Do you secretly or not-so-secretly wish people would refer to your physique as “yoked” or “immense”? Or maybe you’re less of a showboat and just want to grow thick and wide, which is to say build more broad, well-balanced muscle mass? Whichever objective you identify with, we’ve got the training tips you need to reach that goal. The truth is, the best way to look big is just to train most of your muscles by performing compound lifts and consistently hitting the gym. However, there are a few muscles that can make you look extra big. Here is a list, and a workout for each.
Prior to going into the workouts, prepare yourself to work hard: Most people think they’re working harder than they really are. People want the easy way out, but it takes hard work, consistency, picking the right lifts, and making your workouts harder. Sure, genetics play a role in terms of where your development occurs, what muscle and strength imbalances you have, and how long it’ll take to see the results you want, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make the most out of what you have. Most people think they’re working harder than they really are.
So, implement these seemingly basic tips and you’ll grow your body to massive proportions. Here are the core principles you need to grow thick and wide.
Complete Compound Lifts
Skinny guys can have abs in no time at all—and with minimal effort. But developing thickness in your bak and chest—more specifically your traps, delts, and pecs—really translates into strength and advanced fitness. “Guys tend to focus too much on the ‘beach muscles’—the things they can see in the mirror. But neglecting exercises that have withstood the test of time won’t help you create that broad, dominant frame. And you don’t have to get overly creative either.
“You need to perform exercises that target the largest mass of muscle. Thickness and width boils down to compound lifts: deadlifts, bench press, shoulder press, rows, squats.” Squats in particular are one of the best exercises for developing overall size. Accessory lifts—like the bentover dumbbell raise or lateral raise—are important to this whole conversation, too, but you need to involve multiple joints and big muscle groups to really transform your physique.
Build Your Shoulders
Both men and women find broad shoulders combined with a lean waist to be more attractive, with most research showing that it’s the most important aspect of our physiques. Having broader shoulders is a masculine trait. During puberty, testosterone causes our shoulders to grow broader, whereas estrogen causes our hips to grow wider. Men tend to have more testosterone and less estrogen than women, so men develop more of a V tapered physique, whereas women develop more hourglass shapes.
This means that men have naturally wider shoulders than women on average, not only in sheer size but also proportionally. In addition to this, more masculine men naturally have more androgen receptors around their shoulder girdle, making them develop bigger muscles in their upper backs, chests and shoulders. And as we become stronger, this only becomes more and more pronounced. This means that in men, bigger and broader shoulders are also a symbol of full-body strength. Finally, because men tend to store most of their fat in their stomachs, having broad shoulders compared to our waists means that we’re shaped more by muscle than fat. This is a great sign that we’re healthy.
The first muscle and the one I believe can take your aesthetics to the next level is the shoulders. Having big shoulders is the best way to make t-shirts fit better. You will notice yourself becoming more physically attractive after working up the shoulders. Broad shoulders don’t just cap off a well-balanced physique—they arguably make a well-balanced physique. Bulking and bulletproofing the shoulders will make you a better, healthier lifter, and reduce your risk for injury during back and chest exercises. So, when you’re trying to add width and three-dimensional muscle, you need to remember there are three heads to the deltoids: anterior, medial, and posterior.
“When you go from bench press to deadlift, then back to an inclined press or shoulder press, you’ve given those pushing muscles and your neuromuscular system three to five sets to recover, so you can handle heavier weight.”
I see a lot of people ignore the posterior and just hope it gets worked enough when they train their back, and specifically train the interior during chest and shoulder press variations; but, honestly, the medial and posterior delts add a tremendous amount of size, shape, and width to your physique,” Putting a good program together still comes down to doing your basic exercises (correctly!): one-arm rows, shoulder press, Arnold press, lateral raises, reverse pecs deck, bentover raises, shrugs. “And don’t stress about using barbells over dumbbells. You won’t get any bigger using a barbell vs. dumbbells [or kettlebells], and your muscles don’t know the difference.
Here is a workout to gain some muscle and get them boulder shoulders!
BUILD UP ON YOUR LATS
The next muscle is the lats. The lats are located on the back and will give you that V-shaped body. Training the back, in general, will improve your posture and make you more upright, giving you a more solid and muscly appearance.Here are the best exercises for the back…
BUILD TRICEPS
I’m going to keep this answer short and sweet, but valuable. The last muscle you have to train is the triceps. They cover around 60–70% of the upper arm and make up the majority of the arms’ muscle mass. The T-shirts will be fitting a lot tighter after these exercises…
Other Finer Points
1. PERIODIZE YOUR TRAINING
Periodization is a fancy term for any plan that allows you to make long-term gains while side-stepping plateaus and injuries along the way. When you workout and try to build size, don’t do the same thing all the time. You’ll have periods of time during which you go a little heavier—may be seven reps for compound exercises—and other times during which you lighten it up a little bit, getting more of a pump in the 10- to 12-rep range. This isn’t slacking off. It’s strategic. Don’t look for the perfect program. Change your exercises frequently, do more/less reps and sets, and reduce rest between sets so you’re constantly providing an obstacle and room for growth.
2. WORK 6-12 REPS PER SET
For hypertrophy and muscle size, training volume makes a big differences. That’s why complete 6-12 reps per set. That range works incredibly well, but don’t get too hung up on it. Your end goal is overloading your muscles. Research shows higher rep ranges (30 reps for a set, for example) can give you hypertrophy effects—you just need to take it to momentary muscular failure. “The one caveat: That workout will take you three times as long as a 10-rep set, and researchers have never shown larger reps to be better. At best, giant sets are just as good as heavy weight and fewer reps. Ideally, it’s best to switch your reps and sets up.
3. DON’T SACRIFICE ‘FORM’ FOR WEIGHT
If there’s one piece of advice you should take away from this list and implement forever, it’s this: Don’t surrender ‘form’ for the big-number lift. If you’re a beginner in the gym, take the time, effort, and money to meet with a personal trainer and learn the fundamentals of form for each major lift. And if you’ve been lifting for years, it doesn’t hurt to ask a trainer or buddy to watch your form from time to time.
For exercises like rows, deadlifts, and squats, it’s important to maintain a neutral spine base to prevent injury when you go heavier. What that means is you want to keep the three natural curves (your cervical or neck region is bent inward, thoracic or upper back region is bent outward, and the lumbar or lower back region is bent inward) in your spine as you complete these movements. This is where it’s important to have an experienced coach watch you. If they witness your good form, and you can tell how the movement should feel when executed properly, you’re more apt to replicate that going forward. Lifting properly goes beyond biomechanics, too. Focus on range-of-motion: You want to make sure you’re going down deep enough on squats, not bouncing the bar off your chest for bench press, and not jerking the bar off the ground during deadlifts. “‘Heavy’ is relative to being able to maintain good form. Focus on the feel of the lift, not just moving the weight.
4. SCHEDULE DE-LOADING WEEKS
Every seventh or eighth week of training, take a week off to rebound and rest. De-loading weeks relieve stress from your joints, promote overall recovery, and, when you come back to the gym, set you up for even more success. The mantra “no days off” is an ego trip, not a sign of power or peak fitness.
“If you’re training high-intensity and high-volume constantly, over time it adds up—even just as a mental stress standpoint. In athletic literature, we know those rebounding weeks are essential for peak performance, too. Think of lifters and how they prepare for a contest: They taper to get ready for maximal effort.” And you don’t have to take the whole week off. You can “If you’re training high-intensity and high-volume constantly, over time it adds up—even just as a mental stress standpoint. In athletic literature, we know those rebounding weeks are essential for peak performance, too. Think of lifters and how they prepare for a contest: They taper to get ready for maximal effort.” And you don’t have to take the whole week off. You can unload and use about 50% of the weight you were lifting the week before, and keep your reps and sets the same. This will maintain what you’ve built. Alternatively, cut your workout days in half, or hit the gym two days instead of four or five.
5. PERFORM PUSH-PULL PROGRAMS
By switching to a classic push-pull split, you’re going to seriously simplify your training and see better, quicker gains—especially when it comes to bulking your upper body. Here’s why it works: “In-between those lifts, you give your antagonist muscle groups recovery time. When you go from bench press to deadlift, then back to an inclined press or shoulder press, you’ve given those pushing muscles and your neuromuscular system three to five sets [in which you were deadlifting] to recover, so you can handle heavier weight. It’s a good fundamental routine.
6. GET SUFFICIENT PROTEIN, BUT DON’T OVER EAT
“The way to go: Slow, chronic progress during which you’re building lean mass without feeling the need to bulk and eat until you can’t any more. Aim for at least 1gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. Studies have shown that even slightly more than that can positively impact lean mass, particularly while trying to lose body fat. Also, aim to eat 20–40 grams of protein before bed, and don’t be afraid of carbohydrates. They’re not as evil as everyone wants you to believe. In fact, carbs help spare protein. You need to fuel the machine!
7. GET SOME SLEEP
“If you don’t sleep, you don’t grow. Nighttime is when all the recovery takes place; it’s when your growth hormone is at its peak, and when cortisol starts to get
suppressed.”
That’s pretty much all there is to it. It may sound like an oversimplified method of getting in shape and looking good, but it works. I would say that it is not that much about the knowledge, as it is about implementing it, getting it done. We all know that we need to diet if we want to lose weight. We all know we need to work out to look good. But do we do all those things? So make sure your diet is in check, after all, what you eat will determine 70% of your results or so. And follow a weight training routine while focusing on increasing your strength.
