It's sport that gives chest width

[shootingstar]

in my family where we aren't naturally born that way..male or female

It showed in 1 of my nephews who was in competitive swimming for about 6 yrs. in his teen years. His strength was the butterfly.

And the niece who I mentioned before in competitive gymnastics ages 10-17 yrs.  Her strength was floor and parallel bars.  She had floor routine...forward, backward hand springs, etc. which she practiced over and over daily..

They had get to practice at 5:00 am for a few hrs....before school..several days / wk. Each are from different families.

[MickinMD ★]

9 hours ago, shootingstar said:

in my family where we aren't naturally born that way..male or female

It showed in 1 of my nephews who was in competitive swimming for about 6 yrs. in his teen years. His strength was the butterfly.

And the niece who I mentioned before in competitive gymnastics ages 10-17 yrs.  Her strength was floor and parallel bars.  She had floor routine...forward, backward hand springs, etc. which she practiced over and over daily..

They had get to practice at 5:00 am for a few hrs....before school..several days / wk. Each are from different families.

Agreed.  Big shoulders don't run in my family but my nephew Ryan was playing sports almost all-year from early childhood through high school. He began team soccer at 5, baseball at 7, basketball at 8, lacrosse at 9, and football at 12 - where the coach correctly predicted, "He'll have no trouble making his high school team because of his size."

He was mvp on one of his soccer teams and, around age 10, wowed the folks at the Baltimore Ravens Training Camp's "Kid Zone" with his placekicking.

He's 20, tall, wide-shouldered, not overweight but won the J.J. Watt Award on his football team where he was his high school's kicker/punter and played DE, DT, and TE, and is now training to be an airline steward.  With all the violence on airlines today, I'm sure his appearance is a plus.

[ChrisL]

I think my son would have been thick regardless.  He’s got an interesting mix of his moms tallness mixed with my barrel chest & broad shoulders.  

Years of competitive baseball were only helped by his physiology but I don’t think baseball shaped his physiology.  

[12string]

I swam competitively for about 12 years as a kid.  I've been back in the pool at least a few times a week for the past few years.  I'm still a skinny, pasty old dude.

I do have to say, none of my physical activities ever reached the fitness level swimming develops.

[jsharr ★]

yep.  I have big broadn shoulders and a deep chest.  Running and liftfing weights for football.

[Zephyr]

I cast the same shadow as my father, my father worked his whole life and was not into sports at all.  Broad shouldered, but for him was probably from manual labour.

[Thaddeus Kosciuszko]

Of all the physical traits in my family tree, I seem to be the only one with a thick skull. 

[ChrisL]

But is this a nature or nurture thing?  I agree sports develop muscle which can lead to larger shoulders, chest & & back.  

But I don’t believe sports develops bone & skeletal development.  My son is barrel chested, big shouldered & 6’2” because of his genetics. Not because of all of the workouts, ball games & millions of pitches thrown.  

[ChrisL]

26 minutes ago, Zephyr said:

I cast the same shadow as my father, my father worked his whole life and was not into sports at all.  Broad shouldered, but for him was probably from manual labour.

None of my brothers took after our dad. He was over 6’ and a bean pole.  I’m shorter & stockier. I am built a lot like my moms younger brother.  

[12string]

1 hour ago, ChrisL said:

But is this a nature or nurture thing?  I agree sports develop muscle which can lead to larger shoulders, chest & & back.  

But I don’t believe sports develops bone & skeletal development.  My son is barrel chested, big shouldered & 6’2” because of his genetics. Not because of all of the workouts, ball games & millions of pitches thrown.  

Weight lifting will increase bone density, not body structure.

When I was younger, I spent 3 hours, 5 nights a week in the gym for a couple years.  I was always able to lift some rather heavy weights for my size.  And even with trainers, special diet and supplements, I never weighed more than 160 at 5-11.  (I did build a ton of bone spurs).  My older brother, with a less strenuous routine and diet was about 185 at 5-10.  He's just a larger frame than I am, can't change that.

[ChrisL]

3 minutes ago, 12string said:

Weight lifting will increase bone density, not body structure.

When I was younger, I spent 3 hours, 5 nights a week in the gym for a couple years.  I was always able to lift some rather heavy weights for my size.  And even with trainers, special diet and supplements, I never weighed more than 160 at 5-11.  (I did build a ton of bone spurs).  My older brother, with a less strenuous routine and diet was about 185 at 5-10.  He's just a larger frame than I am, can't change that.

Right… I lifted like a mutha for 5 years and built muscle mass but it went away once I no longer lifted.  

I remember a dad/coach who coached my son and was a great influence on him.  He said I can invest in coaches, weight training and such but my son is never going to throw 90MPH.  Some kids just have the genetic make up like Ryan (my son).  His son was a great ball player too but had a noodle arm so played 1st base in college. 

[shootingstar]

2 hours ago, ChrisL said:

But is this a nature or nurture thing?  I agree sports develop muscle which can lead to larger shoulders, chest & & back.  

But I don’t believe sports develops bone & skeletal development.  My son is barrel chested, big shouldered & 6’2” because of his genetics. Not because of all of the workouts, ball games & millions of pitches thrown.  

If  you look at some of the women for the Olympics....for the swimmers, many have become broader across upper body chest in terms the width (above the boobs) and across the back. Even Simone Biles, the gymnast, given her tininess is broader width wise across the top. 

For sure, I agree, once the person stops training heavily..some of that mass shrinks.

I see it on my niece. Her width in terms of upper shoulder, chest and back solid depth is not the same as all other young women in our family. Not at all. She was practicing 2-3 hrs. daily for several years. Hanging from parallel bars and doing revolutions with your entire body weight, demands building upper body strength.

[ChrisL]

20 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

I see it on my niece. Her width in terms of upper shoulder, chest and back solid depth is not the same as all other young women in our family. Not at all. She was practicing 2-3 hrs. daily for several years. Hanging from parallel bars and doing revolutions with your entire body weight, demands building upper body strength.

Yeah that’s pretty standard and I bet she did more you weren’t aware of.  In HS my son had 5 am weight room all through the off season with 2-3 hours of practice after school. He also had private pitching lessons and additional strength & conditioning above what he did with his team.  That’s also not including his off season games which were 2-3 games a week.

In season was a bit different with more emphasis on practice & less strength training and of course games that mattered 2X a week. 

Once he was playing college ball his whole schedule worked around baseball. Weight room, practice & games with classes fit in between the baseball schedule. Probably 5-6 hours a day just on baseball. 

[12string]

I certainly looked different at 160 than I did when I started at 120. But never got what anyone would consider "wide".  After all the injuries and age, I'm back to about 140.  No matter what I do.

Part of the swimmers looking so wide is that they do use chest and shoulders a LOT.  Part of it is that bodies with wide shoulders and long arms are pretty much required to develop into olympic level swimmers

[jsharr ★]

5 hours ago, Thaddeus Kosciuszko said:

Of all the physical traits in my family tree, I seem to be the only one with a thick skull. 

Do you come from a long line of tree climbers?  And your skills are lacking?

[shootingstar]

4 hours ago, ChrisL said:

Yeah that’s pretty standard and I bet she did more you weren’t aware of.  In HS my son had 5 am weight room all through the off season with 2-3 hours of practice after school. He also had private pitching lessons and additional strength & conditioning above what he did with his team.  That’s also not including his off season games which were 2-3 games a week.

Yes, she and nephew each were doing alot we (aside from their parents) weren't aware of.

I saw a photo where niece was standing on her head in the middle of space....actually it was on grass in some park. And no wall/nothing to support her.  She is around 5'4" and because of her muscle, would be heavier. The photo was when she was 19 yrs. old.