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MUSCLE BELLIES
Q
Firstly thank you for such an amazing magazine,
I read every issue front to back and back again.
You help change thousands of people’s outlook on
health, fitness and bodybuilding, and my life as an amateur
bodybuilder has certainly been positively influenced. I have a
question about something that I didn’t know too much about
until recently: “muscle bellies”. We’ve all seen some guys with
half a bicep, or that pyramid of a gap between the lower chest
and even quadriceps that begin way too high up on the leg.
How do I work around the fact that I have short muscle bellies
and ensure that my muscles look full and dense?
Ryan Ackerman
“WE CAN
DO LITTLE
TO CHANGE
OUR GENETIC
STRUCTURE
AND MUSCLE
INSERTION
POINTS, BUT
THERE IS STILL
A LOT WE CAN
DO TO BUILD
AN IMPRESSIVE
AMOUNT
OF MUSCLE
REGARDLESS.“
16
Muscle Evolution
A
Thank you for the
words of support - we
are grateful that we
have in some way contributed
to your bodybuilding progress.
We hope we can carry on
inspiring and guiding you to
fulfilling your health, fitness
and bodybuilding goals.
With regard to your question
about “muscle bellies” and
how some guys appear to have
shorter muscles than others,
this simply comes down to
genetics. You see, some of us
are born with higher (or lower)
insertion points than others.
Looking at the upper arm for
example, your biceps attach to
a tendon that runs down your
arm. Most people’s muscle belly
attaches to the tendon near
the elbow joint, while some
attach higher up (i.e. they have
a higher insertion point), as you
suggest yours do this, giving
a “short” (but generally more
peaked) appearance. Calves
are another muscle where this
is easy to see. You either have
long calves inserting near your
heel or shorter calves inserting
further up. Similarly with the
chest, some people never seem
to develop a strong upper chest
and others do it easily. It is the
same thing with the centre of
the chest where there is a lot of
variation with the gap between
the pectoral muscles, and again
this comes down to insertion
points, which, as I said, are
genetically predetermined at
birth.
By looking at where your
muscles attach to the tendons
you can get a good idea of
whether you have short or
long muscle bellies. Generally
speaking, the longer the muscle
belly, the greater potential there
is for growth. The further away
from the joint the muscle inserts,
the greater leverage advantage
you will have. Therefore, if your
muscles insert far away from
the joint, then you can lift more
weight with the same amount of
muscle mass as someone whose
muscle inserts near the joint.
In this case, it does not mean
the muscle that inserts further
away is doing more work, it just
means it has a greater leverage
advantage and therefore can lift
more weight with exerting the
same amount of force. This is
one reason why some guys can
lift a lot of weight even though
they lack in overall muscle
mass. It is also the reason why
chimps are 3x as strong as
people even though they only
weigh 45kg.
The above being said, while
we cannot do much about the
genetic muscle insertion points
we are born with, it does not
mean we cannot still develop
impressive, full and dense
muscles. Do not get disillusioned
by this genetic trait. Perfect
examples of completely
different genetic structures both
developing equally impressive
muscles would be Sergio Oliva,
who had massive arms with,
full muscle bellies (his biceps
seemingly attaching into
his forearms) versu