Bodybuilding Forums

Not trying to be a jerk here but I have been curious about this for a long time. My shoulder, triceps and biceps are "at least" quite decent but I am still not seeing the kind of toned, defined and separation. I am very lean and no, arm fat is not my issue. I have been telling myself that it's my muscle size that are lacking but, I am seeing some of the skinny guy with really small arm muscle with definition. As in, when they are on sleeveless, I can really see the separation between their shoulder and biceps... a "V" kind of shape. I hope you guys get what I mean.

Size is relative, they may have smaller muscles than you in comparison but perhaps they have more developed muscles in proportion to their body size and bone structure. Kind of the same way that you might find yourself as strong or stronger than someone who is larger than you. They might have bigger muscles but that doesn't mean you are any less developed than they are, especially when talking about details such as visual muscle quality and shape.

Ultimately you can't emulate someone else's body features, yes muscles have a general structure across the board for everyone but so does a face, your muscles have their own distinct shape and you just need to bring it out. For some people it comes faster, others slower, you just need to work with what you got and challenge yourself with the required intensity to bring out the potential of your own body.

I know that might sound like vague motivational bullshit, but as with almost anything dealing with the human body, it's not a cut and dry issue as there are still many things about it we don't understand so all we can do is work with it as best we know how and with an open mind. Perhaps if Mark's current arm workout experiment proves successful for many people you may find that it ends up making the difference for you in your arms after it is posted.

In addidtion to comments made by surferX, genetics is a huge portion of how well you will develop, lenght of time it takes, size and etc. Mark has touched base on some of this stuff in the past, for example, ensuring proper technique is used, are you going for muscle hypotrophy or are you in a cutting stage? Your metabolism, bone structure dictates so much of how you can look and as it sounds, you are quite a lean guy so hitting things like whey protein after your work out would be benificial to feeding your muscles with the quick protein it needs after an intense workout.

Exactly as surferX put it, there are guys out there that look huge but are not as strong as other guys out there that may be smaller than them. Some guys can just put on mass because of their genetics, others have a hard time putting on mass but are incredibly strong. Don't compare yourself with others cause you will never be happy. Look for the small improvements by tracking your number of reps per set and weights in a log book pushing yourself to either increase in weight or another rep maxing at 12 reps per set. If you have a lot of juice left when you have hit 12, you really need to increase weight.By doing that, you will inevitably see physical results. I used to not track my sets/reps and weights and I eventually found that I was no longer getting any bigger because I had reached a plateu. Check out some of the archives Mark has written, one called, can we all be as big as Arnold http://www.musclehack.com/can-we-all-be-as-big-as-arnold-bodybuilding-genetics-explained/ then read onto the "how to flip on the growth switch"
Hope this helps a bit!
GEKU

A good one I use is with two 10 pound dumb bells.

Pick up both weights with your hands. arm should be straight along side of your body.

With one arm bend it up so you elbow is at 90 degrees and hold it their.

With the other arm do 10 curls.

Then switch, you want to do 3 sets of 10 with each arm. While the other arm is held at the 90 degrees.