You’re a body builder.
Yes, you. If you’re reading this, then you’re definitely a body builder.
Even if you try to deny the fact that you’re a body builder by saying you’re strictly a powerlift, Olympic lifter, cross fitter, or just some guy who wants to lose some fat and build a muscle to make his shirts fit a bit more snug, you can’t deny the fact that you are a bodybuilder.
Now I’m not calling you a stereotypical bodybuilder. You know the type.
The overly big guy with a good amount of muscle mass and a little too much body fat for most of the year that looks “big” in clothes and spends the other half of the year actively trying to lose that fat so he can pose in a speedo on stage for the validation of judges. (Can you tell I’m not a huge fan of these guys?)
Body builder in the sense that you continually try to improve your physique by building and shaping your muscles with weights, diets, and cardio.
No matter what your direct form of weight lifting is, deep down inside all of us guys want to look good, especially for the ladies.
I’m willing to bet that’s the reason everyone reading this started lifting weights in the first place.
The massive powerlift who deadlifts a Volkswagen might say “who needs abs when you can lift a car”, probably still wants to look lean to some degree.
And the cross fit guy training for a competition still wants to make sure his arms are big enough to hug the sleeves of his rogue equipment T-shirts and not dwarfed by his powerhouse torso.
Here’s the point I’m looking to make: no matter what type of training you participate in, you still want to attempt to shape your body and attain the “I LOOK like I lift” physique.
You know the one. Broad shoulders. Meaty chest. Wide, tapered Back. Thick arms. Small waist. Powerful legs.
There’s no better example of this physique than that of Frank Zane.
Yes, you. If you’re reading this, then you’re definitely a body builder.
Even if you try to deny the fact that you’re a body builder by saying you’re strictly a powerlift, Olympic lifter, cross fitter, or just some guy who wants to lose some fat and build a muscle to make his shirts fit a bit more snug, you can’t deny the fact that you are a bodybuilder.
Now I’m not calling you a stereotypical bodybuilder. You know the type.
The overly big guy with a good amount of muscle mass and a little too much body fat for most of the year that looks “big” in clothes and spends the other half of the year actively trying to lose that fat so he can pose in a speedo on stage for the validation of judges. (Can you tell I’m not a huge fan of these guys?)
Body builder in the sense that you continually try to improve your physique by building and shaping your muscles with weights, diets, and cardio.
No matter what your direct form of weight lifting is, deep down inside all of us guys want to look good, especially for the ladies.
I’m willing to bet that’s the reason everyone reading this started lifting weights in the first place.
The massive powerlift who deadlifts a Volkswagen might say “who needs abs when you can lift a car”, probably still wants to look lean to some degree.
And the cross fit guy training for a competition still wants to make sure his arms are big enough to hug the sleeves of his rogue equipment T-shirts and not dwarfed by his powerhouse torso.
Here’s the point I’m looking to make: no matter what type of training you participate in, you still want to attempt to shape your body and attain the “I LOOK like I lift” physique.
You know the one. Broad shoulders. Meaty chest. Wide, tapered Back. Thick arms. Small waist. Powerful legs.
There’s no better example of this physique than that of Frank Zane.
Frank was known to have perfect proportions to exemplify the golden ratio and deemed a man with the “perfect physique.”
What’s the golden Ratio?
The golden ratio is the waist to shoulder ratio that really gives a man a broad, powerful physique.
A big chest and strong shoulders don’t mean much if it doesn’t taper down to a small waist.
And even if you do have the upper body nailed down, it isn’t too impressive if your legs are severely lacking and you have some twizzle straws hanging down from your waist.
Here’s an example of some ratios that make up this Adonis-like physique.
What’s the golden Ratio?
The golden ratio is the waist to shoulder ratio that really gives a man a broad, powerful physique.
A big chest and strong shoulders don’t mean much if it doesn’t taper down to a small waist.
And even if you do have the upper body nailed down, it isn’t too impressive if your legs are severely lacking and you have some twizzle straws hanging down from your waist.
Here’s an example of some ratios that make up this Adonis-like physique.
Let’s be real right now. You’ll never look like Frank Zane. Or have the perfect ratios to exemplify the perfect physique. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get pretty close.
So let’s take a look at some methods that will allow us to attain an almost-perfect physique.
So let’s take a look at some methods that will allow us to attain an almost-perfect physique.
The Shoulders
Ah, the shoulders. Who doesn’t want a set of well developed delts? Nothing says “I lift” better than some thick, rounded out shoulders.
Fully developed shoulders really accentuate the physique by adding complete dimension to the upper body.
How many times have you seen a guy with great front delts, but when he turns sideways it’s always like he disappears because his rear-delt development is nowhere to be found.
The front get plenty of non-direct work through compound chest movements like bench press and other presses, but it’s the rear delts and side delts that almost don’t get any attention.
So here’s a few movements you can implement to really bring out those neglected delts and round out the shoulders for some attention grabbing boulder shoulders you can be proud of.
Bent over Lateral Raises
Ah, the shoulders. Who doesn’t want a set of well developed delts? Nothing says “I lift” better than some thick, rounded out shoulders.
Fully developed shoulders really accentuate the physique by adding complete dimension to the upper body.
How many times have you seen a guy with great front delts, but when he turns sideways it’s always like he disappears because his rear-delt development is nowhere to be found.
The front get plenty of non-direct work through compound chest movements like bench press and other presses, but it’s the rear delts and side delts that almost don’t get any attention.
So here’s a few movements you can implement to really bring out those neglected delts and round out the shoulders for some attention grabbing boulder shoulders you can be proud of.
Bent over Lateral Raises
Sets: 3-5
Reps: 12-15
Tips: Be sure to keep the weight moderate at best. You really want to focus on lifting through the elbows and feeling the tension in the read deltoid. If the weight is too heavy, this can easily turn into a weird hybrid back and bicep row that won’t full target the rear delt. I’ve also found that keeping the reps in the mid range of 12-15 provides a good stimulus for the muscle.
Upright Dumbell Rows
Reps: 12-15
Tips: Be sure to keep the weight moderate at best. You really want to focus on lifting through the elbows and feeling the tension in the read deltoid. If the weight is too heavy, this can easily turn into a weird hybrid back and bicep row that won’t full target the rear delt. I’ve also found that keeping the reps in the mid range of 12-15 provides a good stimulus for the muscle.
Upright Dumbell Rows
Sets: 3-5
Reps: 8-12
Tips: Once again, don’t go too heavy with these dumbells. Focus on driving the elbows up and keeping your palms face down through the movement. Be sure to squeeze the delts and hold for a spit second at the top before slowing controlling the weight down to the bottom. A lighter weight and moderate rep range reduces the chance of swinging the weight up, which limits tension in the shoulders through the lift. It’s imperative that your form is correct to really make this upright row worthwhile.
Back
The forever second place muscle group behind the always over hyped chest.
Guys tend to neglect their back because well, it’s behind them. It’s not the first thing they see when they look in the mirror, so they often never really know what they’re missing.
But trust me, a beefy chest with no back development just does not look right.
A strong, developed back commands attention, and it shows that you really care about your physique.
For those of you who don’t have naturally big or wide frames, a set of lats can really change for body composition and give you a greek god like figure, especially when tapered down to a narrow waist.
So what can you do to really bring out those lats?
Underhand Rows
It might sound like blasphemey to all you bros, but the best method to target the lats with underhand rows is by using a machine row.
Yup, that’s right. I said machine.
A machine row is better for this move because guys it keeps you honest through the movement and almost eliminates cheating when rowing. How many times have you seen guys load up a barbell only to be standing almost upright moving the weight a comical 3 inches up and down? Yeah, exactly.
That won’t happen with the machine.
Also, the use of the underhand grip will allow you to hold onto more weight and add more tension to the lats.
If you’re comfortable with properly performing dumbbell rows, then by all means do them, but I’ve found that nothing will enhance the lats quite like the machine.
Sets: 3-5
Reps: 6-10
Tips: The back will typically be more responsive to higher load with reps in the 6-10 range. Remember to engage the lats before you begin and focus on keeping tension in the negative part of the rep.
Legs
I know I just said the back is the most overlooked body part, so let me correct myself.
The LEGS are most definitely the body part most guys tend to overlook.
I’m not saying most guys don’t train their legs.
They do.
Especially because they don’t want to the bro in the guy who “doesn’t train legs.”
But the problem is, most don’t train legs EFFECTIVELY.
That’s the difference in doing something, and doing something RIGHT.
A great set of wheels demonstrates a complete, powerful body.
The human body was designed to derive almost all of its power from the lower half of the body, but most desk jobs and sedentary lives are taking away the ability to fully live up to our lower body’s potential.
Besides, what good is a muscular upper body when you have a laughable set of legs?
Also, girls love a great butt on us guys, too.
So here’s how you can really bring up those lagging legs and fully round out that complete physique.
Stiff Legged Dumbell Deadlifts
You don’t know “the burn” until you’ve completed a few sets of stiff legged dumbbell deadlifts.
This movement is fantastic at stretching out the hams and adding some quality muscle to not so impressive backside.
Because the hamstrings are a muscle guys can’t see in the mirror, they’re often neglected, so if you can manage to bring up those slabs of mass on the back of your legs, I can promise you your entire physique will never look better.
Sets: 3-5
Reps: 12-16
Tips: Be sure to keep your legs as straight as possible for these. You can add a slight bend in the knees, but don’t turn these into full on traditional deadlifts. Always keep your weight on your heels and never on your toes and You should feel a strong stretch in the hamstrings as you lower the weight towards the ground. Once you’ve gone as far as you can go, return back up to the starting position and flex the hamstrings.
Hack Squat Close Stance
With the hamstrings done, now let’s focus on the quads, and no, it’s not all about squats bros.
Squats can be fine and dandy, but most guys can caught up on trying to heave the most way possible without getting crushed by it and not actually trying to grow their quads.
Traditional leg presses can be good too, but a wide stance on the platform incorporates more glutes and hamstrings than quads.
Which leads me to the recommendation of using a close stance on the hack squat machine. Or if you don’t have access to a hack squat machine, a traditional leg press works as well.
And if you don’t have one of those, then just squat with a close stance.
Problem solved.
The close stance will emphasis the quad muscles almost exclusively, so don’t forget to add these to your next legs workout.
Reps: 12-16
Tips: Be sure to keep your legs as straight as possible for these. You can add a slight bend in the knees, but don’t turn these into full on traditional deadlifts. Always keep your weight on your heels and never on your toes and You should feel a strong stretch in the hamstrings as you lower the weight towards the ground. Once you’ve gone as far as you can go, return back up to the starting position and flex the hamstrings.
Hack Squat Close Stance
With the hamstrings done, now let’s focus on the quads, and no, it’s not all about squats bros.
Squats can be fine and dandy, but most guys can caught up on trying to heave the most way possible without getting crushed by it and not actually trying to grow their quads.
Traditional leg presses can be good too, but a wide stance on the platform incorporates more glutes and hamstrings than quads.
Which leads me to the recommendation of using a close stance on the hack squat machine. Or if you don’t have access to a hack squat machine, a traditional leg press works as well.
And if you don’t have one of those, then just squat with a close stance.
Problem solved.
The close stance will emphasis the quad muscles almost exclusively, so don’t forget to add these to your next legs workout.
