We all know what all of us men crave most: The Ideal male body. And most of us work out to look muscular, lean, proportional, and aesthetic. There is an increased craving for broad shoulders with bulging triceps and biceps, a narrow waist, a ripped core, well-defined legs, and a big flat chest on top of a V-tapered torso.
Well, the good news is that all of this is achievable. But all one might lack is the proper guidance and directions to follow. People are always searching for hacks and shortcuts to living a better life, and looking good is a part of it.
Bodybuilding is a buzzword nowadays and seems to be the trend. This was not always the case. Men had different body standards in different eras. In olden times like the late 1800s, there were naturally ideal-looking muscular males. But the trend and craze were started by bodybuilders like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone.
How Has The Ideal Male Body Changed Throughout History?
The concept of the perceived ideal body and a perfect figure is a relatively very old one. It has existed in human consciousness for millennia. Influenced by the then-current trends, status, and even availability of food and machinery, these ideals have changed enormously throughout history.
Let’s dive into the pages of history to get to know how the standards of the perfect male body have changed.
Ancient Greece
‘Greek-god body’ is still a term used for a chiselled body with perfect proportions. The ideal male body in ancient Greece was thin-waisted, muscular, and generally very lean. The artistic sculptures by various skilled sculptors portray this.
Elizabethan Age
During this period, the chiseled abs coveted by the ancient Greeks were likely of no interest to all. Manliness was associated with defined upper-body muscles, muscular arms, powerful legs, shapely thighs, and strong calves.
Gilded Age
In this period, big muscles and strong legs were not the symbols of one’s manliness. Instead, in this age of industrialization and wealth-making, a wide waist, huge stomach, and an adequate frame showed your economic status and your ability to afford plenty of good food. There were even exclusive fat men’s clubs.
The Golden Age Of Hollywood
The camera was used to make people appear larger than they actually were. And so Hollywood required clean-cut, athletic, and lead actors, not necessarily muscular or toned. Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant were some ideals of that era.
Age Of Counterculture
Time again altered the perception of the perfect natural body in the 1960s. The lean and muscular look was replaced by thin, lean, and skinny. Ideals such as Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles introduced the skinny trend.
Bodybuilders Era
A new era began in the mid-1980s. Masculine perfection was defined as pumping iron and bodybuilding to get bulging muscles all over. Arnold Schwarzenegger was considered the god of muscle definition.
Rise Of The Millennials
In time, the taste of emphasized beefy male body and bulked-up ideals started dissolving. Though defined muscles and athletic looks were still coveted, the standards were not as extreme as that set a decade earlier. Brad Pitt’s lean, cut torso from the Fight club was cited as the reference to attract women.
Dad Bod
There emerged a kind of rebellion against the thin and defined image of men during the mid-2010s. A guy is not well defined or chiselled, but at the same time is not unhealthy. Abs might not be visible at all. Dad bod ideal has become widespread and has become very popular as a far more attainable body image than any past ideals. Leonardo DiCaprio, Chris Pratt, Jason Segel, and Seth Rogan are some known personalities.
Too Much Size Is Not Attractive.
A real buffy body might seem impressive and might be the ideal body example for some men. But research and surveys have found that women seem to turn off by big and bulky males. A universal sexually attractive feature of a guy could be a V-taped torso.
Women do not always want men with muscle-rich bodies. Women prefer skinny men or lean men to huge buffy guys with freaky arms and what looks like a bullish body. So all those muscle pounds are not what your girl is looking for. But if you are not doing it for the girls, then go ahead and achieve the maximum.
Achieving The Perfect Male Body Type
According to research and surveys, the perfect male physique has well-defined muscles, muscularity, and great symmetrical proportions. The most attractive guy seems to be a hard, dense, and angular looking natural physique with broad, thick shoulders and upper back, rock hard arms, slim waist, athletic legs, and square masculine chest.
In multiple research, women from all cultures repeatedly choose a shoulder to waist ratio of 1:1.6 as the most natural and attractive. The shoulders are 1.6 times bigger than your waist. Women considered the ratios that exceed this number or a ratio that fell significantly below this number as a less attractive body type.
To achieve the ideal male physique, we need to learn about The Golden Ratio and The Adonis Index Ratio. Also, the ideal waist, leg, and arm sizes.
The Golden Ratio
1:1.618 is considered the Golden ratio. It is an ancient mathematical principle that governs many natural laws such as body shape, the proportion of the human body, and even the growth patterns of plants and their leaves. It is considered one of the keys to human perception of beauty and attraction.
Eugen Sandow was the first person to popularize the Golden ratio approach to bodybuilding. Your shoulder to waist ratio is what actually defines your body type. You are often judged on the ratio, as it is immediately visible and tough to hide, even under many layers of clothing.
The hard part is that one is not born with these measurements; you have to work out to get it. According to your body type, you need to work on different muscles and lose the proper amount of body fat to reach the ideal body.
The Adonis Index
The ratio between your shoulder circumference to your waist circumference is termed as Adonis Index.
How to obtain your Adonis index:
- You have to measure the circumference of your waist at your belly button.
- And you measure the circumference of your shoulder at its widest point, typically halfway between your nipples and collar bone.
The closer this ratio gets to 1:1.618, the closer you are to your perfect physique.
Now, this is just the first step to looking like a Greek god. You cannot only focus on building your chest, shoulder, and upper back to reach the ratio that way. The perfect male physique also comes down to having an ideal waist size.
Women find guys with a V taper and a shoulder to waist ratio exactly as the golden ratio more attractive. One factor is a lower body fat percentage, which gives you a slim waist.
Ideal Waist Size
The ideal waist size is the product of another ratio, which is your height to waist ratio. For all males, the ideal waist is approximately 45% of his height.
This number isn’t random; it is actually derived from the Golden ratio. After some complex calculations, the ratio turns out to be 1:1.447.
For example, if you’re 6 feet tall that is 72 inches, your ideal body measurements should be:
- Height=72 inches i.e. 183 cm
- Ideal waist = 45% of the height = 32.5 inches i.e. 82.5 cm
- Percect Shoulder measurement = 1.618×32.5 =52.5 inches i.e. 134 cm
Arms And Legs Ratios
The Adonis Index is an important ratio that considers the size and shape of your shoulders, chest, waist, and upper back. But the ideal male shape also depends on other measurements like thighs, hips, calves, forearm, and upper arms.
You can establish how large your upper arms need to be by measuring your wrist size. Your flexed arms should be 150% larger than the circumference of your non-dominant wrist, i.e., wrist circumference x2.5.
The standards say that your flexed calves should match the size of your flexed arms. Your upper leg circumference should be 75% larger than your knee circumference, i.e., knee circumference x 1.75.
How to Start Working On This Ideal Physique?
Okay, so let’s start working on building your ideal workout to achieve the ideal physique. The first step is to analyze where you currently are and what areas you need to work upon.
Calculate Your Waist To Height Ratio:
To measure your waist size use a measuring tape lined up at your belly button. Use the 45% mark to set future goals.
Measure Your Current Adonis Index:
Measure the circumference of your shoulder halfway between your collarbone and nipples and your waist across your belly button. Use 1.6 as the ideal score to work upon.
This number is relative, and it does depend on your height. Different men might have a different set of parameters depending on their height.
One might think, what about my Morphology? Yes, we all have different body types, and every one is built differently, having different muscle measurements. So will the same fitness principle work on all types of men is a huge confusion.
The Adonis ratio and Golden number are natural laws; they affect people’s perceptions in different ways. Also, this is precisely based on your height to waist ratio and is not dependent on your weight, or which body type your physique looks like.
This essentially means that even if you are way low on weight or way high on pounds, are not following any fitness plans, or much of your health conditions, they do not matter. You can still work on a strict fitness routine and bring your body closer to its perfect form.
To achieve such a natural-looking lean mass body, you must set up a good personal development training program. A nutrition-rich diet and training protocols help faster achieve the ideal bodies you all desire.
Importance Of Hair
A well-shaped head full of hair is also a part of an ideal, along with all the good-looking bodies and health regimes. Right from the Greece era, hair is given importance and contributes to manliness. From the last few decades, from the advent of Hollywood and increasing fashion trends, we have seen all types of hairstyles and hair cuts.
It would be best if you found what looks good on you. This might occur by trying and innovating with your hair months after months. Also, hair health is not a much-discussed concept, but it exists. One should follow proper health measures to avoid hair fall and damage to the scalp.
Conclusion
It needs more than just haphazardly lifting weights, eating food, and taking supplements. All this might help you get the size, but not proper symmetry and proportions which one needs to develop one’s muscles and physique as a whole systematically.
That is why you need to pay special attention to how you develop your muscles. The Grecian ideal states you need your flexed arms and calves to be 2.5 times larger than your non-dominant wrist; your shoulders need to be 1.618 times larger than your waist; your upper leg should be 1.75 times larger than your knee, and your chest should be 6.5 times larger than your waist.
Most guys don’t have the genetics to reach these targets perfectly. But by following the above-described methods, everyone can get closer to their best-fit physique.
