Is it just me or are arms harder to grow than legs?

[elijahnc]

M19

I've been working out for 6 months now. I used to be pretty fat (96kg at 5'9") but I am at 76kg rn (lost all the weight by cardio and diet before starting gym)

After 6 months of working out my arms grew from 12.5in to 14in±0.2

But my legs grew noticeably large and thighs are 24.5in and calf at 16in.

I do a PPL workout

*Legs and shoulders (focusing on glutes, hamstring, calves etc. for legs) (4 workouts each for legs and shoulders)

*Back and Biceps (4 workouts each)

*Chest and triceps (4 workouts each)

*Legs and shoulders (focusing on quads and inner thighs) (4 workouts each)

*Abs(upper or lower)/obliques/serratus anterior, one of these are done everyday (3×10) except for the leg day that focuses on my hammies since the Bulgarian Split Squats, deadlifts and the hip thrusts leaves me completely gassed out to do an effective core workout.

For biceps particularly, I do the following:

*Seated bicep curls (3×10)

*Preacher curls (machine) (3×10)

*Hammer curls (sometimes reverse grip ez bar curl) (3×10)

*Forearm Curls (sometimes I do the sam sulek version of forearm curl on cables with an ez bar since the ez bar allows me to have more range of motion).

 

[shahid302]

@elijahnc It's not you, not an expert but yeah, leg muscles are huge compared with the arm muscles, and they grow easier

And then we got calves...

 

[elijahnc]

@shahid302 Makes sense

My calves showed noticeable growth but for some reason I saw a lot of definition on soleus muscles

 

[danny4mission]

@elijahnc you have to think about % increases when comparing muscles groups of different sizes

for ex a 10lb lateral raise to a 15lb lateral raise is a 50% increase in likely size/strength

the equivalent for quads would be 100 to 150.

lateral raize went up 5lbs but legs went up 50lbs. yet they increased the same amount of strength.

its not like perfectly accurate but thats how id measure it at least

 

[elijahnc]

@danny4mission Makes sense. I've seen noticeable differences in strength

When I started out I could only do barbell curls of 15kg (33lbs) but now I can do 25kg (55lbs)

That's an increase of 65% but my arms just didn't grow as much as I expected ig. I got more definition (esp my brachiodialis)

 

[danny4mission]

@elijahnc in PPL splits arms are less of a priority bc theyre hit last, if you want to particularly prioritize your arms then an arnold split w a dedicated arm day might be something to experiment with later

 

[elijahnc]

@danny4mission This makes so much sense. I'll look into Arnold splits and I'll probably dedicate my Sunday (rest day) to biceps since biceps would've already rested 48hrs or more and ready to go and then follow a PPL routine (not sure, I'll look into Arnold splits and stuff, see what works)

 

[jbrad01x]

@elijahnc Depends on genetics, MMC, how much you enjoy training one over the other, form, programming, etc.

It isn’t an objective truth.

 

[mommajulesberry]

@elijahnc id say that theres a reasonable chance that peoples idea of even/proportionate development is skewed by guys sandbagging legs (bc they dont care and its hard) and girls sandbagging upper body.

and mostly anecdotally former chubby kids (myself included) get decent legs relatively quickly, maybe a slightly better starting point from basically having to carry our ass around all day who knows.

those measurements dont sound terribly disproportionate. that being said if you are training 4 days per week like that, i do think that most upper body muscles can recover a bit faster whereas hamstrings and quads can get messed up enough to where training them once a week is ok

 

[elijahnc]

@mommajulesberry I am training 6 days a week..

Leg&shoulders-back&bicep-chest&triceps-legs&shoulder-back&biceps-chest&tricep... everything is hit twice a week and I get 2.5 day to recover (if I am progressive overloading that week I'll probably take more rest days until I feel completely fine to go all out for the workout)

and mostly anecdotally former chubby kids (myself included) get decent legs relatively quickly, maybe a slightly better starting point from basically having to carry our ass around all day who knows

TRUE.
I've the largest legs in my college batch (maybe in the entire college, I am yet to see someone with larger thighs except for overweight or obese people).

Being on an eternal bulk and then cutting gave me some thicc thighs

id say that theres a reasonable chance that peoples idea of even/proportionate development is skewed

Facts... I felt terrible thinking that I should at least be able to lift 225lbs in a few months because everyone online can easily do it but I talked to a ton of my friends and most of them are lifting the bar or half my weight even though we started together or they started earlier

(tbh they are the type of guys to always stick to the few workouts the general trainer told them to do and nothing more, cheats the form while my ADHD/autistic ass loves reading and watching scientific videos on lifting lol).

I can now squat 225lbs and deadlift 225lbs for (10 reps) before my forearms give out. I can only bench 110lbs tho (but afaik 225lbs bench eventhough shown as super common online is extremely hard to achieve irl)

 

[graylon]

@elijahnc I like your routine

 

[waylon101]

@elijahnc So i have had a similar experience but reversed. My arms were also 12.75 and after about 4 months they are only 13, but they look SO much bigger to me and looking back at starting pictures they are so much bigger looking. But there was basically not an ounce of fat on my arms so thats a factor too, i had no fat to lose there specifically. I have been the exact same weight since i started but my legs were already a little more muscular from a few years of stationary bike riding doing uphill stuff. So my legs dont feel like they have grown as fast. But i think genetics play a role, my dad and i are more linebacker type build with smaller legs and longer arms and wider shoulders. More upper body heavy and some are more lower body heavy. Its a mix of noob gains, genetics and then i actually have thought for years that people who are overweight probably have much stronger legs than most relative to their body weight.

 

[elijahnc]

@waylon101 Oh, I forgot to mention that the way I lost all my weight quickly was by starting off with walking but since it's a boring workout I decided to rent a bicycle (kinda similar to a Dutch bicycle) and cycle at 16-20kph for 30-50km a day, the bike was inefficient asf but that only meant I had to put more effort and burn more calories.

Helped me with my cardio a lot and even though cyclists say that long distance cycling isn't hypertrophic I am pretty sure that doing it for so long contributed something to my leg size.

i had no fat to lose there specifically

This is true for my legs, it barely has any fat on it except for the inner groin region while my lower belly and my arms all have fat that I can easily grab/pinch.

 

[waylon101]

@elijahnc Yeah see so there you go right there. Thats probably what it is. Where you dont have any fat the muscle shows easier and quicker but where there is fat, it has to go through the recomposition and change from fat to muscle. But yeah seriously when i measure my arms after a couple months i was so pissed. They seemedso much bigger and then i was pissed they basically didnt grow at all haha