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Creating an Illusion
By now you should realize that symmetry and muscle shape are not purely a matter of genetics. How you train counts heavily, too. You can train to improve your symmetry and body shape by intelligently emphasizing certain areas of the body while de-emphasizing other areas. By doing this you create an illusion of looking closer to the ideal X-frame physique, especially if you are not naturally wide in the shoulders and narrow at the waist and hips, or do not have long, full muscle bellies and small joints that give the appearance of the large muscles swelling off the joint.
Okay, I won't kid you - structural weaknesses cannot be radically altered or totally hidden, but they can be minimized or disguised. That's what creating an illusion is all about, camouflaging weaknesses. This is best accomplished by attacking the weak point on two fronts. You build up the weak point while at the same time reducing the nearby strong point which emphasizes the weakness.
The most obvious example of creating an illusion of width is of someone who has naturally narrow shoulders and a wide waist and hips, so there is little or no V-taper, one of the prerequisites of an X-frame. By adding one inch of muscle to your deltoids, especially the important side heads, you create the illusion of reducing the waist and hips at the same time. Increase the delts by two inches and the waist looks two inches smaller. Or conversely you might keep your shoulder width the same but decrease your waist by two inches, which would make your shoulders appear two inches wider. Naturally the biggest change of illusion of width and V-taper takes place when you reduce your waist while adding size to the side heads of the deltoids. A two-inch reduction of the waistline while adding two inches to the shoulders would make you appear to be four inches wider, and your V-taper would improve dramatically.
You can create an illusion by adding size to your calves and reducing thigh size to create a better calf-to-thigh balance. You can make your are appear to be wider by overdeveloping the lateral head of the triceps. You can give your chest the appearance of more width by developing the upper and outer sections of the pecs more than the lower and inner sections. This makes your pecs flare out from the front the way the lats do from the back. By combining outer and upper pec specialization with the side-deltoid and lateral-head-of-the-triceps work - while reducing the waist and hips as much as possible - you can maximize your upper body width.
Creating an illusion is what bodybuilding is all about. You can only create an illusion by shape training and paying attention to every detail of your physique and training. You must have an eye as to when something is getting out of proportion or when your physique is not looking "right" or "beautiful." As I said before, creating an illusion sometimes means reducing a muscle, not building it. Just because you can build a muscle bigger doesn't necessarily mean you should. Doing so might ruin your shape and proportions, so stop and think if continuing to build a muscle will enhance of detract from the look of your physique. Frank Zane said he would never do any exercise if it didn't enhance and improve his physique. Neither should you.
Your skeletal frame can only hold so much muscle before the natural shape of the body is destroyed. Trying to add more and more muscle to your body, anywhere you can, is like trying to stuff five pounds of flour into a three-pound bag. The bag becomes overstuffed and bulges unattractively. The same is true of your body, so never build more muscle than your frame can hold, even if you can. Never get just big for the sake of it. And keep in mind that, whenever one muscle gets too big and out of proportion with another muscle, it makes that muscle appear smaller.
To build shape and beauty into your physique yo9u shouldn't just copy a routine out of a magazine because some champion uses it. His needs are different from yours. Don't train mindlessly. Think about what you need to build on your physique to improve it and where. Make an honest assessment of your weak points and then train to improve them. Make your training a dynamic, creative process. Be like the sculptor who adds size here and removes it there to create a work of art. Control your development - don't just let it happen. Only choose to do exercises that improve your shape and proportions. If they don't, even if they're among your favorite exercises - such as the squat, bench press or deadlift - don't do them.
Sculpting a beautiful body means paying attention to the development of the small muscles, those identified earlier as muscle group two. It means accentuating certain sections of major muscle groups and always training for balance within muscle groups and between different muscle groups. You must work on flaring everything out from the middle of the body. The lats and teres should flare out from the back. The outer pecs should flare out from the front. The side deltoid and lateral triceps should flare out from both sides. At the same time the waist should be as small as possible. That's how to build a beautiful and visually impressive physique and to give the illusion of an ideal X-frame.
Now that you know where you should build muscle to improve body shape, let's quickly go over some of the best exercises for each muscle group to help you accomplish better shape and beauty.
The Upper Pecs
Stick with incline presses with dumbbells, barbells or a Smith machine, and incline dumbbell flyes. Wide-grip bench presses to the neck can be good, too. To isolate the upper pecs pull the elbows back in line with the shoulders, drop the shoulders and arch the rib cage, without arching your back off the bench. To work more upper/outer muscle fibers, use a wide grip on the barbell and do the incline flyes in constant tension style, stopping the bells 12-15 inches apart at the top.
The Outer Pecs
The best outer pec exercise is the wide-grip or Gironda dip. Elbows must be kept wide, and it is important to dip as low as possible but only come up three-quarters to keep constant tension on the outer fibers. Any wide-grip barbell presses (flat, decline or incline) or dumbbell flyes done in constant tension style will work the outer fibers too.
Lateral Head of the Triceps
To hit the lateral or outside head of the triceps, try triceps pressdowns with the elbows wide, rope extensions, again with the elbows wide and turning the wrists out in the contracted position, or lying dumbbell extensions, moving the dumbbells across the face.
Lower Triceps
Try lying EZ-Curl bar extensions, letting the elbows splay out to the sides and lowering the bar to below the chin. I also recommend close-hand pushups.
Lower Biceps
Preacher curls with either a barbell or dumbbells are best, followed by EZ-Curl reverse curls and hammer curls.
Side Head of Deltoids
The best side-head developer is the side raise or lateral with either dumbbells or cables. You can use one arm or two arms at a time. Remember to keep strict form and not to swing the bells up or to drop them down. Raise and lower the bells under muscular tension, pausing at the top. Teach yourself to contract the side delt as strongly as you can contract your biceps and growth will come. Keep the undersides of the forearms and the palms of the hands facing down at the top. For side-head development also try W-presses, Scott dumbbell presses, medium-grip upright rows with the bar traveling at different distances from the body, dumbbell upright rows bringing the bells up under the armpits and holding in the top position for a count of two, Parrillo delt rowing on a seated cable row machine (use long straps and pull the hands behind the head at ear level, not to the stomach as in lat rowing), and behind the neck presses, especially in the pre-exhaust style with dumbbell laterals.
Rear Deltoid Head
Best bets here are the rear delt machine and bent laterals, one or two arms at a time, with either dumbbells or cables. Wide-grip bent rows done smoothly, with no heaving, and pulling the bar to the upper chest, not the stomach, are good. Also try behind the neck upright rows on the Universal bench press station or a Smith machine.
The Lats
For lat width stick to wide-grip chins to the front and back or wide-grip pulldowns to the front or back. For lower lats try close-grip chins or pulldowns, reverse-grip barbell rows and one-dumbbell rows, pulling the bell to the rear slightly, not just to the chest. To hit all sections of the lats include dumbbell pullovers, medium and parallel grip chins or pulldowns, and various rows (T-bar, bent barbell with different width grips, and cable rows).
The Spinal Erectors
Hyperextensions, stiff legged deadlifts and good mornings are your best lower back exercises, and the safest too. Regular deadlifts place too much strain on the spine, build the obliques too much and thicken the waist.
The Serratus
Dumbbell pullovers are the best serratus exercise I know of. Close grip chins and pulldowns build some serratus and serratus/low lat tie-ins. Also give one arm dumbbell pullovers while lying on your side a try.
Abs
Avoid straight leg situps and leg raises which involve the hip flexors and lower back too much. Stick to crunches, knee-ins on a bench or knee-ups hanging from a chinning bar or on a hip flexor bench.
Thigh Rods
These are the cords of muscle at the top of the thigh tying into the hips. It's a tough muscle to bring out if you're carrying too much bodyfat. The best exercises for the thigh rods are the lying-down leg extension, locking the legs out, the roman chair squat, and the cable extension or thigh kickouts (done by attaching a strap to the ankle from a low pulley, facing away from the machine and bringing the leg forward while tensing the thigh rods). Lunges also work, as do sissy squats. Unfortunately, few gyms these days carry roman chair squat devices or leg extension machines that allow one to lie down. Practicing flexing the thigh rods helps to bring them out, too.
Thigh Sweep
Parallel squats with the toes pointing out are excellent, as are leg presses and hack squats, feet wide, toes pointing out and pushing from the heels.
Lower Thigh
The best lower thigh exercises are leg extensions (locking out completely and holding for a count of two), hack squats (feet low on the platform and rissing on the toes as you go into the low position), Smith machine squats (placing the feet in front of the machine so you can lean back onto the bar), front squats, and straight-back squats with the heels elevated on a four-inch block.
The Calves
To work the soleus (lower calf) any calf raise with the knees bent is effective, with the seated calf raise being the best. To work the gastrocnemius (upper calf), do (knees locked) standing calf raises, toe presses on the leg press, toe presses on the hack squat machine (facing down), and one legged calf raises. Another excellent exercise for the soleus is the squatting down calf raise, while the donkey calf raise hits the entire calf to some degree, depending on how much the knees are bent.
To hit the outer head of the calves, twist your heels out at the top of the movement, rolling slightly onto the outside of the foot. For the inner head, twist your heels inward and rise on the big toe.
Forearms
Train the tops of the forearms with reverse wrist curls, reverse curls, reverse preacher curls and hammer curls. The undersides of the forearms respond to wrist curls seated, or standing and holding the bar behind the back.
Building a beautiful and shapely physique is a much more creative and individualistic process than building mass and size alone. It can also be more rewarding. I strongly encourage you to adhere to the principles of shape training and symmetry building in order to create a beautiful physique, one that is as perfect as you can make it.
You can create an illusion by adding size to your calves and reducing thigh size to create a better calf-to-thigh balance. You can make your are appear to be wider by overdeveloping the lateral head of the triceps. You can give your chest the appearance of more width by developing the upper and outer sections of the pecs more than the lower and inner sections. This makes your pecs flare out from the front the way the lats do from the back. By combining outer and upper pec specialization with the side-deltoid and lateral-head-of-the-triceps work - while reducing the waist and hips as much as possible - you can maximize your upper body width.
Creating an illusion is what bodybuilding is all about. You can only create an illusion by shape training and paying attention to every detail of your physique and training. You must have an eye as to when something is getting out of proportion or when your physique is not looking "right" or "beautiful." As I said before, creating an illusion sometimes means reducing a muscle, not building it. Just because you can build a muscle bigger doesn't necessarily mean you should. Doing so might ruin your shape and proportions, so stop and think if continuing to build a muscle will enhance of detract from the look of your physique. Frank Zane said he would never do any exercise if it didn't enhance and improve his physique. Neither should you.
Your skeletal frame can only hold so much muscle before the natural shape of the body is destroyed. Trying to add more and more muscle to your body, anywhere you can, is like trying to stuff five pounds of flour into a three-pound bag. The bag becomes overstuffed and bulges unattractively. The same is true of your body, so never build more muscle than your frame can hold, even if you can. Never get just big for the sake of it. And keep in mind that, whenever one muscle gets too big and out of proportion with another muscle, it makes that muscle appear smaller.
To build shape and beauty into your physique yo9u shouldn't just copy a routine out of a magazine because some champion uses it. His needs are different from yours. Don't train mindlessly. Think about what you need to build on your physique to improve it and where. Make an honest assessment of your weak points and then train to improve them. Make your training a dynamic, creative process. Be like the sculptor who adds size here and removes it there to create a work of art. Control your development - don't just let it happen. Only choose to do exercises that improve your shape and proportions. If they don't, even if they're among your favorite exercises - such as the squat, bench press or deadlift - don't do them.
Sculpting a beautiful body means paying attention to the development of the small muscles, those identified earlier as muscle group two. It means accentuating certain sections of major muscle groups and always training for balance within muscle groups and between different muscle groups. You must work on flaring everything out from the middle of the body. The lats and teres should flare out from the back. The outer pecs should flare out from the front. The side deltoid and lateral triceps should flare out from both sides. At the same time the waist should be as small as possible. That's how to build a beautiful and visually impressive physique and to give the illusion of an ideal X-frame.
X-Frame Training
Now that you know where you should build muscle to improve body shape, let's quickly go over some of the best exercises for each muscle group to help you accomplish better shape and beauty.
The Upper Pecs
Stick with incline presses with dumbbells, barbells or a Smith machine, and incline dumbbell flyes. Wide-grip bench presses to the neck can be good, too. To isolate the upper pecs pull the elbows back in line with the shoulders, drop the shoulders and arch the rib cage, without arching your back off the bench. To work more upper/outer muscle fibers, use a wide grip on the barbell and do the incline flyes in constant tension style, stopping the bells 12-15 inches apart at the top.
The Outer Pecs
The best outer pec exercise is the wide-grip or Gironda dip. Elbows must be kept wide, and it is important to dip as low as possible but only come up three-quarters to keep constant tension on the outer fibers. Any wide-grip barbell presses (flat, decline or incline) or dumbbell flyes done in constant tension style will work the outer fibers too.
Lateral Head of the Triceps
To hit the lateral or outside head of the triceps, try triceps pressdowns with the elbows wide, rope extensions, again with the elbows wide and turning the wrists out in the contracted position, or lying dumbbell extensions, moving the dumbbells across the face.
Lower Triceps
Try lying EZ-Curl bar extensions, letting the elbows splay out to the sides and lowering the bar to below the chin. I also recommend close-hand pushups.
Lower Biceps
Preacher curls with either a barbell or dumbbells are best, followed by EZ-Curl reverse curls and hammer curls.
Side Head of Deltoids
The best side-head developer is the side raise or lateral with either dumbbells or cables. You can use one arm or two arms at a time. Remember to keep strict form and not to swing the bells up or to drop them down. Raise and lower the bells under muscular tension, pausing at the top. Teach yourself to contract the side delt as strongly as you can contract your biceps and growth will come. Keep the undersides of the forearms and the palms of the hands facing down at the top. For side-head development also try W-presses, Scott dumbbell presses, medium-grip upright rows with the bar traveling at different distances from the body, dumbbell upright rows bringing the bells up under the armpits and holding in the top position for a count of two, Parrillo delt rowing on a seated cable row machine (use long straps and pull the hands behind the head at ear level, not to the stomach as in lat rowing), and behind the neck presses, especially in the pre-exhaust style with dumbbell laterals.
Rear Deltoid Head
Best bets here are the rear delt machine and bent laterals, one or two arms at a time, with either dumbbells or cables. Wide-grip bent rows done smoothly, with no heaving, and pulling the bar to the upper chest, not the stomach, are good. Also try behind the neck upright rows on the Universal bench press station or a Smith machine.
The Lats
For lat width stick to wide-grip chins to the front and back or wide-grip pulldowns to the front or back. For lower lats try close-grip chins or pulldowns, reverse-grip barbell rows and one-dumbbell rows, pulling the bell to the rear slightly, not just to the chest. To hit all sections of the lats include dumbbell pullovers, medium and parallel grip chins or pulldowns, and various rows (T-bar, bent barbell with different width grips, and cable rows).
The Spinal Erectors
Hyperextensions, stiff legged deadlifts and good mornings are your best lower back exercises, and the safest too. Regular deadlifts place too much strain on the spine, build the obliques too much and thicken the waist.
The Serratus
Dumbbell pullovers are the best serratus exercise I know of. Close grip chins and pulldowns build some serratus and serratus/low lat tie-ins. Also give one arm dumbbell pullovers while lying on your side a try.
Abs
Avoid straight leg situps and leg raises which involve the hip flexors and lower back too much. Stick to crunches, knee-ins on a bench or knee-ups hanging from a chinning bar or on a hip flexor bench.
Thigh Rods
These are the cords of muscle at the top of the thigh tying into the hips. It's a tough muscle to bring out if you're carrying too much bodyfat. The best exercises for the thigh rods are the lying-down leg extension, locking the legs out, the roman chair squat, and the cable extension or thigh kickouts (done by attaching a strap to the ankle from a low pulley, facing away from the machine and bringing the leg forward while tensing the thigh rods). Lunges also work, as do sissy squats. Unfortunately, few gyms these days carry roman chair squat devices or leg extension machines that allow one to lie down. Practicing flexing the thigh rods helps to bring them out, too.
Thigh Sweep
Parallel squats with the toes pointing out are excellent, as are leg presses and hack squats, feet wide, toes pointing out and pushing from the heels.
Lower Thigh
The best lower thigh exercises are leg extensions (locking out completely and holding for a count of two), hack squats (feet low on the platform and rissing on the toes as you go into the low position), Smith machine squats (placing the feet in front of the machine so you can lean back onto the bar), front squats, and straight-back squats with the heels elevated on a four-inch block.
The Calves
To work the soleus (lower calf) any calf raise with the knees bent is effective, with the seated calf raise being the best. To work the gastrocnemius (upper calf), do (knees locked) standing calf raises, toe presses on the leg press, toe presses on the hack squat machine (facing down), and one legged calf raises. Another excellent exercise for the soleus is the squatting down calf raise, while the donkey calf raise hits the entire calf to some degree, depending on how much the knees are bent.
To hit the outer head of the calves, twist your heels out at the top of the movement, rolling slightly onto the outside of the foot. For the inner head, twist your heels inward and rise on the big toe.
Forearms
Train the tops of the forearms with reverse wrist curls, reverse curls, reverse preacher curls and hammer curls. The undersides of the forearms respond to wrist curls seated, or standing and holding the bar behind the back.
Building a beautiful and shapely physique is a much more creative and individualistic process than building mass and size alone. It can also be more rewarding. I strongly encourage you to adhere to the principles of shape training and symmetry building in order to create a beautiful physique, one that is as perfect as you can make it.
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