Bigger arms but weaker?

[Anonymous]

So there's a girl I work out with sometimes and she's tiny, height and just really petite. Her arms have smaller muscle than mine, yet she can lift more than me? I'm not fat, I'm a UK size 8 and have very little fat on my arms- they're well toned but I've always been really weak. Is it possible that the size of muscles doesn't really correspond to strength? I thought I was making progress :(

[ferris_one]

It does correspond to correspond to strength but you also want to consider muscle density. Her arms may be smaller but she may have really denser muscles. Your density will improve as you work your muscle group. Also switch it up. .. aviod muscle memory.

[Blondiee2014]

Of course, her muscles are better quality.
Maybe you lift heavier but she has lifts and puts more effort in.

[SamsonT]

This is a scientific fact brought to my attention. This happened to me.
A strong muscle becomes weak when the flow of information is disrupted and connectivity is lost (usually between the spinal cord and the peripheral nerve/muscle).
This loss of connectivity happens for many reasons, not the least of which is old injuries which haven’t healed fully, tension in local and adjacent areas, and poor function of the spinal segments.
The important thing for patients and therapists to know is that the root cause of the gradual onset injuries or pain that our patients come in with is often the loss of connectivity and the resulting inability to properly activate a muscle

[jennifer_bloom]

My cousin was super skinny in grade school and was stronger than all the guys in her class in wrestling matches, only 2 out of 20 people that she wrestled with could beat her and most of the people she wrestled with were men. I think the reason her arms were so skinny was that they were made of muscle and not of fat.

[dsrice]

Is your arms softer then hers? You might have to firm up some, she might be more toned and stronger then you. You are probably not weak though.