Flexing and Measuring

[The Magus]

Forgive me if this has already been asked somewhere else, but I was wondering if anyone knew the finer points of flexing and/or measuring, for the purposes of recording progress or perhaps competition. I think I heard somewhere once that flexing can help stimulate muscle growth, too.

Some specific questions I have are:

When measuring an area, like your leg, where should the tape go? In the middle of the limb? Near the top? Where the leg is thickest? There's a two inch difference between the middle of my thigh and near my groin, for example.

When posing for pictures, how do you showcase different muscle groups (ie, lat spread, "most muscular", etc)? Is there a difference between posing for a bodybuilding event and posing simply to measure personal progress?

I know that most of my questions are pretty basic, but while I've always been interested in muscle growth and weight lifting, I've never been into bodybuilding as a sport. As I'm getting more serious, though, I'm wanting to record my progress in more detail: I'm at the point where I've lost enough fat that looking at the scale isn't a reliable a sign of progress, and I also want to keep a good record to show how far I've come and how far I eventually will go.

Thanks in advance, guys.

[muscle_mastah]

Originally Posted by The Magus

Forgive me if this has already been asked somewhere else, but I was wondering if anyone knew the finer points of flexing and/or measuring, for the purposes of recording progress or perhaps competition. I think I heard somewhere once that flexing can help stimulate muscle growth, too.

Unfortunately, flexing isn't going to help at all.

Originally Posted by The Magus

Some specific questions I have are:

When measuring an area, like your leg, where should the tape go? In the middle of the limb? Near the top? Where the leg is thickest? There's a two inch difference between the middle of my thigh and near my groin, for example.

The largest part of that body part without a pump, i.e. not after exercising.

Originally Posted by The Magus

When posing for pictures, how do you showcase different muscle groups (ie, lat spread, "most muscular", etc)? Is there a difference between posing for a bodybuilding event and posing simply to measure personal progress?

I'd say yes if one is or measurements vs showing in pictures/stage etc. For measurements you want to flex to gain the best size. For pictures/stage you are trying to show you best features from that angle. You might artifically set off/spread certain muscles to show them better. For now you might want to focus on taking the measurements and charting the progress.

Originally Posted by The Magus

I know that most of my questions are pretty basic, but while I've always been interested in muscle growth and weight lifting, I've never been into bodybuilding as a sport. As I'm getting more serious, though, I'm wanting to record my progress in more detail: I'm at the point where I've lost enough fat that looking at the scale isn't a reliable a sign of progress, and I also want to keep a good record to show how far I've come and how far I eventually will go.

Thanks in advance, guys.

That's an awesome attitude. You might find this log helpful http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bodypartlog.htm to keep track of your progress. It also mentions the following:

"Measure every 4 - 8 weeks! Don't just rely on the scale! Measure each part flexed and without a pump. This means that you should measure on a non-workout day. Measure the largest part of each muscle. Measure as exact as you can... no rounding! Write both your left and right measurements where applicable."

I hope that helps.

[glammaman2000]

...but flexing can DEFINITELY help with development!But you have to approach it as an exercise.Flex your bicep HARD!As hard as you can possibly can.For 10 seconds.Shake it out.Do it again.10 seconds.10 times.You can do this with every muscle in your body.If you get cramping;it's because you've stressed the muscle in a new way.You can often get a much more severe contraction than you can with weights.At the very least,you'll gain better FEEL for the bodypart;which will improve the effectiveness of your exercises.As to how to measure;whichever way it comes out biggest.

[brent]

I must agree with Glamm on this. I know I've benefitted from structured flexing. i believe Arnold had even written about it. I think the Mastah is right about everythng else however.

[CelticMuscle]

Originally Posted by glammaman2000

...but flexing can DEFINITELY help with development!But you have to approach it as an exercise.Flex your bicep HARD!As hard as you can possibly can.For 10 seconds.Shake it out.Do it again.10 seconds.10 times.You can do this with every muscle in your body.If you get cramping;it's because you've stressed the muscle in a new way.You can often get a much more severe contraction than you can with weights.At the very least,you'll gain better FEEL for the bodypart;which will improve the effectiveness of your exercises.As to how to measure;whichever way it comes out biggest.

Absolutely, I know it might seem a silly way of watching a bodybuilding contest, but put it on fast forward (especially if the camera is fixed on a single object) and you'll see that every bodybuilder (from the smallest lightweight to the muscled superheavyweights) suddenly starts breathing a lot harder than when they began. The reason? As Glammaman ponits out, flexing is one of the hardest exercises devised. A friend of mine from Washington state not only flexes as part of his training regime but uses visualiation as well (usually along the lines of that he's been chained up and has to flex to break free) and you should see the sweat he works up!

[dallasmsl]

Blood! Do it for about twenty minutes!

[Minotaur]

It's basically an isometric exericse.