Fitness and the Male Body Image

[Giggly]

^^Finally someone that agrees with me! Troy Brad Pitt can't hold a candle to Fight Club Brad Pitt. My sister says I'm crazy.

Brad Pitt looks just fine in both of those pictures. Lets not get crazy with the minuscule details.

 

[JocktheMotie]

Never thought I'd see the day when an SJ scolds two NTs arguing over minuscule details.

But come on now Hmm...which one is better? Can't come in to this thread and not give your two cents!

 

[Neo Genesis]

Exhibit A: no.

Exhibit B: well, i realize that last picture looks worse for other reasons, but i didn't want to waste a bunch of time looking these up. anyway, least muscular picture i could find of him:

LOL, an unbelievably low body-fat % is bad for you.

I think a balance between the two is optimal, not to mention, much easier to obtain, but most girls I know tend to prefer Fight Club Brad Pitt over Troy Brad Pitt. They mostly just like Brad Pitt, though.

 

[JocktheMotie]

LOL, an unbelievably low body-fat % is bad for you.

I think a balance between the two is optimal, not to mention, much easier to obtain, but most girls I know tend to prefer Fight Club Brad Pitt over Troy Brad Pitt. They mostly just like Brad Pitt, though.

I don't know about that. The best I've ever hit was 7%, and it was also when I felt the best.

 

[ptgatsby]

Exhibit A: no.
Exhibit B: well, i realize that last picture looks worse for other reasons, but i didn't want to waste a bunch of time looking these up. anyway, least muscular picture i could find of him:

I think a lot of that has to do with it looking... disportionate. His arms are huge, while torso is more compact... and his head is too. Compared to the 300 training ( http://z.about.com/d/comicbooks/1/0/8/D/FCJG300-0088.jpg ), it looks rather freakish. The other picture has the same compact torso, but a better sense of proportion.

The conventional wisdom is that men think women prefer more muscle than women actually do...and women think men want them to be skinnier than men actually do. And I mention that because I think your preference is relatively normal

--

I'd actually be interesting in hearing a good exercise regiment for toning only - slight building, and not with the real intent to increase muscle mass. I've found that information to be remarkably hard to put into a coherent routine. It's easy to get general fitness information/toning and more hardcore muscle building... but none of it seems comprehensive in the middle.

If anyone is in the know-how, what I'd be curious about is about tapering the torso - to get the V shape. I know most of it will be about aerobic, but some muscle definition is required to emphasize it. I'd also be interesting in deltoid work that would be more bulk-orientated - from what I understand, that's the only way to give the appearance of broader shoulders. I think most males would gain the most from these two, from what I know of physical attractiveness.

And it's not even academic - there is reasonable return on investing time into making one more attractive!

 

[JocktheMotie]

--

I'd actually be interesting in hearing a good exercise regiment for toning only - slight building, and not with the real intent to increase muscle mass. I've found that information to be remarkably hard to put into a coherent routine. It's easy to get general fitness information/toning and more hardcore muscle building... but none of it seems comprehensive in the middle.

If anyone is in the know-how, what I'd be curious about is about tapering the torso - to get the V shape. I know most of it will be about aerobic, but some muscle definition is required to emphasize it. I'd also be interesting in deltoid work that would be more bulk-orientated - from what I understand, that's the only way to give the appearance of broader shoulders. I think most males would gain the most from these two, from what I know of physical attractiveness.

And it's not even academic - there is reasonable return on investing time into making one more attractive!

I'd do a lot of plyometric/high rep training, and lift/work to failure as often as you can. Cut carbs and make sure your protein intake is high enough to always be more than what you need, you can always pee out the excess, instead of turning it into fat like carbs. For the V, focus on wide grip lat pulldowns, pullups, chin-ups, a good shoulder work, and chest work.

Although I think Halla or Wolfy would know more.

 

[Neo Genesis]

I don't know about that. The best I've ever hit was 7%, and it was also when I felt the best.

Yeah, about 8-9% is the "athletic-healthy" range for a guy. Apparently, he dropped to 4% or so for Fight Club, which is rather severe. That's just what I've heard, anyway.

 

[Biaxident]

I think a lot of that has to do with it looking... disportionate. His arms are huge, while torso is more compact... and his head is too. Compared to the 300 training ( http://z.about.com/d/comicbooks/1/0/8/D/FCJG300-0088.jpg ), it looks rather freakish. The other picture has the same compact torso, but a better sense of proportion.

The conventional wisdom is that men think women prefer more muscle than women actually do...and women think men want them to be skinnier than men actually do. And I mention that because I think your preference is relatively normal

--

I'd actually be interesting in hearing a good exercise regiment for toning only - slight building, and not with the real intent to increase muscle mass. I've found that information to be remarkably hard to put into a coherent routine. It's easy to get general fitness information/toning and more hardcore muscle building... but none of it seems comprehensive in the middle.

If anyone is in the know-how, what I'd be curious about is about tapering the torso - to get the V shape. I know most of it will be about aerobic, but some muscle definition is required to emphasize it. I'd also be interesting in deltoid work that would be more bulk-orientated - from what I understand, that's the only way to give the appearance of broader shoulders. I think most males would gain the most from these two, from what I know of physical attractiveness.

And it's not even academic - there is reasonable return on investing time into making one more attractive!

Genetics play a large role. Higher reps, more than 15, generally give good tone with little to no mass building.

 

[Giggly]

Never thought I'd see the day when an SJ scolds two NTs arguing over minuscule details.

But come on now Hmm...which one is better? Can't come in to this thread and not give your two cents!

I'm just saying that such sculpting is not really necessary. A woman would not reject a guy with either of those body types I don't think. I wouldn't even notice the differences unless someone pointed them out to me. But I guess if you insist on sculpting like that then go for Fight Club Pitt body.

 

[Lady_X]

just try to do a balanced work out or find an activity that you like to do..like rangler with the yoga or basketball or swimming or something...imo that looks the best too.

eta: oh...and just saw the pics...i think brad looks good either way.

 

[WithoutaFace]

I don't know if you have a bench. If you do then I would do dumbbell presses.
You sound like you are lean and want to put on some muscle.
If so I would separate your aerobic training from your weight training.

You are training at home. With what you have this is what I would do...

1 Dumbbell lunges 3 sets of 8
2 Single leg calf raises 2 sets of maximum reps. (Try and beat your record each time)
3a Push Ups (feet on a bench) or Incline Dumbbell Presses 3 sets of 8
3b 3 sets of 8 pull ups ( if you can't get 8 do as many sets as it takes to get 24 reps total) vary the grip you use.
4 Dumbbell rows 3 sets of 8
5a Dumbbell Shoulder press
5b Dumbbell hammer curl 2 sets of 12
5c Dumbbell extensions.

When I wrote 3a 3b etc it means to superset the exercise. Do one set of a and then do one set of b and then a again. Take a minute between exercises it's not a circuit.
You could do some shrugs for your traps but I think it's overkill. If you want to and have the energy do some shrugs after rowing.
Do abs whenever you feel like it. Do leg raises more than sit ups.
Try and increase your total reps until you get to 3 sets of 12. Same for the 12 rep exercises. Try to get to 15.
Do the workout 3 times a week. Never lift to muscle failure the training frequency is too high on this program.

Try doing this for 3 weeks and let me know how it went. I subscribed to this thread.
If you don't know any of the exercises look them up on that site.

Grrrr, no bench unfortunately. I'll still give your proposition a shot though, I have a few friends with benches. Unfortunately I won't be able to commit to it as religiously as I would like to, given that I don't have Carte blanche with my friends' private gyms. Nonetheless, I will give it a shot wolfy. When you say 'vary the pull up grip', do you mean the orientation/direction of your hand to the bar?

 

[WithoutaFace]

physically... i tend to like skinny guys, i think tone is ok, but bulging muscles... ehh no. although even at marathons, i will think that some of the distance runners look too muscular... i just don't find it attractive.

Exhibit A: no.

Exhibit B: well, i realize that last picture looks worse for other reasons, but i didn't want to waste a bunch of time looking these up. anyway, least muscular picture i could find of him:

Well, what did you think of the Daniel Craig exhibition on the first page of this post? Good balance of leanness and muscle right? To me that looks better than the Brad PItt archetype.

 

[tenINsFJ]

Wolfy hit it right on, if you're looking for the mass, do more exercises that hit the long head of the tricep.

Biaxident was right too, lol, just building one muscle and neglecting others will look funny.

I'd do a simple workout like below-

Week 1 [Mon, Wed, Fri] -
Run 2 miles at 8:30 mile pace
3 sets of 3 pull ups - Make sure you have good posture, and go at a 3 count so it's not too fast(prevent injury and work more muscle), and coming down go slow too, and lock your arms at the bottom of the pull up. If you are tired after any of the sets before you're done, switch it up to chin ups.
4 sets of 15 burpees - This will get your heart rate going if you do them quickly. If you don't want to do the burpees, just doing the push ups are just as good.
For abs -
10 leg lifts, keep your legs as straight as you can
20 crunches
15 straight up - thigh perpendicular to the group and raised and your calf parallel to the ground.
15 to the right knee
15 to the left knee
Each week increases progressively.. really good workout, IMO.

This workout hits pretty much every muscle group in the body. Every time your muscle contracts it releases growth proteins[I forget the name] so really make sure to use the back and legs. Your legs are some of the biggest muscle groups so you would want to really stimulate those to trigger growth in your muscles. Unfortunately the number of muscle fibers in your body never change and were pre-determined so all you can really do is try to stimulate them all as much as possible so they grow in diameter.

Withoutaface - are you a skinny dude? If so, I feel ya. It takes me forever to put on muscle mass.. my stupid metabolism is off the charts.. seriously. 2 years ago I was eating over 5k calories and maintaining/losing weight while lifting a ton.. at that time I was 6'1'', 155lbs. Sucked. I was able to lift a ton of weight for the weight I was at but never really put on mass.

 

[WithoutaFace]

Wolfy hit it right on, if you're looking for the mass, do more exercises that hit the long head of the tricep.

Biaxident was right too, lol, just building one muscle and neglecting others will look funny.

I'd do a simple workout like below-

Week 1 [Mon, Wed, Fri] -
Run 2 miles at 8:30 mile pace
3 sets of 3 pull ups - Make sure you have good posture, and go at a 3 count so it's not too fast(prevent injury and work more muscle), and coming down go slow too, and lock your arms at the bottom of the pull up. If you are tired after any of the sets before you're done, switch it up to chin ups.
4 sets of 15 burpees - This will get your heart rate going if you do them quickly. If you don't want to do the burpees, just doing the push ups are just as good.
For abs -
10 leg lifts, keep your legs as straight as you can
20 crunches
15 straight up - thigh perpendicular to the group and raised and your calf parallel to the ground.
15 to the right knee
15 to the left knee
Each week increases progressively.. really good workout, IMO.

This workout hits pretty much every muscle group in the body. Every time your muscle contracts it releases growth proteins[I forget the name] so really make sure to use the back and legs. Your legs are some of the biggest muscle groups so you would want to really stimulate those to trigger growth in your muscles. Unfortunately the number of muscle fibers in your body never change and were pre-determined so all you can really do is try to stimulate them all as much as possible so they grow in diameter.

Withoutaface - are you a skinny dude? If so, I feel ya. It takes me forever to put on muscle mass.. my stupid metabolism is off the charts.. seriously. 2 years ago I was eating over 5k calories and maintaining/losing weight while lifting a ton.. at that time I was 6'1'', 155lbs. Sucked. I was able to lift a ton of weight for the weight I was at but never really put on mass.

Thanks for the advice. No, I'm not skinny I'm 5'7'' and I weigh 150. So my health is not in dire straits or anything, but my short term goal would be to lean up a little more. My long term goal is to put on a lot of bulk. That sounds like one irritating situation you have there though.

I guess my starting advantages are having a solid chest and back.

 

[wolfy]

When you say 'vary the pull up grip', do you mean the orientation/direction of your hand to the bar?

Your hand to the bar. Palms facing you, away from you and a parallel grip. It's very important to lower yourself all the way down when doing pull ups. Your lats work most from the hang to halfway up.

 

[Simplexity]

I don't know about that. The best I've ever hit was 7%, and it was also when I felt the best.

Damn you beast. I think the lowest I've ever hit was around 9ish percent. I'm normally at around 13 if I don't work out and don't follow any sort of diet. It's pretty much a winter/summer thing. I think once you get around 10 it's that much harder to lose any sort of noticeable body fat unless your blessed with a body type that absolutely doesn't gain any fat. I don't think waist can be changed that much. It's pretty much pure genetics. I can't get lower than 31. I fluctuate from there to 33.

I definitely second the traps mention. I would really focus on that and shoulders. Lats are also important for me (maybe I just love pullups?) they really do give you some shape. Take a long time to build though and it's tough work. Chest is sort of easy for me plus I don't like guys that straight bench press and curl. I think there is so much more to working out than that. If it floats your boat though go for it.

I think most people really neglect their legs and it shows a bunch. A lot of guys really do have chicken legs. Fortunately or unfortunately for me I was born with a more squatty well developed lower body. Including glutes! so I love squats and deadlifts.

Stretches and bodyweight exercises really helped me out a ton. Especially before and after leg, back, and shoulder workouts. For me those tended to get tight if I didn't watch out. Pushups and pullups definitely helped with my shoulder flexibility. That small part on the corner of your pecs and armpits is a trouble spot for me. The one that really gets hit hard on flys.

But personally I got a lot of mentions when I started working out my shoulders, traps, and back. That really helps with that V look that people apparently key in on and notice.

 

[WithoutaFace]

Damn you beast. I think the lowest I've ever hit was around 9ish percent. I'm normally at around 13 if I don't work out and don't follow any sort of diet. It's pretty much a winter/summer thing. I think once you get around 10 it's that much harder to lose any sort of noticeable body fat unless your blessed with a body type that absolutely doesn't gain any fat. I don't think waist can be changed that much. It's pretty much pure genetics. I can't get lower than 31. I fluctuate from there to 33.

I definitely second the traps mention. I would really focus on that and shoulders. Lats are also important for me (maybe I just love pullups?) they really do give you some shape. Take a long time to build though and it's tough work. Chest is sort of easy for me plus I don't like guys that straight bench press and curl. I think there is so much more to working out than that. If it floats your boat though go for it.

I think most people really neglect their legs and it shows a bunch. A lot of guys really do have chicken legs. Fortunately or unfortunately for me I was born with a more squatty well developed lower body. Including glutes! so I love squats and deadlifts.

Stretches and bodyweight exercises really helped me out a ton. Especially before and after leg, back, and shoulder workouts. For me those tended to get tight if I didn't watch out. Pushups and pullups definitely helped with my shoulder flexibility. That small part on the corner of your pecs and armpits is a trouble spot for me. The one that really gets hit hard on flys.

But personally I got a lot of mentions when I started working out my shoulders, traps, and back. That really helps with that V look that people apparently key in on and notice.

I always thought that waist can be trimmed down with proper diet and aerobic activity?

 

[Biaxident]

Your genetics determine how small you can go.

Or a corset.

 

[Simplexity]

Yea there isn't much meat around your waist so it's pretty much static in terms of potential. Your bone structure can't really be altered. Certain people have sort of predefined bone structures and the accompanying weight distribution.

There's a difference as well between your "true" waist size and the one it says on jeans. For me my legs sort of interfere with that so I have to play up a bit. Unless I want to walk around with my ass bulging out and my pants so tight I can barely have room to maneuver I go with 33's when my waist measurement says I could handle 30-31. So I guess you could work on appearing trimmer by working on the areas around your waist like your stomach and legs (mostly ass but quads can play a role).

 

[Grayscale]

i think that activities are the best way to attain and maintain your health. instead of trying to figure out which muscle groups to work, how many and what weight, etc. just find some high intensity, fun activities and give yourself a real reason to exercise consistently.

personally, i find the gym to be BORING. if i wanted to work out upper body, i go rock climbing instead, for lower body, mtn climbing/hiking, running, riding a bike, ive even found ice hockey to wear your legs out pretty good. it will work the muscles in a balanced fashion since it's natural movement, like calisthenics, and it's something you can actually enjoy to boot.