Something probably psychological about my arms

[Vas85]

hey everybody, i dont know what was up with me the other day, it was 4days after i trained my Bi's and i normally train them once a week on average, and after the 4th day i would take a look in the mirror and id be like "omg whats happening i feel like ive shrunk" and then i trained my Bi's (which was yesterday night when iwas feeling like this) and now everything is okay, and they look like they should..

Is this all psychological? like is it something normal, becuase it spun me out, but now my arms seem to be okay.... like when i measured them they were the same size b4 i trained them like they should have ben while resting, but it was just a shock to me what i would see in the mirror, but its all okay now....

anybody else ever experienced something similar to this.?

[Lewtz]

I'm thinking its in your mind.

[Klinger]

Yeah - sometimes I look at my arms and wonder why they look no bigger even though I'm much stronger than 1-2 years ago. They probably are bigger, but the changes are so gradual they are hard to notice. Take a look at some old pics of yourself and you might see a more pronounced change.

My thinking is this: I'd rather have a really strong, wide back and built shoulders than huge arms. Arm appearance is mostly vanity. Take a look at the guys doing 6 different biceps exercises at your gym and you'll see what I mean.

[Axion]

Recently i haven't been very happy with how I look, probably because I'm not quite as lean as I used to be, which is because I'm tryin to get up to 170lbs. But all my friends have been saying i look bigger...so I say it's all in your head.

[Todd]

Changes in muscle size can be an illusion. Like said before, if you gain more fat, then you will look more smooth overall, and this can make your muscles look not quite as big, because they are not quite as defined. Also skin color (being tanned or not) can also make a difference in appearance.

A classic example of this is when a competitive bodybuilder steps on stage. He/she is tanned and muscles are super defined...they almost always LOOK bigger onstage because of this illusion...compared to when they are in the offseason, when they actually weigh more (are technically bigger), but may not look it.

Muscle glycogen stores, water retention are also variables that can affect the way a muscle looks on a day-to-day basis, so keep that in mind also. But all in all, muscle gain or loss does not occur within a day or two...each happens over a period of time.

[Vas85]

Thanks guys for your responses, and yeh i noticed that it doenst happen within a day, it must be in the mind

When i was thinking about it, it could also be from training shoulder's the day after bi's, i think that makes your arms look a little smaller if you have shoulders that are ahead of the arms in the size ratio? just some idea's im thinking, becuase my mate commented when i was training my Shoulder's he was like "looks like your arms have gone smaller becuase of your shulders blowing"

If thats the case, im trying to think of hte best approach to go, like should i do shoulders first? and then work the arms the days after it?