Top 5 Exercises To Build A Masculine Physique

Introduction

When it comes to achieving a masculine physique, certain key muscle groups take center stage. The hallmark of a masculine physique lies in the development of large traps, wide delts, and lats that exude power and strength. These areas not only enhance your aesthetic appeal but also contribute to functional strength and athleticism. We’ve selected five movements we believe are most effective at growing these muscle groups that contribute to the overall V-Taper look. Do not neglect other movements, however if you really want that V-Taper look, put most of your time and focus on these 5 movements.

No. 1: Chest Supported Row / Kelso Shrugs

This movement is probably the most effective movement at growing the upper back musculature, allowing for heavy load to be used through a full range of motion. Make sure to drive your elbows high and wide and keep your chest buried into the pad, fully protracting the scapular in the lengthened range and retracting whilst moving through the mid-range of the movement to the shortened range.

Although it’s important to remain accurate with form, this is a movement that you should be focusing on moving heavy load for a lower rep range, focusing on logbook progression weekly. Once you have reached failure moving through the full range of motion, begin to perform Kelso shrugs, where you are retracting the scapular and ‘shrugging’ backwards rather than upwards. This is incredibly effective at working the traps as they are not entirely fatigued during a row due to the relative strength of the muscle group compared to the other primary movers in a row which are fatigued beforehand.

If you have a free moving handle chest supported row, this is best to use, followed by a fixed handle machine row. If not, set up a bench and a barbell to perform this.

If you are unsure on how to perform Kelso shrugs, check out this video:

No. 2: Cuffed Lateral Raise

If you want fully developed side delts, a lateral raise variant is crucial. Why a cable you may ask? A cable allows us to manipulate the resistance profile to match the strength profile of the side felt. With a typical dumbbell lateral raise, the load is heaviest when we are weakest, in the shortened range (at the top), and lighter at the bottom and mid range, where we are strongest. By using a cable, we can match these profiles, moving the cable pulley to start higher up, for instance at the height of our wrist. This allows us to train through a lateral raise motion with load through the lengthened and mid range, with the weight dropping off in the shortened range. We can manipulate this depending on where we want the most load in the movement. For instance, a lower pulley for more load in the shortened.

The use of the cuff allows us to take out moving parts in the exercise, not having to worry about wrist strength and grip strength, allowing us to generate more of an internal feel for the movement.

No. 3: High Incline Press

This is the only pressing movement on our list, but this is crucial in growing the tissue round the ‘top line’ of the body, for instance the upper chest and front and side delt. This provides you with a muscular looking physique even in a jumper or oversized top, as you can see the ‘top line’ protrude through your clothing. Like No. 1, this is a movement we want to keep accurate, but focus on moving heavy load and progressing weekly. It is very important to spend time in the lengthened range for these types of presses to fully activate the chest, and focus on driving the elbows together as you move through the mid and shortened range.

Preferably choose a movement that converges (where your hands/elbows move closer together as you contract) to fully shorten and lengthen the chest and delts. Ideally a machine for maximum stability.

There are some great high incline presses around, for instance the Hammer Strength one, Nautilus, and Prime. If you cannot access these, a smith machine high incline is great, or failing this, a dumbbell movement.

No. 4: Neutral Pulldown

Using a pulldown movement that has the elbows moving close and infront of the body and down into the hip is crucial to building wide upper/lower lats. This allows us to take the lat through a full range of motion. Again, spend time in the lengthened and shortened range for maximum growth and focus on developing a strong internal feel or ‘mind muscle connection’ with the lat.

Much like number 3, find a movement that allows you to have maximum stability, and ideally a machine with handles that move freely (for instance D-Handles on a cable stack). If you want to perform this single arm at a time, this would be better, however for the sake of time constraints, a shoulder width neutral grip is sufficient.

Best to use is a Nautilus Pulldown, however if you do not have one, you can loop d handles around a straight pulldown bar. If you cannot perform this, use a neutral grip pull up, focusing on the same cues.

No. 5: Hack Squat

Although not directly responsible for growing upper body musculature, building a pair of wide quads allows the waist to appear smaller, creating the illusion of a V or X Taper. The hack squat is arguably the best movement to build your quads, being incredibly heavy and difficult at the bottom, where the quads experience the most growth. A hack squat machine also allows you to be more stable, allowing you to drive your knees over your toes with a relative narrow and low foot placement to accentuate the quads in the movement.

If you do not have a hack squat, the next best alternative is a leg press (with the same cues as above). If you only have a barbell. you can barbell squat, however you may benefit from a heel wedge or lifting shoes to elevate your heel and allow your knees to travel forward to lengthen the quad as much as possible.

Conclusion:

Hopefully this blog post provides you with the essentials to developing a more masculine physique. Focusing on these movements over a long period of time, accompanied with a well though out nutrition plan is essentially guaranteed to allow you to progress to the physique you want.

If you think we have missed out any movements from this list, let us know in the comments below!