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The story
On 5ch’s “Nandemo Jikkyo G” (anything-goes live-TV board), a thread roasting short men gave way to a new target: men with “narrow shoulders.” Posters piled on with claims that shoulder width is purely a matter of bone structure determined by genetics — something no amount of weight training can change — while others argued over the urban legend that swimming as a kid widens your shoulders. The thread also debated who gets the worse deal visually, a short guy with broad shoulders or a tall guy with narrow ones, and brought up the builds of pro baseball players and MMA fighters as examples. At the same time, plenty of replies pushed back, calling out the whole “it’s fine to clown on men’s bodies no matter what” mentality as messed up, and questioning why appearance-shaming is treated as fair game at all.
What people said
Yeah, it really is gross.
If you swim since you were a kid your shoulders get wider though.
Kinda hard if your parents never put you in swim lessons.
Re: #17
That's gotta be a myth. I swam from kindergarten at age 5 all the way to 11 and my shoulders are still small.
Genetics. Building muscle doesn't change your skeleton.
I mean, the former just looks like it wrecks your whole proportions.
BS, I've seen them in person — Chikamoto and Nakano don't have broad shoulders at all. Sato and Morishita, though, had incredible shoulders.
It's probably just survivorship bias — the ones who stick with swimming long-term tend to already have broad shoulders.
Just pulling your shoulders back makes your chest look bigger. Apparently backstroke swimmers tend to have their shoulders set further back.
What about someone like Mikuru Asakura then? (popular MMA fighter)
https://tadaup.jp/AC8tEFCq.jpeg
https://tadaup.jp/Aecu8Uh7.jpeg
I genuinely think Mikuru Asakura has the best body in Japan, but is that a no-go by this board's standards? Are his shoulders too wide?
there's no evidence establishing a causal link like "swimming literally widened the bone structure of the shoulders."
Changes in shoulder width during growth are mainly due to:
* Natural growth of the skeleton — collarbones, shoulder blades, etc.
* Overall development of height and build
* Physical maturation driven by sex hormones
What swimming can do, on the other hand, is develop the muscles of the shoulders, back, and chest, which makes the shoulder area look bigger as a result.
That said, to be precise on one point: it wouldn't be accurate to flatly claim "swimming's effect is absolutely zero." Exercise habits during the growth years could plausibly have some influence on physical development.
But the commonly repeated idea that
"swimming as a kid skeletally widens your shoulders"
is safe to say isn't supported scientifically.
This kind of AI-speak phrasing pisses me off.
All you need is to be young — that's a condition with a 100% clear rate.
True that. They also tend to get guessed as taller than they actually are.
Lol, soccer players, gross.
https://image-tm.s2mr.jp/i/original/1791286006297.jpeg
Background and Key Points of This Debate
Shoulder width is governed mainly by the length of the collarbones and shoulder blades, and is generally considered a matter of bone structure — strength training can’t change the actual length of the bones themselves. The thread saw plenty of talk about the popular belief that “swimming widens your shoulders,” but that claim tends to conflate two different things: muscles like the lats and traps developing and making the shoulder area merely look bigger, versus an actual change in bone structure. The fact that shoulder width became a new target for body-shaming, following on from height, reflects a broader trend of online appearance-related topics constantly shifting to a new target. Some posters in the thread pushed back against the very premise that “anything goes when it comes to criticizing men’s bodies” — and the tendency for this kind of body-shaming to skew toward men is a point worth not overlooking when reading this thread.
*This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (“Nandemo Jikkyo G”) thread “[Images] Following short height, “men with narrow shoulders” are now getting mocked wwwwwwwww.”
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