My fitness goals have changed over the years, and my current plan looks very little like the one I started with several years ago. But I never had an idea of ideal body measurements to which I could aspire. What makes a body a perfect body? As with numerous people, my thoughts of the perfect body meant larger muscles. But larger muscles are not inherently attractive to everybody. If that were true, then Hollywood stars would all be bodybuilders. That’s far from the case when one of the hottest bodies in Hollywood belongs to a very lean, well defined Taylor Lautner and Abercrombie models. How do you determine what your ideal body measurements are? Let me walk you through finding your perfect body in the post below.
This post is tailored toward men since us guys tend to have a more difficult time determining what is really considered attractive and what our goals should be. Women might just want to check out a Victoria Secret models workout. I think a lot of people are finally coming around to the fact that bigger isn’t always better.
When I was starting out, I would spend hours looking at any number of bodybuilding sites in an effort to understand what my ideal measurements should be. As usual, bodybuilding sites don’t provide the best template for an ideal body. Take famous bodybuilder Steve Reeve's body size calculator, which determined that my chest size should be almost 50". My waist should be around 30”. If I followed this suggestion, I would have had a chest size that is wider than the spread of my shoulders. Couple this with a 30" waist and a six pack of abs, and I quickly concluded that this was not a viable set of numbers. I'll admit that a bodybuilder with my same height should have a weight of 175 lbs. Regardless, if I had these measurements I think that I would make a great cartoon character.
I finally found a more realistic view with John Mccallum. Let's look at the results of his calculator, given both my target and true measurements.
The numbers it returns are meant for competitive bodybuilders, but they can serve as a first goal towards the ideal shape for regular guys like myself as well. Given this, I ought to concentrate on enhancing my chest and legs with some bulk, with quite a bit of bulk to my biceps, while trimming some fat from my hips and waist. But would having these measurements mean that I am better looking?
The answer to that question can be found in the Adonis Effect, what I consider the best workout. The program was designed specifically around research that shows what body type women, and other men, find most attractive. Essentially, there is a target shoulder to waist ratio, called the golden ratio, that every guy should aspire to achieve. This golden ratio is 1.618. Furthermore, your waist should be 45% of your height. The great thing about the Adonis Effect program is that it provides a template to guide you toward these “perfect body” measurements.
My "perfect" measurements are 30.5 inches for my waist and 49.5 inches for my shoulders. Basically, I am very close to my perfect waist measurement, but I need to increase my shoulders. This seems about right since should I be able to reach these targets I would appear to have a nice V-shape.
So, the bottom line is that ideal body measurements are hard to define. At the end of the day, the only opinion about how you look that really matters is yours. Even if you have a goal that you feel comfortable with, it can be a grueling task to achieve. If you're very far from your ideal numbers, you may even believe that the task is nearly impossible. Take slow steps to work toward your perfect body and realize that it could take a long time before you get there. If you need extra help with how to get the perfect body, the Adonis Effect includes a diet and exercise plan to help you on your way.
