Marked Out Muscles

Now that colder temperatures are rolling in, it’s time to ask the important questions: Is this the year to finally invest in that epic neck-to-heels backpiece? Do I spend the winter at the gym so when springtime comes, I emerge swole and ready to roll? How about both? Professional competitive Strongmen — the moniker designated for the men competing in the World’s Strongest Man competition — as well as a professional tattoo artist and former competitive powerlifter share what to expect when you’re expecting… gains.

Losing fat, gaining muscle, or both, changes one’s physique and can bring up a lot of questions about tattoos — the ones we have and the ones we want to get. Cara Cable, owner of Female Trouble Tattoo in Pittsburgh puts that fear to rest.

“Skin is super resilient,” she says. “It can withstand changes and shrink or expand without distorting images.” If you have a bigger body, she says, “Get it big enough. Tattoos are proportional to your body. If you have big muscles, don’t get a small tattoo. If you are getting a tattoo that is contoured to the muscles of your body and is proportional to your body, it will make your muscles look better and your body look better.”

Those with a slight frame who are interested in getting a tattoo or are already inked may worry about the effect building muscle will have on their appearance, but Cable assures that the tattoo will grow as you bulk up. However, she suggests leaving some space to accommodate the skin as it stretches.

“You shouldn’t wait until your body looks a certain way. You never know what is going to happen, and your body is yours now. I’ve never seen a tattoo super distorted by muscle gain, and I think that’s kind of a myth, honestly,” Cable says with a chuckle. “I’m sure someone out there disapproves.”

Evan “T-Rex” Singleton agrees: “My tattoos have stayed the same over the course of me gaining size, even though I’ve put on almost 40 pounds of muscle since I’ve started Strongman.” The former bodybuilder and WWE wrestler, now Strongman, was last year’s third-place winner for World’s Strongest Man. In those three competitive sports, physique is important in different ways, requiring him to adapt to new challenges. And while his anatomy has changed during his Strongman evolution, he hasn’t “had to get any tattoos touched up or they haven’t been distorted.”

His body and his relationship to it have changed, and so have the external expectations set on him. Strongman competitors are typically quieter, more reserved. Bodybuilding showcases the muscular aesthetic, and commercial wrestling grandstands theatrics with bursts of incredible strength, cardio, and gymnastics. Strongman competitions are both mental and physical endurance. It makes sense that the competitors would be “very to themselves, some more than others,” as Singleton put it.

For an extroverted performer like Singleton, the enthusiasm that may be lacking somewhat in Strongman competitions can be expressed through tattoos in ways that were (once) potentially penalized in bodybuilding competitions. “I’ve always been an entertainer, and having the freedom to do that, especially with my tattoos, is definitely really important to me, and it just shows a little bit more of my personality and my personal interests,” he says. In a sport where the other competitors are more reserved, Singleton drives the spectators wild when he poses with his index and middle fingers outstretched from his fists like T-Rex claws, highlighting his appropriately themed hand tattoos, face twisted into a delighted roar.

Hand tattoos can be a challenge, though. The skin is thinner, and the surface gets a lot of contact, according to Cable, so hand tattoos tend to fade more quickly and require touch-ups. All the Strongmen agreed, however, that the place a Strongman is most likely to have issues with a tattoo’s longevity is the forearms.

“The only place I won’t get tattooed is on my forearms, because doing the Atlas Stones will ruin your skin,” says two-time World’s Strongest Man competitor and Texan Austin Andrade, explaining, “(The move) requires rolling the stones on your forearm using a sticky goo on your skin to grip them.”

The stones didn’t stop Luke Stoltman from getting artwork where he wanted, but he can attest to the hazard. “They do get worn from the Atlas Stones event,” he says. “You can see wear on the inner forearm.”

Perhaps in part because of the other opportunities to express himself on stage, Singleton didn’t have tattoos as a bodybuilder. They aren’t entirely forbidden, but there are other reasons besides sufficient pizazz why competitors are less likely to have them: the judges. In a bodybuilding competition, symmetry and definition are everything, and tattoos can create both negative and positive illusions, which isn’t great for a subjective voting pool. “It’s kind of why bodybuilders get their spray tans so thick and everything,” Singleton explains, “so that you can see every single cut, every single striation, everything like that; being able to see symmetry. They say that tattoos potentially could throw that off.”

If you’re not pursuing a professional bodybuilding career, tattoos can be a great way to accent musculature, no matter where you are on your fitness journey. They can work with the body to make it look its best. “When I tattoo, I try to go organically with the shape of the body,” Cable explains. “Because tattoos should be a part of what makes someone feel powerful and attractive in their body.”

Cable first learned to tattoo from her then-husband, Jason Lambert, owner of Black Cat Tattoo in Pittsburgh. Lambert specializes in large pieces, and he instilled in Cable the importance of creating an atmosphere where the client feels encouraged to speak up about a tattoo’s placement, and to view the body as part of the artwork.

While expressed in different ways, all three Strongmen had a similar response when asked how tattoos made them feel about their bodies: they’re meaningful and symbolic, enhance their physique, and make the men feel good in their bodies. But perhaps Andrade put it best: “Now that I’m getting bigger as an athlete and seeing my muscles grow, (I want) to put better artwork there. You’re not only showing off your body, but you’re showing off a piece of art too.”