered Hollywood, joining the ranks of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and other legends of world cinema.

In the photo: Jean-Claude Van Damme

Childhood and adolescence

The actor's full name is Jean-Claude Camille Francois Van Varenberg. He was born in the Belgian municipality of Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, part of the Brussels-Capital Region. Father, Eugene Van Varenberg, half Jewish, half Flemish, worked as an accountant. His wife Eliana worked as a florist in a flower shop, and after the birth of Jean-Claude and his older sister Veronica, she took up housekeeping and raising children.

Jean-Claude Van Damme with his parents

In early childhood, Brussels Muscle, as he was later nicknamed in Hollywood, was a frail, puny guy wearing large glasses with thick lenses. His peers bullied him, and so that his son could stand up for himself, his father took him to a martial arts school. Before this, the boy studied in a ballet studio for five years and could boast of excellent stretching and plasticity. Already a famous athlete, Jean-Claude stated more than once that those who have experienced classes at the ballet barre can handle any sports load.

Jean-Claude Van Damme as a child

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Victor Blud – strength athlete, armlifter, record holder, blogger

Promotes the “old school” in training, which attracts a lot of attention to his person

Sports career

Jean-Claude came to the karate section at the age of ten, and two years later he continued his studies at the National Karate Center, where the experienced coach Claude Goetz took charge of him. The man immediately realized that the boy would be good, and developed an individual training program for him - he forced him to run three kilometers, trained his shepherd so that the student would fight off its attacks, and put him in sparring with adult professional athletes of a completely different age and weight category.

Young Jean-Claude Van Damme in training

The result was not long in coming - the young man straightened his posture, gained muscle mass and became a real handsome man. At the age of thirteen, he left school and, betting on sports, four years later entered the Belgian karate team. In 1979 he won the European Championship in karate and kickboxing in the middle weight, and became world champion three times.

Jean-Claude Van Damme at the beginning of his sports career

During his sports career, Jean-Claude fought a total of 55 fights, winning 53. He has a black belt in karate and masters the techniques of Thai boxing (Muay Thai), kung fu, and taekwondo. The famous splits and roundhouse jump kick became Van Damme's calling cards.

Van Damme's famous split

By the age of twenty, he had already achieved everything he dreamed of in sports. With money from his first wife, the young man opened the California Jim sports club and became a successful businessman with a stable financial income.

Set of exercises

The training program has two types. These exercises should be divided into two approaches. Perform one in the morning and the other in the evening.

Workout No. 1 (Monday/Tuesday/Friday)

Chest: bench press, incline bench press, dumbbell flyes, dips, pullovers, Back: pull-ups, close-grip pull-ups, T-bar rows, bent-over barbell rows Hips: squats, front squats, hack- squats, leg curls on the machine, straight leg standing, standing leg curls Calf: standing calf raises, donkey raises Abs: crunches, crunches with turns, machine crunches

Workout No. 2 (Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday)

Shoulders: overhead press, dumbbell lateral raises, bent-over dumbbell abductions Arms: barbell curls, concentration curls, incline curls, bench extensions, overhead one-arm extensions, triceps cable extensions Forearms: reverse grip wrist curls, barbell wrist curls Calf: seated calf raises Abs: reverse crunches, vertical crunches, lateral twists

Actor career

In 1981, Jean-Claude met British film star Jacqueline Bisset in Paris and began an affair with her. The actress invited her boyfriend to try his luck in Hollywood and promised to help in this matter. Jean-Claude immediately grabbed this opportunity, since he himself had long dreamed of an acting career and back in 1979 he starred in the Belgian drama “The Woman Between the Dog and the Wolf.”

Van Damme's first role in the film "The Woman Between the Dog and the Wolf"

At that time, Jean-Claude's debut went unnoticed, but the young man did not give up the idea of ​​​​conquering Hollywood and, with the support of Bisset, began to prepare for America. He broke up with his wife without regret, sold the sports club and even left his beloved dog to a stranger. But upon arrival in the States, it turned out that Jacqueline was carried away by a new guy and forgot about all her promises.

The young Belgian, who found himself in a foreign country without help or support, had to make his own way to the cinematic Olympus. For several years, Jean-Claude unsuccessfully called film studios, offering his candidacy to participate in the filming. In parking lots in front of film studios, he selected expensive cars and attached his photos with his phone number to their windshields. And to earn a living, the young man worked as a driver, waiter, pizza delivery man, and participated in fights in underground shadow rings.

Van Damme at the beginning of his career

It was a great success to get a job as a bouncer at Chuck Norris's sports club - Van Damme became friends with the Hollywood star, became Norris's sparring partner and even taught him some fighting techniques. In 1984, Norris cast the guy in the film “Missing” in the role of a nameless soldier, thanks to which Jean-Claude came to the attention of directors and producers. In the same year, he appeared in the films “Monaco Forever” and “Breakdancing”, and in 1986 he received the role of Russian fighter Ivan Krashinsky in the action film “No Retreat and No Surrender”. In the credits of this film, the pseudonym Van Damme appeared for the first time, replacing the unpronounceable surname Van Varenberg.

Real success came to Jean-Claude after the release of the legendary film “Bloodsport”. Despite the rather weak plot, the film collected an impressive amount at the box office and recouped the budget spent on its creation thirty times. Van Damme, his blue eyes and athletic figure captivated the audience, who had been waiting for a new hero for a long time. The following works added even more popularity to the young actor, who was nicknamed “the muscles from Brussels” for his soft French accent.

Still from the film “Bloodsport”

One after another, “Black Eagle”, “Cyborg”, “Kickboxer”, “AWOL”, “Double Impact”, “Universal Soldier”, “Nowhere to Run”, “Hard Target” appeared on the screens, which became cult films of the early 90s. x, not only in the USA, but also in Russia. If Van Damme received $25 thousand for his role in Bloodsport, now his fees amounted to six-figure sums.

Jean-Claude Van Damme in the movie "Kickboxer"

The actor took a worthy place alongside Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dolph Lundgren, and became the prototype for one of the characters in the popular computer game Mortal Kombat. Millions of boys dreamed of being like Jean-Claude, who ran to enroll in karate classes and covered the walls of their rooms with his photographs. The female audience also went crazy for the young actor, especially after his legendary dance from the movie Kickboxer. In 1992, 1993 and 1994, Van Damme was nominated for the MTV Movie Awards in the Most Desirable Male category. Van Damme's famous dance World fame and exorbitant fees did not have the best impact on the actor's career. Jean-Claude began to lead a wild lifestyle, abusing alcohol and drugs. The quality of films with his participation fell, one after another they failed at the box office. In addition, Van Damme began to lose his former form, and young, textured actors were already breathing in the back, ready to take his place.

In 1999, the actor finally came to his senses, made peace with his ex-wife Gladys and, with her support, tried to return to normal life. He underwent rehabilitation in a specialized clinic, began training hard and managed to break free from cocaine captivity.

In 2008, Jean-Claude essentially played himself in Mabrouk El Mekri's pseudo-realistic drama J.K.V.D. In the film, he appeared as an unemployed actor, a former action star, who has a lot of debts, litigation and serious problems with the police, who consider him the organizer of the robbery.

Still from the film “Zh.K.V.D”

Van Damme's performance so impressed viewers and critics that Time called this role the best after Heath Ledger's Joker in the superhero action film The Dark Knight. It was even noted that the actor now deserves not only a black belt, but also an Oscar. All this contributed to a new rise in Van Damme's popularity and his triumphant return to the ranks of Hollywood stars of the first magnitude.

On a new wave of success, Jean-Claude starred in a whole series of sequels: “Universal Soldier 3. Rebirth", "Universal Soldier-4", "The Expendables-2", "Kickboxer. Retribution", "Kickboxer Returns" and many other films. He even appeared as a foreign guest in the Russian comedy Rzhevsky vs. Napoleon, and in an advertisement for Volvo trucks he once again delighted fans with his signature twine.

In the film "Rzhevsky against Napoleon"

Modern beauty standards: basic parameters

The modern world has its own concepts and ideal body parameters. Each of us at least once in our lives thought about whether our characteristics fit these values? Below we will present to your attention the classic ideal proportions of the human body in modern fitness and bodybuilding.

People are accustomed to consider this criterion to be more important than others, although this is fundamentally wrong. However, in everyday life there is an opinion that the taller a person is, the stronger, more courageous and more dangerous he is in conflicts.

Standard growth parameters for residents of Russia and CIS countries:

• people with a height below 170 cm are considered small;
• 175-185cm is considered average and optimal height;
• People taller than 190 cm are considered tall.

It is worth noting that people of different nations and nationalities have different average indicators, and the above figures will not be considered the norm for them. If you want to grow taller, then you need to put a lot of effort into certain height-increasing workouts. You also need to know that this parameter cannot be adjusted after 25 years.

The height of each person is individual, based on this, everyone can calculate the ideal proportions of height and weight for themselves. There is a way to check this - the Quetelet index.

It is relevant for men and women aged 20 to 60 years. To determine your body proportions and find out their indicator relative to the norm, you need to solve a simple arithmetic equation. But the result may not be correct if you are a professional athlete, a pregnant woman or a young man.

Measure your height, raise it to the second power. After this, the body weight must be divided by the resulting figure. Example: 175 cm, 70 kg; 70:(1.75*1.75) = 22.8. The answer in the equation will be considered the correct body proportion index.

• the norm for males is 19.5-25.5;
• the norm for females is 19.5-24.5;
• weight deficit – up to 18.5;
• excess – 25.5-29.5;
• first degree obesity – 30-35;
• second degree – 35-40;
• third degree – 40+.

Waist

Based on the table of ideal proportions, we present the optimal waist to height ratios for men and women:

• height 150-155 cm: minimum – 55 cm, maximum – 60 cm;
• 155-160 cm: 60, 65;
• 160-170 cm: 63, 69;
• 170-180 cm: 69, 73.

To determine your waist size, measure it with a tape measure at the point where your ribs begin.

Legs

The standard leg length is considered to be 50-56% of a person’s height, depending on gender. You should do this measurement standing with your back straight. The circumference of the ankles, hips and legs should be proportional to the length of the entire body. For example, the ideal ratio of these body parts for a height of 175-180 cm is 59.38 and 21 cm.

Hips

To find out the volume of your hips, you need to measure their circumference slightly above the groin.

Standard hip volume indicators for men and women of different heights:

• height 150-155 cm: 83-90 cm;
• 155-160 cm: 85-100 cm;
• 160-170 cm: 85-106 cm;
• 170-180 cm: 90-110 cm.

Breast

In order to measure the chest, it is necessary to measure the circumference of the pectoral muscles with the arms lowered along the body.

The average sizes for men and women are:

• height 150-155 cm: 73-85 cm;
• 155-160 cm: 80-88 cm;
• 160-170 cm: 85-95 cm;
• 170-180 cm: 89-99 cm.

We take age into account

Above were examples for men and women from 25 to 35 years old. With age, ideal proportions will change, since from this moment a person will begin to age. The length of the torso, arms, legs will decrease over time. In order to slow down the aging process as much as possible, it is necessary to systematically engage in physical exercise.

If you are dissatisfied with your height and the length of your limbs, then after you work hard on yourself, these indicators can be brought close to ideal. But it is worth considering the fact that after 25 years it will no longer be possible to do this, since the process of growth and development of the body will stop.

Personal life of Jean-Claude Van Damme

The Belgian macho has always been liked by women and often used this to achieve his goals. At the age of eighteen, he married a wealthy 25-year-old Venezuelan, Maria Rodriguez, with whose money he opened a sports club. He didn’t particularly hide the fact that he had married for convenience and cheated on his wife left and right, but the girl was so in love that she patiently forgave all her husband’s “pranks.”

First wife: Maria Rodriguez

In 1981, having started an affair with Jacqueline Bisset, Jean-Claude easily separated from his wife and rushed overseas in the hope of making a career in Hollywood. But this time everything did not go according to plan - Jacqueline got a new boyfriend and refused to help her former lover.

Having been pushed around without money and a decent job, the athlete used his masculine charm and married Cynthia Derderian, the daughter of the owner of a construction company, for whom he worked as a parquet floor worker. At the expense of his family, Van Damme completed English courses, attended several lectures at an acting school, and most importantly, was able to officially gain a foothold in the United States.

But this marriage did not last long - at a party with Chuck Norris, our hero met bodybuilding champion Gladys Portugues, who became his third wife and mother of his son Christopher (born 1987) and daughter Bianca (born 1990).

Jean-Claude Van Damme and Gladys Portugues in their youth

In 1993, Van Damme began an affair with actress and model Darcy La Pierre. Gladys, unlike her predecessors, did not forgive her husband for his betrayal and filed for divorce without even demanding compensation. In 1994, Jean-Claude and Darcy got married, and a year later their son Nicholas was born. This union also soon disintegrated - at the peak of his popularity, Van Damme became addicted to alcohol and drugs and completely forgot about his family.

With his fourth wife - Darcy La Pierre

Gladys saved him from complete collapse by lending a helping hand to her ex-husband. She persuaded him to go to the clinic, she herself developed a training and nutrition program during the rehabilitation period and controlled every step until the actor completely got rid of cocaine addiction.

In June 1999, Jean-Claude and Gladys got married again, and since then the actor has been repeating all the time that he considers this woman his real and only wife. True, this did not stop him from starting an affair in 2009 with Ukrainian Alena Kaverina, whom he met in one of the nightclubs in Thailand.

Van Damme and Alena Kaverina

Their relationship lasted six whole years, during which Van Damme repeatedly visited Ukraine, vacationed with his passion at expensive resorts and pampered her with generous gifts. At the same time, he was in no hurry to divorce Gladys and after breaking up with Alena he returned to her again.

Jean-Claude Van Damme and Gladys Portugues now

Van Damme's older children followed in his footsteps and also chose acting as a profession. In the summer of 2022, 34-year-old Christopher Van Varenberg (Chris Van Damme) married 21-year-old Azerbaijani Sauda Hajizadeh, celebrating the occasion in the bride’s homeland with a large circle of her relatives.

Van Damme with his wife and children

Instructions for taking measurements

In order for the results of measuring body proportions to be as correct as possible, they should be carried out in the morning. The fact is that the body after sleep has the most accurate values. During the day he experiences stress, as a result of which the data may be far from the truth.

Measurements should be taken using an ordinary tape with sections. It will show the most correct results. If you don’t have one on hand, you can use nylon thread and a regular ruler or construction tape.

In order to track changes in the proportionality of body parts, you should keep a diary. It is best to take measurements no more than once a week.

Pay attention to your diet. It should contain as much protein as possible and a minimum of fat.

Fast carbohydrates should also be avoided. They break down very quickly and do not bring any results. Try to eat more vegetables and cooked meat. This will allow you to build muscle mass as quickly as possible, and will also increase the productivity of your workouts.

1 Comment

Where is the formula by which all tabular data was calculated. For example, with a height of 186 cm, I have an arm span of 198 cm, but this looks quite organic, from this calculation regarding the forearm, my indicators will be completely different, if when you request data on Google, your article is one of the first to be displayed, then at least do it its more scientific and readable.

How to measure biceps volume - this question is asked by many novice bodybuilders. In fact, it is not so difficult if you know some of the nuances. It is true that what many understand by the concept of “biceps volume” is in fact only the length of its circumference. It is almost impossible to calculate the actual volume at home and without special knowledge of mathematics. But, nevertheless, we will conditionally call this parameter exactly that, because this is customary in the bodybuilding society.

Jean-Claude Van Damme now

Recently, the actor often visits Russia. He is personally acquainted with President Putin, the head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov and multiple mixed martial arts champion Fedor Emelianenko. Despite his sympathy for the Russian authorities, he is not barred from entering Ukraine - in the summer of 2022, the premiere of the film “The Last Mercenary” took place, many scenes from which were filmed instead of Paris in Kiev due to restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Vladimir Putin and Jean-Claude Van Damme

In 2022, work was finally completed on the dramatic action film “Frenchy” (other titles: “Eagle Way”, “Full of Love”), which Van Damme began back in 2008. This is Van Damme's second directorial project after the film In Search of Adventure. The first version of the film was ready in 2012, but did not impress distributors and required revision. History repeated itself several more times, but Jean-Claude still really hopes that he will find an interested distributor who will adequately present his brainchild at the worldwide box office. The film's release date has still not been announced.

Van Damme on the set of Frenchie

How to measure biceps volume

In order to measure the volume of your biceps, you need to use a measuring tape. If there is no such tape, you can measure with a rope, finding out the circumference by applying the rope to the ruler.

There are two options for measuring the total volume of the biceps:

1. The first is when the biceps are in a relaxed state.
2. The second is at the moment of muscle tension.

In a relaxed state, you need to keep your arm in a natural vertical position and measure your biceps directly at the center of your shoulder. This method will be correct for most people, but for bodybuilding it is more relevant to measure the size under tension, since this is how bodybuilders demonstrate their muscles on stage.

It should be taken into account that the measurement should not be carried out during pumping, since the rush of blood into the biceps tissue will make it larger only for a short time and literally after a few hours the indicator will be completely different.

When under tension, you need to measure the biceps at the widest point or, as it should be said, at the peak of the biceps. Naturally, in a tense state, the arm should be bent at the elbow joint.

Interesting Facts

• In “The Last Mercenary,” the role of the son of the main character played by Van Damme was played by 10-year-old Ukrainian Yasin Farajallah, a participant in the third season of the television show “Kids vs. the Stars.”
• The characters from the cartoons “Minions: Gruvitation”, “Kung Fu Panda 2”, and the TV series “Robot Chicken” speak in the voice of Jean-Claude.
• In 2011, Jean-Claude, along with actress Hilary Swank, violinist Vanessa May and British singer Seal, participated in the City Day celebrations in Grozny (Chechnya), which displeased the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, which called for a boycott of the event.
• In his mansion, Van Damme set up a shelter for stray dogs, of which he has more than a dozen. He still cannot forgive himself that, having left for America, he left his beloved dog Tara to an unfamiliar person, who, without waiting for the owner, died of melancholy.
• In Azerbaijan there is a village called Vandam, the name of which, although translated as “ash roof,” is consonant with the actor’s name. Apparently, that’s why it was decided to erect his lifetime monument there. Another life-size statue of him is in Brussels, near the Westland Shopping Center.
• The actor’s older sister Veronica wrote an autobiographical book about her brother, which is called “My Brother Jean-Claude.”

Ideal body proportions for men

Different periods of time had their own specific ideas about male beauty. The ancient canons are reflected in the sculpture of Polykleitos “Doriphoros”, also called “Spear-bearer”. The height of the figure is 178 cm. Parameters of the body parts in girth: lower leg - 42 cm, biceps - 38 cm, buttocks - 108 cm, chest - 119 cm, thigh - 60 cm, forearm - 33 cm, wrist - 19 cm, waist - 93 cm.

Another, no less famous image of masculinity is considered to be the sculpture of the Greek sun god Apollo, created by Leocher, the courtier of A. Macedonian. The physique of ancient heroes looks “square”. The body is distinguished by a powerful neck and back, too voluminous at the bottom.

During the Renaissance, a new type of perfect figure, the “Vitruvian Man,” appeared, created by the great artist and scientist Leonardo Da Vinci. The famous illustration is still used today as an example of correct body symmetry.

Today's norms largely overlap with the canons of past times. Conditional indicators of compliance of individual sections of the body are built based on the entire length of the body.

Table No. 3 Typical ratio of male figure parameters

The data varies depending on the age and physiological characteristics of the person. Enhanced transformation of the body occurs during the period of 16-25 years.

Ideal proportions in bodybuilding

Professional athletes have their own schemes for calculating ideal volumes. A number of authoritative techniques that are used by bodybuilders will be highlighted.

The most used include the school of the direction’s founder, Joe Weider, and the system of the famous coach Marcel Rouet.

Table No. 4 Correlation of body parameters according to Wider

Table No. 5 Correlation of proportions according to Marcel Rouet