Hugh Jackman in “Wolverine”.
As we discussed in the first article in the series, “Building the Body Women Want,” we talked about what type of physique a women finds most desirable. It’s not the massive, steroid injecting, freak that most women will be attracted to. It’s also not the guy who’s carrying too much fat or the guy who has the body of a school-girl.
I’m not saying that guys with these body-types aren’t going to get beautiful girlfriends or wives, because, obviously, a lot of them do. Things like personality, morals, character and sense of humor account for a hell of a lot more than looks do in the long run, but for the purpose of this series we’re only talking about the physical; what type of body will most women find most desirable, and will get you noticed in a positive way.
We touched on shoulders in the last article. Shoulders are a large part of building that “X” shaped physique, or “V” shaped upper body and torso, and so are your chest and back muscles. Even if your waste is on the thicker side, having a thick and lean chest and back will make your waste appear much thinner.
Keep in mind that you don’t just want to build a lean and muscular body, but also an athletic and powerful one as well, and it’s not always the exercise that’ll get you both, but how you do the exercise. On the movement that goes against gravity (pull on a chin-up, or push on a push-up), or concentric contraction, you should push or pull as powerful as possible. Push as though you’re launching the weight into the air on a bench press, and then slowly bring the weight back to it’s starting point.
Building a thicker, fuller Chest
In order to build a thicker, fuller looking chest, you have to train the whole muscle.
Let’s say there are 5 parts to your pectoral muscles: outer, inner, upper, middle, and lower chest. To train every aspect of the muscle, there are also 5 different angles you can use to train each part of your chest.
Here’s a chest workout you can try. There will be a few bonus exercises you can add in at the end of the workout.
Heavy: 5 sets of 5 reps
A1. Floor Press (90 second rest) – great for building power in the upper part of the bench press.
Giant Set: 3 sets of 10 reps (try to fail at, or close to 10 reps).
B1. Inclined Dumbbell Bench Press
B2. Close Grip Bench Press
B3. Alternating Medicine Ball Push-ups (60 seconds rest)
Burnout drop set: Pick a heavy weight, drop by 20% after every 5 reps. 3 sets until failure.
C1. Upright Cable Fly (60 seconds rest)
Other chest exercises to implement into your workouts:
– Push Press – try flat or inclined. Grab 2 dumbbells like you’re going to do a dumbbell bench press, line the weights up so they’re touching each other and press them together. As they get closer to your chest, push them together with more force. Let the weight lightly touch your chest, then press up while continuing to push them together.
– Clap Push-ups
– Inclined Push-ups
– Reverse Grip Bench – great for building strength for an uppercut like-movement. It’s hard to find another exercise that captures this athletic movement like the reverse or supinated-grip bench press.
Building a thicker, fuller Back
We’ll split the back into two muscles: the Latissimus Dorsi (lats), and the Trapezius (traps).
1. Lats
We’ll split the lats into two “areas” which I’ll then show you how to train. Some of the exercises for your lats will crossover into your traps, much like you’ll train some of your mid-chest if you’re doing incline bench.
– Upper
To train the upper lat use a wide grip on exercises like pulldowns, rows, and chin-ups.
– Lower
The lower lat muscle is worked when using a close grip in the same exercises.
Here’s a back workout for you to try.
Heavy – 5 sets of 5 reps
A1. Bent over “t-bar” row
Giant Set. 3 sets of 15 reps (or failure).
B1. Seated cable row
B2. Wide grip pulldown
B3. Reverse grip dumbbell row
Drop Set. Start with a heavy weight, drop weight by 20% every 5 reps. 2 sets until failure.
C1. t-bar lat pulldown (close grip)
2. Traps
The traps are split into the upper, middle and lower parts of the muscle.
Here’s a video instruction of an awesome traps workout ———-> VIDEO
Exercises done in the video:
A. Inclined dumbbell shrug – works the mid-upper trap.
B. Inclined front raise – works the lower trap.
C. Upright dumbbell row – works the upper trap.
D. Dumbbell snatch – works the upper trap – great power exercise.
Other exercises to work your traps.
– Seated cable rows – great to work your mid traps.
– Deadlift – even though it’s a hips/quads exercise, you’re not going to find a pulling exercise that’ll let you lift as much weight as the deadlift, which places a great deal of stress on your traps. Remember, shoulders back and chest out and the top of the lift.
—————————–
What exercises would you add to each muscle group that’ll help build full, athletic and powerful muscle?
