Fit or Fat? Hard to tell...

[LittleArm]

Have you ever seen a guy who looks pretty big, but because of the way he's dressed you can't tell whether it's all fat or all muscle underneath? The extreme example would be the World's Strongest Men guys. They carry a lot of body fat, but you can see that there is a ton of powerful muscle in there as well. If they were covered up, you might have trouble figuring out whether or not they were in shape.

Anyway, there is a guy I see every now and then in Starbucks. The best word I can use to describe him is "thick". He's maybe in his late 20s, about 5'7, and I'll guess around 190 pounds (I'm terrible at guessing weight.) He has one of those barrel-shaped torsos. His chest sticks out extremely far, and under his shirt I can clearly see 2 large mounds of spherical meat; I just can't tell if they are firm pecs or flabby man boobs. He does have a bit of belly which sticks out about as far as the chest- again, i can't tell if it's solid or not. He wears long sleeves which look somewhat full, but many fat guys have large arms.

So this guy may be a fat lazy slob, or a super-strong powerhouse. Maybe I should accidently spill a latte on him and then cop a feel while trying to dry him off? Or if I spill enough, maybe he'd have to take the shirt off right then and there and settle it once and for all.

[glammaman2000]

...Especially young guys.You think they're muscly;but they're just fat in all the right places.(&having worked in restaurants for WAY too long,I know all about the temptation to spill drinks on the"feel-uppable".Don't.)

[hulkmuscle]

I've never heard it put quite that way, but that's a good one.

[The Magus]

Every day is like that for me. I work for a cleaning supplies wholesaler, and most opf our customers are guys who used to lift boxes for a living but now run restaurants, janitorial companies, or construction businesses, so they all have these broad shoulders and large arms and, unfortunately, bodies that have mostly gone to seed.

From behind, they almost always look great, and then they turn around and in profile you can see the gut and sagging chest.

Lucky (or not, if I ever get caught staring) for me, I'm also attracted to a lot of the "gone to seed" looks, too, but it is a bit of a disappointment to expect one body type and then get another.

[UKBeefy]

I always think I can tell the difference between the fat and the built. I look at the traps and shoulder shape - big fat guys tend to not have that "tombstone" separation between their shoulders/traps. The other thing I look for is the relationship between arms and lats. Guys with built backs tend to have a look of their arm sitting in front of their lats - ie a look where their arm looks as if it is more comfortable moving from out to the side and across their torso rather than swinging in a more "soldier style" marching movement front to back. Sorry if that sounds convoluted but it is the best way I can describe it. Also on arms I think u can see a difference between a built arm and a flabby one by looking at the point the bicep inserts near the inside of the elbow. With a built guy's arms there should be an overt outward "bump" of the bicep coming out even when the arm is outstretched rather than just a general shape of an arm.

[ethernet_jock]

all good points ukb.... but I think given your definition... I'd probably look fat to you.

I know I have some weight to shed, but I'm definitely not "fat". My arms do sort-of sit in front of my lats and out a bit... and my shoulders are definitely well defined beyond just fatty slabs.... but if you looked at where my biceps meet my elbows, there's not much of a separation there at all despite nearly 17" of hard muscle.

I think genetics plays a huge part in the way muscles shape against the body along with BF %. I'm about 18-19%.... far from lean.... but also far from "fat".

Somehow when I'm looking at someone it's more about the whole package... take in the whole package.... and just think about it un-dressed... you can usually tell. Truly fat guys pecs will rest on their gut and giggle with every movement... and truly fat guys will many times have no shoulders at all.

I have seen a few kids like you refer to though with "fat in all the right places". I saw a kid about 2 nights ago at Burger King who was just like that... pulled up in his tricked-out late 90's Mitsubishi Eclipse... stepped out with his $600 PDA/Cell Phone, his horizontal stripe A & F polo with the collar up in the back, his $50 Nike sandals.... and all the other accessories you see on the typical young jock/playboy type. He certainly thought he was "all that" and wanted everyone else to think that too... but his folds of stomache were clear through his too-tight A & F polo despite his large-looking shoulders and "fat" arms that I know he was trying to show off for the tribal tattoo on one of them... it was obvious to me that they were nothing but soft pudge. His pudgy cheeks and almost second chin gave it away too. I actually felt really sorry for him... all the fashion sense in the world and a great face and a kid who obviously knows how to act and do his hair perfectly and all that kind of stuff that I never could get right at his age....and all he would have to do is work out a little bit to have a girl (or boi) on each arm as he walked into Burger King instead of being alone and pretending to be important with his overpriced cell phone.

Furthermore, he should have been walking into Tokyo Joe's (across the street) instead of Burger King!!!.... Don't even ask what I was doing there... I have but one word... "in-laws".

[ethernet_jock]

pardon me, it was glam who was first talking about "fat in the right places"

[optimusx]

I've seen the "fat in all the right places" but I think it's 50% genetics and 50% exercise. I've seen guys with crazy vascularity in their arms and neck, but the second you get their shirt off you see their chest/gut is soft. Some guys just carry the weight better.. and others workout or have heavy/constant lifting jobs that add just the right distribution of muscle under the fat to give that look.

There's nothing wrong with that look.. heck.. if people on this board spotted me in real life, they'd probably ask the same question! Correction.. they probably wouldn't even guess that I worked out

Scott

[loopyrhino2001]

Originally Posted by optimusx

if people on this board spotted me in real life, they'd probably ask the same question! Correction.. they probably wouldn't even guess that I worked out

... Until you picked them up and tossed them across the room for doubting you.

-Loopy <-- not fat, trying to get more fit

[Minotaur]

Originally Posted by optimusx

they probably wouldn't even guess that I worked out

Scott

I can relate. I get people all the time saying "Oh, you lift weights!?" or "You workout!? "

Because I'm 5'5", 228 lbs and have a 48" chest and 53" shoulders circumference, I wear XL shirts. Even though I do have a gut (I have insulin resistance and am working diligently on getting rid of the gut), it doesn't stick out or drop over my belt. The size of the shirts just makes me look fat.

Guys at work will grab my arms or shoulders and say "damn! you are solid!" or "wow, you do workout". Well, duh!

[Jim USA]

We might wanna start a whole new thread on the discovery that someone (maybe you) that looks like an everyday guy in day-to-day clothes can don a tank top or swimsuit to reveal how muscular they really are.

I work in accounting and one day at the gym ran into two coworkers. When they saw me working out in my muscle shirt, they couldn't hide their admiration and kept asking me the size of my arms and what my arm routine was and did I take supplements and on and on.

Did you ever discover that a "normal" looking guy was actually buff as hell?

[RIbiodiver]

I know what you are talking about how hard it is to tell what someone looks like if they wear the right cloths. I've had coworkers or friends come up to me being very surprised when they see me in a snug t-shirt vs. baggy office attire. I also have a friend in Seattle who really blew me away recently when I saw him in the gym before a workout. He just looks really average in a flannel shirt, but really has an outstanding build. I get the impression he often hides his build for some reason. I find that rather cool that someone can hide a really good build if they want to. I'm just big enough to still do this, but hopefully soon, I won't be able to completely hide.

[CelticMuscle]

Isn't that what Bugs Bunny says to a monster?

[Minotaur]

Originally Posted by CelticMuscle

Isn't that what Bugs Bunny says to a monster?

Yes. Bugs is pretending to be a beautician and is doing Gossamer's (the monster) nails. "Now let's put our patties in da water!" and Gossamer gets his fingers snapped in mousetraps.

[xythan_shadow]

Originally Posted by Minotaur

Yes. Bugs is pretending to be a beautician and is doing Gossamer's (the monster) nails. "Now let's put our patties in da water!" and Gossamer gets his fingers snapped in mousetraps.

The fact that you knew his name scores extra points in my book Thumbs up!

[Minotaur]

Originally Posted by xythan_shadow

The fact that you knew his name scores extra points in my book Thumbs up!

Thanks!