When defining physical perfection, we have to take into consideration who the perfection is for. When we think about what the perfect female body looks like, we have to take what a man thinks into consideration.

When a woman worries about her waistline, about cellulite, and about how she looks, she is in part fretting because she wants to look good in the eyes of the opposite sex. It’s not entirely about what guys think, but it definitely plays a roll.

She’ll feel more confident, have more energy, and feel better about who she is, if she’s confident that she looks beautiful in her own eyes, yes. But her perception of how men see her is, often, even more influential.

Men are no different.

Women see perfection in a guy with muscle, yes, but lean muscle. A thin waist, broad shoulders, and a guy that can look as good in nice clothes as he does shirtless on the beach is their ideal.

We know that perfection of a male physique doesn’t exist on the stage at Mr. Olympia. It’s more likely to exist in a boxing ring, a football field, a track, or on the silver screen.

Knowing this, we have a rough idea of what the ideal is. We also have a rough idea of how to achieve it. But a rough estimation of how to build your perfect physique is like trying to fix a car with a rough idea of what goes where. You might get it done, but not after a long time spent trying, and failing. And you may even move further away from perfection than you already are.

When we try to build the perfect physique with un-focused estimations, we usually focus on gaining mass. Then losing all the of the fat that we’ve added in our ‘transformation’.

We get to a point where we’re muscular, and maybe even lean, but our shoulders are too thin, our arms are too skinny, and our waist is a bit big. We’re out of proportion. We look good, but not great. So, we take more shots in the dark trying to correct the visual imbalances that we’ve unwittingly created when we bought or started a “mass building routine”.

This trial and error approach of building one muscle to catch up to the others, or burning fat in a certain area, usually lasts a lifetime. The frustration boils over and we quit because we no longer have the motivation to look how we’ve always dreamed of looking because while we get close, we never build the body we’d really like to have. Instead, we settle.

Another thing about the “mass building” routines that dominate the internet, fitness mags, and the minds of trainers worldwide, is that they help us do one thing: build mass. On the scale we’ve created a transformation. In the mirror we’re bigger. But we’re nowhere closer to our dream body than we were when we started.

If you’re skinny you don’t want to be puffy and fat, you want to be ripped, muscular, and lean. You have the same end goal as a skinny guy. But you’re coming at it from the opposite angle.

You have no problem gaining weight, your struggle exists in burning fat and getting ripped. So, you search for fat loss routines, with programs and diets dedicated to shrinking your waistline.

Most of these programs focus on that same, terrible measuring tool: the scale. After following a “weight loss” or “fat loss” solution for a few months, or even a year, you’re skinnier. You feel great because you’ve accomplished something. You’re no longer overweight, you’re probably healthier, and yes, you look better than you did.

But you’re average, or slightly above. You’re light-years from where you began in your quest, and that’s great, but is it where you want to remain? Or do you want more?

If you could, wouldn’t you rather have a body that gives you a firm confidence in who you are? You’ll be a more secure guy. A happier man, better boyfriend, father, and husband. Am I stretching? I don’t think so. Having a great looking body isn’t simply about vanity, it’s about pride.

I don’t worry about what I look like. When I was skinny, I worried about what I looked like everyday. A physique you’re proud of gives you a quiet confidence. If you get the physique you’ve always wanted, and still can’t stop worrying about how you look everyday, then yes, you’re a vain guy or you have body image issues. But I really don’t think that’s who YOU are.

Back to the overweight guys… Instead of burning fat and losing weight, a similar approach to what the skinny guys need would be more beneficial. The one variation: diet.

If either group could stop blindly trying to build their dream body, with the only measuring tool, as scale, there would be a much more effective focus and purposeful training, and a far more favorable end result. And this is without a strategic plan to get there.

Simply by knowing the specific ratios and measurements each muscle should be, we’re more likely to build our dream body because our training can become that much more specific.

The Adonis Index: A Formula for Perfection

Mass building is all encompassing. You try and build as much overall mass as possible. As is losing weight or fat. You don’t target specific areas, and with fat loss you’re usually not building other areas up to what they need to be, either.

In both cases, it’s blind training that may bring you further away from your end goal: your dream body.

What we need is something measurable. We need measurements for our body parts so we can then see what where we need to get them to reach perfection. Then, a program that will help us get there would be awesome. But let’s start with the formula…

The Adonis Index is that formula. It gives us the specific measurements we need to build our very own perfect physique. It also gives us a score that tells us how close we are to reaching our perfect physique.

If we know what muscles we need to improve to get there, that’s half the battle. The best part about the Index is that we can see the progress numerically. It’s not a scale – which can be useless. But a score. The closer we move to our perfect score, the better our physique is. We don’t even need a mirror to confirm this.

To check out your Adonis Index, click here.

The Adonis Effect: The Means to Achieve Perfection

Now that we’ve found what we specifically need to create, we can go about creating it.

An average muscle mass building program is of no use. Nor is the usual fat loss program. We need a solution that will help us develop these ratios in muscle size, while also helping us burn fat.

The guys over at the Adonis Effect have given us the best nutrition and training programs to help us build a body that has little fat, as well as the most aesthetically-pleasing body we can create.

Where most other programs help us build an overall great physique – which is an awesome thing in itself – the Adonis Effect takes these ratios and helps us create perfection.

Building The Perfect Male Physique

1. Get your mind right. 

No matter WHAT your training and nutrition goals are, your transformation starts with a mental transformation. I talked about how I go into each training session with the same outlook and focus that I did when I was fighting, in the article “The Great Escape”.

No program will help you build your dream body unless you have the right perspective on training. It’s not a massive mental switch, and it doesn’t take a lot of effort, but it’s the most important factor in your achieving what you want to accomplish in the gym. So go ahead and read that article before you do anything else.

2. Find out what your score is on the Adonis Index.

3. If you’re looking for a program and aesthetics are your primary goal/concern, I highly recommend the Adonis Effect as your next program.

4. If you buy it (I’d be doing you a disservice if I told you not to) through this link: the Adonis Effect. Email a copy of your receipt to [email protected] and I’ll send you a free bonus (can’t tell you what it is, yet).

5. Take progress pictures.

I’m not a guy who’s consumed with my physique. I eat right, and I train very hard. I test out new diet techniques more to help you than to tinker with my fat loss or training goals.

I’ve built a lifestyle that helps me keep a 6 pack year-round (I don’t cut down for photo shoots like most guys do). But when I was skinny, things were different…

I’d step on the scale daily to see if I’d made any progress. And even if the scale did move, I didn’t see much in the way of changes in the mirror. One thing I didn’t do that I should have is taken progress pics.

We can’t see physical changes simply by looking in the mirror everyday. The changes, even if they’re dramatic, are too slow to notice. The remedy is progress pictures taken every 2-4 weeks. If you’re doing the Adonis Effect you will see a transformation occurring with each picture.

The problem with the scale: it really is useless. The only time a scale meant something in my life was when I had to cut weight for a fight. Then, and only then, did it have some use.

For example, as I write this article, I’m a bit lighter than I have been in the past year. But my arms are bigger and my waist is smaller. This means that my bodyfat is lower and I have bigger muscles.

Never use a scale to judge your degree of success. It will trick you every time.

6. Make lifestyle changes that are sustainable.

I’d rather have a body that – in my mind – is a 9 for the rest of my life, than one that’s a 10 for 7 days, and a 6 for the rest of my life. Other guys don’t see it that way.

They bulk an cut every time they want to ‘look ripped’. Useless. Don’t take on a diet or training routine that you can’t sustain forever.

Another part of this is making slow changes to your nutrition and adopting a method of eating that gives you energy, is healthy, keeps your bodyfat low, and keeps your hormones on optimal levels.

Check out this article for Men’s Diet Tips.

7. Enjoy the finer things in life.

Would you rather live a Legendary 80 years, or 100 years where you nitpick about everything that goes into your body?

The weird thing about being ridiculously strict about your diet and fitness, is that we have no clue when death will come knocking. My great grandmother lived into her 90’s and she quit smoking in her early 80’s. And then you hear stories of guys kicking the bucket at 50, when they were health fanatics.

Is eating right important? Of course it is. You have more energy to live better years and science shows you should live a much longer life as well. But live life as well.

Enjoy wine in moderation. Have a scheduled cheat day where you dig into some ice cream. Drink beer on a beautiful sunny day. Enjoy a cigar a handful of times a year. Do everything in moderation. Eat the right way the majority of the time. And build your dream body.

You probably won’t see something like this written on most fitness-focused sites, but I think it’s important.

We get motivated quickly. Which leads to us attempting to completely transform how we live. We do it for a while, and then we fall off the wagon once. That one mishap leads to others, and then we’re right back where we started.

Make big changes, by all means, but don’t forget to stop and smell the roses. Don’t feel guilty when you’re sipping on a glass of Italian vino. Enjoy it. Just make sure you work your ass off at the gym the next day.