Proportions in bodybuilding - what are they, standard forms? Proportions of famous bodybuilders.

Man has always strived for perfection and ideal, to become better, to move forward and develop. This applies to all areas of human activity, be it intellectual abilities or appearance, and we will talk about it in this article.

Over the centuries, ideal ideas about male and female figures have changed several times, but attempts to measure the human body and calculate its proportions have been made constantly. At all times, a man had the image of a strong, muscular and hardy person, this is eloquently demonstrated by ancient statues. Already in those days, athleticism was quite well developed and competitions were held in physical strength and dexterity.

Body type

For doctors, body proportions are a criterion for assessing human health. For example, during the famine years, a person’s health was judged by chest circumference. In a healthy man, the chest circumference should not be less than 100 cm.

Today, waist circumferences less than 100 cm are rare.

However, first of all, the proportions of the body are determined by the bones.

Today, doctors distinguish three healthy types of skeletons and the owners of such skeletons are called: asthenics, normosthenics and hypersthenics.

Normosthenics are people whose skeletons are close to the average measurements of the population as a whole. Asthenics and hypersthenics are healthy deviations from the norm.

The majority of people and the majority of my clients are normasthenics, so they all fit the general description of proportions in the size/quarter and can count on a muscular body with 8% fat within the weight “height minus 100”

In hypersthenics, transverse dimensions predominate in the skeleton: broad shoulders and short stature. These bone sizes affect the functioning of internal organs and the endocrine system. They have a good appetite and grow muscles and fat well.

Hypersthenics have short lungs and a transverse heart. Not only are they heavy and have short legs, but they also have short lungs and a constricted heart, so it’s hard for them to run.

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I had a client who did nothing but had a naturally stocky appearance and huge calves. His four-year-old twin children once came to practice with him. I couldn’t believe my eyes: four-year-old children had calves like bodybuilders with veins.

One day, this stocky client, 170 cm tall and weighing 115 kg, tried to do a pull-up for the first time and managed to do it 7 times.

By his last name one could judge his genetics. His last name was Khvatov.

Now about asthenics.

In asthenics, longitudinal dimensions predominate: thin bones, tall stature and long limbs. They have long legs, long lungs and a vertical heart, so they can run a lot and quickly without getting tired.

But asthenics have poor appetite, muscle and fat growth is poor.

I had a client who was 186 cm tall and weighed 56 kilograms. He really wanted to gain muscle mass, but he was not in the mood for either meat or strength training.

One day he decided to run a marathon. I ran in the morning for a month and completed a marathon without any special preparation in 3:20 minutes.

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Taking measurements

Due to the fact that the issue is quite important and has been discussed for a long time, certain rules have been formed, adhering to which the measurements will be as correct as possible, and, not least important, objective. First of all, you need to get a measuring tape. Taking measurements with a regular ruler and thread is not the best option - it is both inconvenient and impractical. It is best to take measurements in the morning, when the muscles are in a relaxed (“cold”) state.

Wrist

Measurement location: in the thinnest part of the forearm, next to the hand.

Forearm

Position: bend your arm at the elbow, clench your hand into a fist, bend it towards the forearm (the angles between the hand and forearm, and between the forearm and shoulder are 90 degrees). Tighten your forearm muscles.

Measurement location: the widest part of the forearm, 1-2 cm away from the elbow.

Biceps

Position: bend your arm at the elbow (the angle between the forearm and shoulder is 60-80 degrees). Contract your biceps and triceps.

Measurement location: the widest part of the shoulder is approximately the middle of the biceps (the place of its peak).

Neck

Position: lift your chin, relax your neck muscles. Measurement location: just below the level of the Adam's apple.

Shoulder girdle

Position: stand straight, straighten your shoulders and move them back a little, arms along your body. All muscles are in a relaxed state.

Measuring location: The measuring tape should pass through the top of the pectoral muscles and the middle of the deltoids.

Breast

Position: stand straight, breathe calmly, muscles relaxed.

Measurement location: the widest part of the chest (1-3 cm above nipple level)

Stomach

Position: stand straight, breathe calmly. We don’t strain our abdominal muscles, we don’t pull them in.

Measurement location: middle of the abdomen, slightly above the navel.

Pelvis

Position: Stand straight. The muscles are relaxed.

Measurement location: at the widest part of the pelvis (middle of the gluteal muscles).

Hip

Position: Stand straight. Shift your body weight to the leg being measured and tighten your thigh muscles.

Measurement location: the widest part of the thigh (at the very top of the leg).

Shin

Position: Measure while sitting. Tighten your calf muscles (put your foot on your toes and transfer your weight to the leg you are measuring).

Measurement location: the widest part of the shin.

Ankle

Position: Measure while sitting. The leg is relaxed.

Measurement location: just above the foot, in the thinnest part of the shin.

Men are advised to take measurements of all parts of the body. For girls, it will be enough to measure the chest, abdomen, pelvis, thigh and lower leg.

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Bone sizes

To talk about proportions, you need to be sure that a sufficient amount of muscle has grown on the body. Let me remind you that skeletal muscles grow on bones. Let's not look too much at the whole body, but look only at the wrist.

From the table you can see who has which wrist.

But we must remember that the thickness of the bone must somehow depend on the length of the bone. To understand your physique, you need to know not only the thickness of your wrist, but also your place in height in the class.

For example, in elementary school, my height was shorter than 77% of my classmates. And now, with my 173 cm, I am almost of average height.

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How to Increase HGH Naturally

The effect of growth hormone in bodybuilding can be achieved by eating certain foods and adhering to a number of rules. One way is fasting. For example, you can not eat for 8 hours a day. This is very easy to do, since a person should normally spend this amount of time sleeping at night.

Growth hormone is produced throughout the night and continues to be synthesized in the morning until a person has breakfast. This is due to the fact that growth hormone is an antagonist of insulin released when eating food. When a person does not eat, insulin is not produced, and growth hormone, on the contrary, is synthesized in large quantities. According to research, one day of fasting is equal to 5 units of growth hormone administered through drugs.

How to increase growth hormone:

• sleep at least 8 hours a day (GH is produced in greater quantities during sleep);
• train regularly, focusing on strength training (aerobic exercise seriously increases the level of growth hormone);
• harden, since sudden changes in temperature contribute to increased synthesis of growth hormone;
• consume foods that stimulate the synthesis of growth hormone;
• eliminate fatigue, stress and emotional overstrain (worsen the production of growth hormone);
• use special sports supplements that stimulate the synthesis of growth hormone.

If we talk about which products contain growth hormone, then it makes no sense to look for them. There are only products that help enhance the production of growth hormone by the body itself. This category includes:

• meat and fish;
• dairy products;
• chicken eggs;
• potato;
• buckwheat and oatmeal;
• pumpkin seeds, pistachios, cashew nuts.

Pumpkin seeds and watermelons especially strongly stimulate the secretion of growth hormone, since they contain a huge amount of L-arginine, an amino acid that enhances the synthesis of growth hormone.

How to increase growth hormone: safe drugs

Some types of sports nutrition help increase growth hormone. Unlike GH drugs, they are cheaper, do not have the same side effects and serious restrictions on their use. Young athletes training in the gym are not recommended to use GH drugs to pump up muscles. It is better for them to choose stimulants for the synthesis of their own somatotropin.

Thus, drugs that stimulate growth hormone include:

1. Arginine – L-arginine. A conditionally replaceable amino acid used in sports nutrition as a nitrogen donor. It creates favorable conditions in the body for the synthesis of growth hormone.
2. DAA – D-aspartic acid. Its functions include stimulating the production of various hormones, including growth hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone.
3. GABA – gamma-aminobutyric acid. A non-proteinogenic amino acid that acts as an inhibitory neurotransmitter in the nervous system. Improves sleep quality, which indirectly affects the production of growth hormone.

Also read:

1. “What you need to know about the benefits and harms of arginine: is there a difference with L-arginine.”
2. “D-aspartic acid in bodybuilding | How is it different from L-aspartic acid and how is it related to asparkam.”
3. “GABA (aminobutyric acid) – what it is and why it is important not only for athletes.”

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Body measurements

More than a century ago, for some reason, people considered it important to change the body circumference of strongmen, so if you scour the Internet, you can find the lengths of the wrist and shoulder circumferences of any athlete of those times.

Today, against the backdrop of the phrase “I gained 20 kg this season,” successes in changing circumferences are already losing relevance for spoiled viewers who are used to watching bodybuilder shows on the farm. But if we are talking about the everyday practice of training ordinary people for health purposes, then it makes sense to listen and read the old magazines “Physical Education and Sports”.

Here’s what they write there: “The circumference of a man’s shoulder in tension, equal to 36-37 cm, indicates his good development.”

For normosthenics, the circumference of the wrist is 18-20 cm, and the biceps is 36-40 cm. A healthy man without fat can and should have biceps twice as large as his wrist.

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Biceps and waist

Many people who like to gain weight achieve double-wristed biceps, but do not pay attention to waist growth at all. Often in such athletes who stupidly gain weight, the rate of waist growth greatly exceeds the growth of biceps. Therefore, it makes sense to consider the biceps in proportion not only to the wrist, but also to the waist.

In articles on bodybuilding from America in the 80s you can read “You should be able to swing your arm up to 50 cm and shrink your waist to 75 cm”

Over the past thirty years, I have never seen someone simultaneously measure their arm to be 50 cm and their waist to be 75 cm. I have seen arms of 50 cm, but with a waist of 100 cm, or a waist of 75 cm with an arm of 38 cm.

In his textbook, Vader gives a table of proportions for the development of athletes. She's friendlier and more believable. In it, Vader gives a biceps limit of 44.5 cm with a waist of 92. I have seen natural athletes with such parameters and am familiar with them.

The waist circumference is usually equal to two arm circumferences. To understand how beautiful and proportional your torso is, simply measure your tense biceps and waist. The difference should be more than twice.

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Calculation of ideal proportions

Joe Weider Chart

For a more accurate assessment of proportions, several formulas based on measurements of one’s own body have been proposed. For example, Joe Weider offers his own table of ideal proportions . It looks like this:

First, you need to divide your weight by your height, find the resulting figure in the leftmost column and calculate the ideal proportions for yourself. According to Joe Weider, ideally the proportions of bodybuilders should correspond to this table .

John McCallum Formula

In addition to Joe Weider's table, there are other formulas for calculating proportions. For example, John McCallum's formula , which is based on measuring the circumference of the wrist. It is assumed that the thickness of the wrist is closely related to the size of all human bones. However, sometimes there are people whose lower half of the skeleton is more massive than the upper and vice versa, so the proportions may vary. If you multiply your wrist circumference by 6.5, you get your chest circumference, from which you can calculate the circumference of the rest of your body. Based on this formula, the following patterns emerge:

• Waist circumference is 70% of chest circumference
• Hip circumference is 85% of chest circumference
• One hip equals 53% of the chest circumference
• The neck will be 37% of the chest
• Arm circumference is approximately 36% of chest circumference
• The shins will make up 34% of the chest
• Forearm equals 29% of chest

Table of Marcel Rouet

Marcel Rouet's version, we get the following table of proportions:

In this case, the calculation is made according to the person’s height, and not according to his wrist circumference . The waist measurements according to this table of proportions are slightly higher than the others, it can be assumed that Ruhe is a follower of ancient proportions.