Genetic Limit of Individual Muscles AND Total LBM?

[TheGrapist]

I have a couple of friends at my gym who have been lifting for at least 5 years(most are closer to 10). They're all pretty close to their genetic limit. But what I notice is that the guys with the biggest arms, have smaller legs. And the guys with the biggest legs, have smaller arms, and back.

What I wonder is if you have a limit of how much your individual muscle can grow. And you also have a limit on how much total muscle you can carry.
One guy in particular interests me. He used to have bigger legs than anything. He took a year off, and shrunk down probably 5-6lbs. When he came back, he hit his upper body hard, and barely did legs. Now his legs are still smaller, and his upper body is bigger than ever.

Is it possible that temporary imbalances can be semi-permanent? IE, you get your back so big, your body just wants to maintain the back size and will not let you grow legs anymore? But if you lose some back size, suddenly, you could add leg size?

I've only been lifting for a year and half, and am admittedly a lat hero. I always figured it was fine, because once I hit a limit in one area, the rest of my body will eventually catch up. But I'm starting to wonder if that's the case.

 

[animale66]

I enjoy this question, though honestly I think it's more of a matter of "you get what you train". Most people spend a finite/fixed amount of time in the gym, and as they progress, they simply reallocate this training time towards different goals. People develop favorite exercises (I know I do) and those seem to be the ones they come back to time-and-time again.

I train regularly with a USAPF pro, as well as several elite level lifters... the thing that I think separates the elite from the average "weekend warrior" is that as they develop their weaknesses their training sessions become longer and longer. In essence, as you move up towards higher weights, it not only takes longer to train up to a max, but also the body has acclimated to a new training capacity.

And even if you find individuals who DO increase their training linearly with their progression, they also have to keep their eating (and sleeping) up to maintain those gains.

I think the reason you see these kinds of trade offs is that *VERY* few gym rats are willing to spend 3 hours a day 5 days a week training ... we just have other things going on in our lives LOL.

But you could be right... but I think it's not the standard case... Just my two cents at least.