Sizing Up: The Outer Frame

Bodybuilding can serve a martial purpose to the extent that muscular development alters the likelihood of a criminal selecting a person for victimization.  This does NOT absolve muscular people from the responsibility of learning self defense, but demonstrates how a separate art can have martial implications.  I will detail in following posts regions of the body which can be selectively augmented to project a purposeful physical presence for satisfying a variety of martial goals.

In sizing up an opponent or projecting a physical presence, it is important to learn bodily indicators which reliably correlate with strength, discipline, and all around toughness.  The upper body is the most noticed region of the body due to its availability to observers and is therefore an important area of focus for maximizing physical presence or reading the potential of others.  Just possessing an adequate physical presence can mean the difference between walking home safely and being singled out and attacked.  Most criminals, schneevies, and all around scumbags tend to be opportunistic aggressors who single out weak targets.  Therefore, don't look weak if you wish to dissuade attackers.

The most important part of the upper body for an intimidating physical presence is the outer frame which includes the triceps, shoulders, trapezius, and neck.  Thickness in these areas almost always correlates with full body strength.  As such, you will decrease your risk of physical attack by developing these areas.  Exercises for the outer frame include the overhead press, handstand pushup, bridge, deadlift, weighted shrug, and one armed snatch.  Just training this list of exercises alone could easily turn a beanpole into a beefcake in a matter of weeks in conjunction with a protein rich diet.

The reason the outer frame dissuades would be attackers is its correlation with fire and earth martial elements.  A thick outer frame indicates a capacity for standing one's ground and dominating others.  On the other hand, if you are a martial artist who seeks to 'blend in' better with traditional social mores, overdevelopment of the outer frame may be contraindicated.  In particular, traditional Japanese martial arts often develop less muscular, more compact bodily development as a way of projecting one's humility in the public sphere, lulling one's opponents into false confidence, and maximizing health over muscle size.

Another reason to avoid outer frame overdevelopment pertains to situations where individuals are surrounded by schneevies who are likely to feel intimidated by one's physical presence and use this subjective state as a justification for accusing one of being too aggressive, even when one's conduct is well within acceptable norms.  If one wishes to avoid detection by schneevies, outer frame diminishment is an advisable strategy.  If one wishes to stand in stark opposition to schneevies, simply packing on outer frame muscle will do the trick.

It is not martially sufficient to concentrate one's training solely on the inner frame muscles: biceps, chest, lats.  These beach muscles are fine for sexual competition, but are less imposing to potential attackers.  Further, by developing all the musculature of the outer frame, the inner frame will also grow.  By contrast, focusing on the inner frame alone will result in only minor outer frame improvements.  To a certain extent, one must decide between one mode of development and the other.  As the shoulders get larger, the inner frame becomes less noticeable.  As the chest and inner frame get larger, the outer frame is deemphasized.  Impact on the opposite sex is a mixed bag.  Some women prefer polarity, and will therefore gravitate toward outer frame development.  Other girls prefer the girly cosmetic focus of inner frame cultivation.  If attracting sexual attention is a goal of the reader, be advised that one's change of appearance may effect the number and types of women attracted.

In a direct, physical sense, outer frame development enables more powerful attacks with greater solidity and power.  For those martial artists who prefer to stay fast and loose, large outer frame musculature is contraindicated.

Here are some examples of adequate and inadequate outer frames.  I have interspersed photos portraying superior outer frame development with photos portraying general fitness without emphasis on the outer frame.  Notice in particular the picture of Fedor, in which he appears to lack both abdominal definition and bicep size yet still manages to project an intimidating presence.  Such outer frame development demonstrates the physical difference between man and boy.  The reader should have no difficulty deciding which individuals they would least like to attack.