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How to Build the Ideal Male Body

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5 Tips for Developing the Perfect Masculine Form

Building the perfect or ideal male body is a lofty goal, and if you want to accomplish that goal in your lifetime, you need to follow a plan specifically designed to help you do that.

While lifting heavy and eating well is a great start, if you want to build a truly impressive physique, an ideal male body with symmetrical proportions, you have to structure every aspect of your programming towards doing that, and doing it in the shortest time possible. 

I’m talking about a truly ideal male body: the kind with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and strong legs. The kind of body that fits into our biologically encoded criteria, and fits the Adonis Golden Ratio (and not it’s not a dad bod).

It’s not simple, but as you’ll see below, it can be done regardless of your body type. And we’re going to give you 5 steps to do it.

The problem is that we have a tremendous variety of tools in the toolbox, and it is sometimes easy to forget that not all methods are effective for all goals.

  • Athletes training for their sport practice some highly specific drills, displaying them in combines.
  • Bodybuilders and fitness competitors gear things for fat loss, requiring adjustment of nutritional strategies.
  • Powerlifters work on becoming skilled and efficient in their primary lifts.

Of course, these are just a few examples, but the point is: no matter what your goal, you have to train specifically for that goal.

In none of these scenarios would you really benefit from using strategies intended for one goal to meet any of the others.

And so, if your goal is simply to build a lean, symmetrical, attractive, and sexy body, you have to gear your diet and training structure towards those goals.


Five Things You Need to Know to Build an Ideal Male Body

The Perfect Male Body is X-Shaped

When it comes to being physically attractive to the opposite sex, it’s important to understand that certain body dimensions are visually important, from an evolutionary perspective.

Our progenitors credited desirable traits like strength, productivity, and virility to corresponding physical attributes. While societal ‘needs’ may have changed in a way that no longer makes it ‘necessary’ to have the characteristics to succeed, to a certain extent we carry our ancestors’ tastes.

This means that physical traits that imply the presence of “mating qualifiers” are important for increasing your stock with the ladies.

To that end, an X-shaped physique means broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and strong, well-developed calves.

For broad shoulders, focus on core movements that allow for maximal recruitment, such as the push press, as well as some isolation exercises to focus on the medial delts and increases width, such as lateral raises. On the other hand, you can make it easy on yourself, and just do this 15-minute shoulder workout, or this slightly longer one.

A narrow waist is primarily the result of a low level of body fat, obviously. However, it is important to understand that the muscles around your waist respond to weight training in much the same way that all other muscles do: by growing. So while I don’t ever advise avoiding certain exercises completely, I offer the caveat that one should avoid training rotational exercises with either heavy weight or high volume.

Strong, well-developed calves are not easy to come by. Calves are a notoriously stubborn body part to grow, so I recommend training them multiple times per week. Work your calves first in your training session, not last.

Impressive calves: necessary for the ideal male body.

Impressive calves: necessary for the ideal male body.

You should also consider why calves are so stubborn, and how this (should) factor into your training. Calves don’t grow, simply, because they’re hard to overload.

This is because your Achilles tendon acts like a rubber band, transferring energy during the lowering and lifting phases of calf exercises, so your muscles do less work.

Try this, beginning with the standing calf raise, pictured right.

I suggest you pause for 5 seconds at the bottom of each rep and 3 seconds at the top, at the minimum. This limits assistance from your Achilles, so you can overload your calves for rapid growth. 

Want to kick it up a notch? We’ve got you covered. Check out this article, which completely outlines an 8-week calf training program.

By focusing on these muscles and building a physique more in line with what our ancestors considered desirable (and let’s be honest, we still do), you are on the road to an ideal male body.


To Build a Perfect Male Body, Push Less and Pull More

In keeping with the ideas from above, the goal of training for sexiness should also include balance and symmetry. This is not only so you train the right way, but also because you need to make a concentrated effort to avoid training the wrong way.

As men, we’re highly visual creatures. As trainees, this translates into becoming highly focused on ‘mirror muscles’ – that is, those you can readily see in any mirror.

Guys in general tend to do a lot more work on muscles like chest than the back. I cannot begin to describe the drawbacks of this mentality. Instead, I’ll focus on the main ideas of this post.

With specific regard to appearance, lopsided training that focuses on anterior (front) muscles over posterior (rear) muscles leads to pretty ugly imbalances. In addition to this being a great way to get yourself injured, it can lead to a round, forward shouldered look that is not the goal of any training program I’ve ever heard of.

Keeping in mind the idea of building a sexy body, it’s worth noting that such a look is also decidedly unattractive.

Instead, we should focus more on the muscles of the upper back: latissimus dorsi, teres major, trapezius, et al. These muscles, developed correctly, will help pull your shoulders back, helping to create the broad-shouldered look that men find powerful and women find attractive.

To prevent imbalances and help to create such a look, try to maintain a 3:2 ratio of pulling exercises to pushing exercises.

As an example, 3 sets of rows, 2 sets of bench presses.

Following this pattern, you are far less likely to develop unattractive imbalances; in addition, you will be less like to incur injury. And probably be more likely to get naked. And, by the way, if you want to address this all at once, I wrote a full program on specialization for your back.


The Ideal Male Body is Forged With Heavy Weight

So lift HEAVY at least once per week

The benefits of heavy training are widely documented, so once again I’ll just focus on the relevance to building the perfect male body.

Firstly, let’s establish what I mean by heavy. In this case, we’re talking about training with high intensity, that is, with loads representative of a significant percentage of your max capability. In terms of numbers, we’re talking about working within 75%-85% of your 1RM. For the sake of ease, this is generally going to mean sets of 3-5 reps.

Now, for the benefits. Firstly and most obviously, training with heavier weight makes you a lot stronger; and there is simply no downside to being strong. Not only does this allow for greater muscle building, it also makes it easier to lose fat–because you’ll be using heavier weights even during fat burning workouts, which burns more calories. 

Beyond all that, training heavy doesn’t just make you strong—it elicits some profound physiological changes that help you look as strong as you are.

Training with heavy loads leads to an increase in both neurogenic and myogenic muscle tone, both of which are important for building the ideal male body.

First, it is necessary to recognize that for the purposes of this writing, the word “tone” means the level of tension in a muscle. With that understood, let’s talk about each type.

Neurogenic tone refers to the level of tension in a muscle during a working or flexed state. That is, how “hard” a muscle is when it’s in action–whether that means at the gym, or just flexing.

Myogenic tone, on the other hand, is the residual tension in a resting muscle. What this really means is how hard, full, and dense your muscles are when you’re just hanging out. Rather than some artificial pump, an increase in myogenic tone is a permanent increase in the appearance of your muscles.

Increasing neurogenic and myogenic tone also has the benefit of making muscles more visible at slightly higher levels of body fat.

And there is a lot to be said for having your triceps pop out a bit more at 10%–just imagine how they’ll look at 8%!

The benefits of heavy training are legion. So if you really want to build an attractive physique that hits all the proportions of an ideal male body, you need to be lifting near-maximal loads at least once per week. 

Take home: lift heavy, get hard. Wait, what?


Mix Up Your Training To Build and Maintain an Impressive Physique

In order to create a body suited for a variety of physical…er, tasks, (yup, that was a sexual innuendo) you need to change up your workout from time to time.

Firstly, training variety keeps you motivated and leads to better results. How often you need to change things up is absed on your goal.

If you’re currently training to build muscle, you should make some adjustments to your program every 8-16 weeks.

For fat loss, you need to change things more frequently–roughly every 4-8 weeks.

(This is why my fat loss programs like Fat Loss Forever shift training styles every 4 weeks.)

In either case, the changes help you stay ahead of the body’s adaptation curve, which prevents stagnation and helps you avoid a plateau. 

All of that said, it’s important to realize that there’s a fine line between changing it up to stay ahead of the curve, and blatant inconsistency–which is just as bad. 

To avoid that, make sure of the following: 

  • Pick a program for your goal. If your goal is to get lean, use a fat loss program. If you want to gain muscle, use a muscle gaining program. This sounds simple, but it’s amazing how many people try to adjust one or the other to fit their goal. Building the ideal male body means using the right tool for the job, so don’t reach for a hammer when you need a screwdriver.
  • Don’t “program hop.” If you pick a program stick with it for the entire length of time, even if you’re getting bored or want to change gears. Switching horses mid-race isn’t going to help you hit you goals any faster–in fact, programming hopping is the single biggest reason guys never achieve their ideal body, and instead go two-steps-forward-one-step-back forever.
  • Use programs with built-in periodization. Some might suggest that “training ADD” can inhibit muscle gains, that’s only true if you’re changing things haphazardly with no thought to programming. Truly great programs take the adaptation curve into account and are designed in phases. The goal of the program doesn’t change, but the way you approach it changes with each new phase. Each phase builds on the last–this is called periodization, and it allows for consistent progress towards your ideal body. This built-in periodization is exactly what makes The Super Hero Workout so effective.

Again, adding in variety is important, but not the expense of results. Building the ideal male body comes down to knowing how to effectively gain muscle or lose fat, so you’ll be changing things up based on the goal.

For the purposes of getting lean, you need to change more often. In fact, exposing yourself to consistently changing stimulus is an excellent way to ramp up metabolism and consistently increases the processes by which fat loss is made possible. This is why my bestselling fat loss program, the Final Phase Fat Loss rotates different training styles over a given week.

But, it doesn’t need to be that specific; an easy way to work variety into training for the ideal male body is to change exercises for the same movement. Switching from bench presses to push-ups, counterintuitive though it might seem, can actually help you increase muscle mass, as well as lose fat.

Even a switch as simple as trading in barbells for dumbbells for a single workout can make significant changes, and keep you lean year-round, aiding your quest for a sexy body.

For a more structured change, consider trying out timed workouts: that is, instead of counting reps, each set will be for a given length of time—the goal, of course, is to get as many reps in that time period as possible.

Not only will increasing training variety speed up your quest to build the perfect male body, but it also keeps training fresh and fun.


You Need to Tame Your Hormones If You Want a Perfect Body

I covered this in a full article on hormonal optimization to lose stubborn fat, but let’s address it briefly here. In general, men tend to store fat around the abdominal and love handle areas. Once again, we have our ancestors to thank/blame for this one. So after 10,000 years of evolution, we’ve adapted to storing fat where it wouldn’t get in the way of hunting, killing, skinning, and devouring dinosaurs, wildebeests, umber hulks, and squirrels.

Women, on the other hand, store fat in the hip and thigh area. (As an aside, women need to follow a completely different set of steps for the perfect body.)

Evolutionary favoritism notwithstanding, these differences are due in large part to differences in hormonal environments between men and women.

To make it basic: men generally have higher levels of cortisol, which will lend itself to the storage of midsection fact, whereas high estrogen leads to lower body fat storage.

Of course, we can’t talk about dude hormones without mentioning testosterone.

Men, listen up: testosterone is your friend, and the more of it you have, the faster you’ll gain muscle, lose fat, and meet women. Therefore, high levels of test are good. Low testosterone levels, on the other hand, are awful–and can affect everything from sleep to sex drive–and will radically slow things down in terms of physique progress. 

Unfortunately, when you’re on a fat loss program, whether you’re dieting down for beach season or a bodybuilder preparing for a photoshoot, the way testosterone affects insulin management gets a little screwy. And insulin (or rather insulin resistance) is a tremendous problem for most guys trying to lose fat.

In fact, with most of the male clients I’ve had, as they get closer to their goal body fat level, it gets much harder to lose fat in those more “masculine” areas such as abs, obliques, and lower back.

Therefore, as you continue to lean out towards your ideal sexy body, you will probably notice that you are suffering from Chronic Love Handular Fatittude—never fear, Roman to the rescue.

Of course, the training protocols to address both of these are heavily detailed in Final Phase Fat Loss and are both so comprehensive that they are rendered a bit beyond the scope of what I can cover in this post. 

However, to aid in shedding the love handles and creating a body worth seeing naked, there are a few ways to improve insulin management via supplementation and diet.

For supplements, fish oil, along with the myriad of other benefits, has been shown to vastly improve insulin management when taken in high doses. 

You can also make some additions to diet: cinnamon, when added to meals containing carbohydrates, has been shown to mitigate the effects of insulin spikes and fat storage.

Along those same lines, there is some evidence to support that drinking a moderate dose of apple cider vinegar prior to meals containing carbohydrates has similar effects.

In combination with an intelligent diet and training program, the supplement recommendations above can have a profoundly beneficial effect on your endocrine system, allowing it to work with you to create a sexy body, instead of against you.

You now have 5 simple strategies to help you lose fat, put muscle on the right places, and build a body women are evolutionarily programmed to want to see naked. (You’re welcome.)


Ready to build your ideal male body? 

We’ve got you covered. Just enter your name and email below and we’ll send you not one, but two awesome guides to help you do that, absolutely free.

Because they’re intended to help you look awesome, I have cleverly titled them How to Look Fucking Awesome and 30 Days to Awesome, respectively. And they are going to show you EXACTLY what to do to build the ideal male body.

These guides cover everything you need to know about finding the right training methods to maximize your potential, PLUS you get a complete 30-Day program that uses all 5 principles outlined above to help you pack on serious muscle while incinerating fat–giving you a massive head start on your road to a truly epic body.

Just enter your email in that form, and we’ll send you the exact blueprints you need to start building YOUR ideal male physique today.

(Ladies, while there are a lot of similarities in how I approach your training, there are a lot of differences in how to achieve the ideal female body. Good thing I also wrote about that.)

About the Author

John Romaniello is a level 70 orc wizard who spends his days lifting heavy shit and his nights fighting crime. When not doing that, he serves as the Chief Bro King of the Roman Empire and Executive Editor here on RFS. You can read his articles here, and rants on Facebook.

Comments for This Entry

  • Andrew

    Hi Mr. Romaniello ...How many years does it take to build the MOST attractive male body? Bodybuilding makes one's face more masculine thus more attractive to the girls......How many years of training does it take to optimize and get the best out of that department? thank you for your kind attention.

    June 20, 2017 at 12:26 pm

  • Kate

    My ideal man look would be something like Tom Hardy in the Warrior. It's gonna take some work though...

    June 8, 2017 at 11:25 am

  • Kevin Wright

    Hi I am 41 and have received email posts from you for 3 plus years. But only now am I seriously trying your systems to lower my body fat to 10%(currently around 25% body fat 3 weeks ago). Using Hormones to cut body fat really interested me and am currently in the 3rd week of prime from your book Engineering the Alpha 2.0, I am getting stronger and fitter using all your advice in the book, measuring food and cals (LBM weight) ALSO LOGGING INTO myplatelivestrong.com and have bio trust low protein powder. Really looking forward to stage 2 surge to see what density training does. You have mention calves and My calves are strong but pins, and the only time I saw them grow was 18 years when I was doing mike mender style of training(now that was lactic acid burn). My question is. When would you fit calves into this program of yours? look forward to your reply.

    June 18, 2015 at 2:15 am

  • Greg Giordano

    I can see a lot of what makes OBB awesome outlined here. I'm almost through half of the program and am loving it. I'm leaner but not much, if any, lighter. As a bonus, a lot of nagging aches and pains are slowly going away from doing something very different. OBB is worth every penny.

    June 17, 2015 at 5:18 pm

  • Omi Baker

    Although to take exercises, taking nutritious food is also helpful to gain a fit & fine body. Your personal fitness trainer & health consultant’s advice is also helpful to take. Besides this one site can also be helpful – body buildo one of my friend used the body buildo and he gained enormous results.

    May 7, 2015 at 7:45 am

  • Navraj Ekh Raazz

    I have to lift heavy or not? bcz I m capable to lift heavy but I m not bcz I m not afforred these diet plans ( I have very simple diet plan) plzzzzz give me some advice

    March 16, 2014 at 3:53 pm

  • Good Reads for the Week | Bret Contreras

    [...] 23. Five Tips for Building a Sexy Make Body by John Romaniello [...]

    October 1, 2013 at 12:26 am

  • Julie

    10 Tips To Get You In The Best Shape Of Your Life http://adf.ly/MrJVe

    April 13, 2013 at 3:43 am

  • Amit schindler

    can u suggest me a workout program vid variations as u have suggested in ure post..... and also tell me is there any alternative for seated rows as i dnt hv rowing machine in my gym...

    January 26, 2013 at 9:55 am

  • Murugan

    help me with some good tips

    November 20, 2012 at 4:20 am

  • Vytalz Social Fitness

    The 3:2 ratio you mention is really interesting. There's often a dismissal of aesthetics around people who train purely for fitness, but the fact is, a symmetrical body with good muscle tone is always going to be more efficient and healthy than one that is unbalanced and has too much focus on the wrong areas.

    August 15, 2012 at 10:53 pm

  • Paul Chiranjit

    really coool.........n yah.....helpful.

    July 27, 2012 at 9:27 am

  • Elvira Izrailova

    I love developed Triceps on guys..work more on triceps verses biceps..it's better for your posture as well...great post..I can't stop explaining to my male clients (I'm a personal trainer) how important it is to train their back compared to their chest so 3:2 ratio is a great way to explain it..

    June 5, 2012 at 5:00 pm

  • Cade

    Great post Roman. Common sense stuff that I hadn't heard or thought about before. Definitely going to incorporate those strategies in my training starting tomorrow.

    May 31, 2012 at 2:13 am

  • Mattias Sørensen

    thanks for these tips man. It will really spice up my training and my body this summer :P 

    May 29, 2012 at 8:45 pm

  • Ryan Austin

    Roman, I love your stuff, best advice for a lean body (and loved your superhero workout program). Question for you though on the strategic fasting idea you're always promoting. I'm planning to do Xtreme Fatloss Diet for the second time (did it last summer), which you were integral in helping design, and I want some advice on how to survive on fast days :) I found out last summer (and when I had fast days on the superhero wkout) that I get wicked energy drained and ligh headed not eating all day, and I also found that If I just eat around 300 calories this significantly helps (ie. couple hundred calories vs. 0) ... my question is what type of food would I want to eat for these couple hundred calories (I generally have a protein shake and some nuts) and am I severely hurting my fat loss efforts by not having a pure fast day? I know there's a lot of science behind this idea so I wanted your take on it. Thx again for the blog man!

    May 29, 2012 at 5:19 pm

    • John Romaniello

       A few hundred calories won't hurt, provided you eat them towards the end of the day. Protein and nuts works great.  I would also suggest some caffeine to help.

      May 30, 2012 at 1:59 am

      • Ryanpaustin

        Awesome, thanks man. Generally end of the day is when I'm feeling I need something small or I can't function ;) Appreciate the advice! Keep up the good work!

        May 30, 2012 at 1:30 pm

  • calvin

    Hi John, My name is Calvin and I would like some advice? I broke my wrist at work and was put in a cast for a month, and as a result, fell badly behind with training and actually put on Weight, Fat, Unfortunately. My wrist has healed fully now so any advice on what are the best Exercises to catch up with and lose the extra weight i have put on?? Cheers John, Calvin from Nottingham, uk.

    May 29, 2012 at 5:07 pm

    • John Romaniello

       Hey Calvin, best thing to go is go back to the routine that was successful for you before the injuries; obviously work back into it, and be sure take care to avoid hurting the wrist again. I'm afraid there's no magic, just slow and steady

      May 30, 2012 at 2:01 am

  • Brandon Willis

    Where's the part about 10 sets of reps in the squat rack? I must have missed it :). Seriously, good post. Especially the part about hormones.

    May 29, 2012 at 5:05 pm

  • Cathy

    LOL Roman I can't stand it when I see all these guys in the gym with big upper body but puny a*s legs! It looks totally ridic and they think they're hot!!  Hopefully they read your blog lol...

    May 29, 2012 at 4:47 pm

  • Adam Richards

    For females looking to drop fat would you reccomend kettlebell circuits 8-10 rep range with one day of low rep low volume heavy lifting?

    May 29, 2012 at 4:37 pm

  • Fredrik Eklund

    A think that FPFL really touches on all these areas, like you mentioned. The biggest thing for me has probably been using the heavy lifting days to really kick my body into growth mode. A few sets of heavy squats or deads every week can absolutely do wonders for smaller muscle groups too. Heard on more than one occasion that if you want bigger gunz you should squat a lot more! Oh and for training variation - badminton still does it for me! I would quote badminton for building more of my quads than my entire 13 year soccer career.

    May 29, 2012 at 4:20 pm

  • Roman Fitness Systems

    Let's get a few comments on this bloggy blog. You can now comment through facebook (I'm doing so now) which means if you're reading this you have no excuse. Get at it.

    May 29, 2012 at 4:08 pm

    • Metin Erman

      Really cool read! I had read some stuff about ideal shoulder to waist ratio studies but this puts it more in plain English. Definitely have to say this is true because the number of times I got hit on rose dramatically when I went out as my shoulders/chest/back size grew...calves are probably my strong point, 17 inches and thick and muscular...working on waist.. down to under a 34 now...

      May 29, 2012 at 9:37 pm

  • Dzimm

    Roman, I always love reading your stuff. I leaned down a bit in the last few months and my triceps(in particular) look great pumped after workout and flexed, but don't show it at all "just hanging out". Can I get more on the myogenic topic in the future? Keep up the good work. Dennnis

    May 29, 2012 at 1:31 pm

  • Olga

    Hey, Roman! Nice article. So I prefer this X-shaped body for sure, and guys with huge biceps, back, front muscles AND not developed leg muscles do not attract at all, I guess I'm not alone. Y-shaped body looks strange. Please, guys,  pay attention to your butt, and strong legs that suit your upper body.  Roman, the article is really useful...any similar article for ladies? Thnx for ur blog!

    May 29, 2012 at 10:27 am

    • John Romaniello

       Hey Olga, thanks so much! Glad you liked the article =)  As it happens, I do have one for women: http://www.romanfitnesssystems.com/blog/6-tips-for-building-a-sexy-female-body/

      May 29, 2012 at 3:49 pm

  • Vandza

    High quality read. I like your no-nonsense-no-bullshit approach with actual advises, which I find very helpful. Your blog really stands out from the whole bunch of other "fat loss gurus" who promise you the world with very mystical and vague arguments, while they're afraid to take off their shirt in the pictures.  Thanks and thumbs up from Croatia ;) Hope this comment helps a little in reaching the 100 mark ;)

    May 29, 2012 at 10:04 am

  • Trevor

    Great article, love reading these, as they bring a lot of good info back to the front of the mind. Its easy to get carried away over complicating exercises. Very often simple is the best. 

    May 29, 2012 at 8:34 am

  • KO

    Dear Roman! Thank you for your SuperBlog. I live in Ukraine, and it is extremely difficult to find such a useful fat loss dtabase as yours.  

    May 29, 2012 at 6:58 am

  • rmg

    roman - thanks

    May 29, 2012 at 4:12 am

  • Nicholas English

    OK I love you and I love this site but chicks do not care about big calves, they just don't!

    May 29, 2012 at 2:55 am

  • spartacus

    well, the info. about reps and 75-85% 1Rm  was great. But, seriously, I personally think working out for the purpose of being sexy is shallow and pathetic. I'm a 40 year old male, happily married. I would have thought training to be the strongest, healthiest version of one's self was a goal worthy of striving for. Sexiness is an added bonus, a side affect if you will, rather than the goal. I don't want to have "beach muscle" to be pretty for the ladies (even if I was single), I do it for myself.  By the way, due to my attitude and training, I mix it up with 20 something's playing Touch Footy, and can outsprint most of them, and am the strongest I've ever been.

    May 29, 2012 at 12:49 am

    • John Romaniello

      I couldn't disagree with you more. If you think you would personally "never" want train just for appearances, that's fine; however, I don't think that lambasting others, and calling their goals "shallow and pathetic" is fair. Some people just don't care about strength. It's totally okay to be into the result over the process.  No judgement, dude. Not cool.

      May 29, 2012 at 3:52 pm

  • TheTylerCarter

    What's a "high" dose for fish oil?

    May 28, 2012 at 11:39 pm

  • Ron

    I'm 50 and fighting low T level -  in my case I cut out 95% of my sugar intake, lowered carb intake, upped protein alot. I increased cardio to a min of 400 cal/session. I also added 15 minutes of cardio at the end of each workout. Roman is dead on with doing more pulling exercised - my waist is now 29.5 chest tad under 44". Evaluate your asthetic weakness - make it a goal to work on it - train hard - play hard!

    May 28, 2012 at 11:37 pm

  • John Romaniello

     Cycling is usually better

    May 28, 2012 at 10:17 pm

  • Bulent

    Awesome post a always. On the Batman scale I give you 0.7 Batman

    May 28, 2012 at 9:52 pm

  • Mani

    What passes as a high fish oil dose for a 220 pound male?

    May 28, 2012 at 9:51 pm

  • Harold

    Loved the article, Roman.  Looking forward to more information on manipulating hormones.

    May 28, 2012 at 9:28 pm

  • Justin Grinnell

    Great post John. Made me want to stay away from the holiday food and get back into the gym tomorrow! Thanks! 

    May 28, 2012 at 8:49 pm

  • Jonathan

    Oh and I was just wondering my biceps and triceps ache ALL the time unless im working out and they ache more if I dont work out for several days at the time so I was wondering if I could fix that somehow or make it not ache.

    October 19, 2011 at 2:58 am

  • Andy

    Another awesome post Roman. With regard to spilling T IGF1 and GH; us it better hit all three in the same workout, different days or cycle training? Peace Andy

    March 11, 2011 at 11:35 pm

  • Picking up Women

    This means that physical traits which imply the presence of “mating qualifiers” are important for increasing your stock with the ladies.

    February 21, 2011 at 3:48 am

  • Luke H

    Good post with some good points - but I have seen better from you (lol). I would definitely recommend training heavy for more than 4 days per month. Alcohol is a killer for testosterone, also lack of sleep. Thanks for the post

    February 11, 2011 at 1:08 am

  • K T

    Great tips (I found the info on neurogenic and myogenic tone particularly interesting), but perhaps ALCOHOL should be mentioned. I understand it's one of the great enemies of testosterone and as such should be avoided by anyone wanting to build a hot figure.

    December 22, 2010 at 11:35 pm

  • Holmes Place

    Fitness should be important to everyone who wants to be happy and healthy – nice blog.

    December 7, 2010 at 10:54 am

  • Triv

    Hey Roman, I have a SOMEWHAT controvercial question to ask of you. What is your opinion of focusing mojority of one carbs intake PRE workout? (Anaconda protocol style) From experience, would you say most are better off using the typical approach of POST workout carbs? Thanks man. Appreciate your advice.

    November 10, 2010 at 9:20 pm

  • Ylwa

    Personally, I've never really understood mens obsession about pecs and bench presses. But basically, this focus is created by the very same fact that you're obsessed with porn? The visual stuff-thing. Guys, if you're going to do chest, there's really only one part you should focus on - the upper and inner pecs. Why? Beacuse they make a great compliment to your S-H-O-U-L-D-E-R-S. (Not that this is being written from a purley vain perspective) If I had to pic one body part 9 out of 10 guys should foucus on, shoulders are it. I think they're the very foundation of an X-shaped physique. It signalizes authority and manliness, which makes us ladies feel that you're there to care for us. Plus, they make alot for you posture as well. To conclude - if I'm at a bar with a fella with a scrawny pair of delts I make a note to self that I'm gonna have to fight my own battles that evening.

    November 10, 2010 at 2:46 am

  • Matty

    Hey John, excellent post. I have a larger chest, no bitch tits though, i think its genetics, my dad has a larger chest. . is there a way to " spot" reduce the chest, so to speak. I know building up shoulders, traps and a low body fat % is key for the look, but is there a exercise routine too do to, let's say, reduce the size or create a leaner look. Also, What happened to Shoulders of doom? i think i remember it, but would that specialization regime be beneficial to help with the x- body. and FPFL has changed?, im about to start it again next week. do you care to share how it has changed? anything worth noting? matty

    November 10, 2010 at 1:38 am

  • Fred

    Very nice post my man. X-shaped definitely beats V-shaped every day. An old soccer player should know 'bout them good 'ol calves. And I sincerely apologize in advance for whopping your ass on the badminton court (if you are up for a face-off that is...)

    November 9, 2010 at 12:28 pm

  • John Romaniello

    @Chad - glad you enjoyed it, sir. Appreciate the kind words! @nathan - for guys who have high(er) body fat on the lower body, density training would be me recommendation. Check this article http://www.t-nation.com/testosterone-magazine-623#density-training @Zac - we'll be running a huge sale on the updated version of FPFL in Feb =)

    November 9, 2010 at 12:06 pm

  • Patti

    Loved the post. Men, don't ignore getting your hormone levels checked by an experienced and of course qualified health professional, especially if you're losing a large amount of body fat. I work with large (as in bodyfat) people and hormones are whacked. If you're tired, depressed, not building muscle as you think you should, or have squishy muscle tone...go get them checked. Besides, a good level of testosterone will make your girl really really happy!

    November 9, 2010 at 10:34 am

  • Evy

    I find the most attractive look to be lean, balanced, and muscular without going overboard. Guys that are hugely built in the chest and back to the neglect of the muscles from the waist down are a turn-off for me. Most men underestimate the effect of a nicely shaped butt for getting a woman's attention and concentrate on everything else.

    November 9, 2010 at 9:51 am

  • Naomi

    The single most important thing is abs. Lean and defined. With that always comes strong shoulders. Legs matter. A lot. Really, the whole package matters (no pun intended).

    November 9, 2010 at 8:20 am

  • Shaun

    Great post, Where would you throw Nate Green's "Built For Show" Program in all of this. I'm trying to get stronger but a few showpiece muscles are slacking. Should I on my cheat days focus on "accessory work" to make them pop or will that not be enough? That would make my total training days 4 instead of just 3. Also, note i'm doing finishers after all of my weight sessions to keep my conditioning up to par.

    November 9, 2010 at 6:39 am

  • Scott

    Excellent article John... and great pic too! I know that I neglected these 5 rules when I was a young trainee. I avoided legs and totally focused on the mirror muscles. I also didn't add much variety to my training and I tried to push heavy all the time. I see the same thing happen when I see the teenagers in my gym and unfortunately, many of them refuse to listen, and many of them spend several hours in the gym every day. I sure wish that I had better guidance back then. I went in the opposite direction for a couple years as well and reduced the weight and rest time significantly. This made my workouts more aerobic than anaerobic. I definitely catch myself saying, "I wish I knew this back in the early training days." The one thing about bodybuilding is that it's a continuous journey with plenty of opportunities to learn and discover new things about yourself. Thanks for another great post John. Scott Tousignant

    November 9, 2010 at 5:57 am

  • Zac

    Always looking for advice as to what builds a kick-ass X frame; I'll save enough pennies for your FPFL programme eventually! Cheers for the blog! Zac

    November 9, 2010 at 3:52 am

  • nathan

    Hey Roman, great article, with all the new stuff that gets written...you sometimes forget the basic stuff that really works. Q. What training/diet strategy would you prescribe for guys who have high(er) levels of bodyfat on the lower body? Im finding this a lot with my clients... Is it purely a dietary issue? Thanks

    November 9, 2010 at 3:48 am

  • Chad

    Great article John - I remember reading it when it first came out on Craig's blog. Each point is beneficial and I've put them all to use in my training. thanks, - Chad

    November 8, 2010 at 8:57 pm

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