There's also the factor of age, and size doesn't always work the way many shooters automatically expect it to.
Both affect flexibility. I've know several people who happily shot shoulder guns of fairly high recoil until their 50's, when they started developing shoulder problems or recoil headaches. And just because somebody's big (or male) doesn't mean they can take more recoil. I've known 100-pound women who shoot lightweight .338 Winchester Magnums and even big-bore double rifles without any problems, and big, strong, young, men with no physical problems who can't shoot a typical 7mm or .300 magnum without flinching, because they don't roll with recoil like a smaller person.
One of the interesting things about shooting, which is often apparent on the Campfire, is that so many shooters believe what's true for them is true for every other shooter on earth. This tends to be a general characteristic of most humans, but it obviously isn't true. This conviction that everybody else is exactly like us results in comments like, "Recoil's all mental," or "More shooting will cure it," or "Adding a good recoil pad and hearing protection cure a flinch." Well, sometimes each of those are true, but sometimes they're not.
And being able to understand the differences between other humans is what makes really good teachers and coaches. Only offering statements on how recoil affects us doesn't cover much of the rest of the world.
