Is DH an albatross or am I a T-Rex?

[TheTurnOfTheScrew]

Last night I mentioned to DH that when I'd taken the DC to the woods over the road for a walk, I had briefly lain on the path to show them how narrow it was, and that we'd need to get into the woodland proper to keep 2m from anyone we met (I am exactly 1.75m and so the kids could see the path was no more than 2m).

DH asked why I didn't just stretch my arms as someone's arm span is the same as their height. I said that this couldn't be true. So we measured. His arm span is exactly the same as his height, but mine is 16cm shorter. Is this normal variance? A man/woman thing? Or is one of us A Bit Freaky?

In the climbing world they call this your ape index. An equal number is usual, but in climbing longer arms than your height is considered desirable.

I think most people have an arm span equal to their height but its not freaky to have shorter/longer arm span

This is a maths lesson every year for Year 9's - are you an Albatross or a Penguin? (Where we live we have both birds just down the road). Most people are no more than a few cm either side. I think you need to stretch your arms a bit. I have arms 5 cm shorter than my height and am unusually short in the arm.

You're a T-Rex (but I'm sure an excellent one). Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man image lays it out pretty well.

Sculptor in the family taught me lots of these -

Your foot is the same length as the distance from your elbow crease to your wrist. Same with your handspan.

Your body is 8x the height of your head.

Your femur bone goes 4 x into your height.

Lots of these fun body proportion things – but there are always exceptions to rules!

Ah.
This perhaps explains both why I'm rubbish at climbing, and why I've never needed to buy "tall" tops and jackets despite needing longer length skirts and trousers.

DH and I are both precisely 173cm but his gorilla arms are way longer than mine.