I also notice that Ben continued to get bigger, year after year. He was noticiably bigger in 1988 than in 1987 and so on. I wonder if general hypertrophy, which was then applied on the track specifically, had anything to do with his improvement over that time? I recall reading that Ben had lifted weights very extensively in 1988 during the time he spent away from the track with the ham injury.
He didn’t get much bigger overall but he did have to stress uppper body lifts more in 1988 due to his injury in May. He was only 173 lbs in Seoul- maybe 2 lbs up on Rome- much smaller than he appears in the film due to his extreme definition.
Also worth considering that his gains in upper body strength were, no doubt, aided by his forced reduction in lower body work. Not sure exactly, but you can look at the films of Rome and Seoul. He MAY be slightly larger in the lower body in Rome or it might be a bit of an illusion because of him being a bit bigger in the upper body in Seoul. Take a look at the films and let me know what you think. I didn’t exactly take a tape measure to him! (A reminder of my college days when the trainer came into the physio room and caught some football players measuring their arms. He yelled: “Get the hell out of here! The only thing that counts you can measure with a ruler!”)
All to do with perception. Take a still photo of an athlete in full flight- running, jumping, moving whatever and they will look huge! Of course they are at full flex and it looks nuts, as opposed to being relaxed and motionless where they look smaller. That is coupled with less bodyfat and more muscle rippling!
I’ve looked at photos before on this, and I would say Ben’s leg mass was deffinately bigger in Rome than Seoul. I’m talking about photos where he is just standing and waking and a few stretches aswell. You can see, particularly around the adductors and hammies, he was bigger in that area in Rome.