BUILD MUSCLE LIKE V-SHAPED UPPER BODY

Before I show you various ways to achieve that 

glorious ‘V’, you must also be aware that the           

 ‘V’ shape is also an illusion. If you have a wide

 thick back with a powerful chest, coupled with

 boulder-like deltoids, your ‘V’ will show up 

commandingly because those attributes will

 make your waist look small and thus

 accentuating the ‘V’ illusion.

To have a stupendous upper body, you

 MUST train
your lower body. V-shapes will


 just be an ugly upper body shape if your legs

 are like bamboo poles. The excellent full body 

shape is called the X-frame. Just like those 

super heroes you see in comic books. If you

 don’t train legs, you are missing out on 

training the largest muscle mass. When training 

legs, many other upper body muscles especially 

the back and abs will be involved. This gives you the most muscle mass trained in one go. And 

because you are training so many muscles at one go, you secrete tons of growth hormones when 

you sleep, further enhancing overall muscle development for that perfect X-frame.

     Another muscle group many people fail to pay attention to is the back. The back must be 

trained for thickness as well as width. Many back exercises also develop the rear deltoids and the 

trapezius which are very important to getting that ‘V’. When your back is thick, you will look 

powerful and with the width, it will make your waist look narrower, thus making the ‘V’ more 

pronounced. Do bar-bell row, deadlifts for a thick and powerful back. Chin-ups and push-ups 

(weighted and doing them in a slow controlled motion) will provide you the width or more commonly 

called ‘wings’.

    Another very obvious V-shape illusion creator are your triceps. But most people pay more 

attention to the biceps than triceps. Why triceps then? Because your triceps, as the name ‘tri’ 

suggests, has three ‘heads’ and each ‘head’ must be dealt with when you exercise them. They are 

also 1/3 bigger than your biceps. By training the triceps hard, your upper arms will grow bigger 

faster, giving more berth to your upper body and again creating a narrow waistline illusion.

    The best illusion-shapers are your deltoids. Your delts have 3 ‘heads’. However, most of the 

time, I see people only working out the front delts. When you develop your delts well, they will be 

round and boulder-like, and they make your shoulder wide and strong. Now, close your eyes and 

have a mental image of yourself with a wide thick back, big strong triceps… now, do you see that 

‘V’? Add lateral raise, bent-over lat-raisers and upright rows to your routine.

    How to have a beautiful ‘V’ if your abs are flabby? Forget the side crunches and side bends. It 

will only make your waistline thicker. Go on a lose fat program by combining weight lifting, cardio 

exercises and eating correctly. Your abs will show in no time.

    Ahh… to finally stamp your authority in the gym and at the beach, a wide and powerful 

gladiator’s chest will put you ahead of the pack! Train your chest heavy with dumbbells, barbells 

and cables machines. Use incline benches rather than flat or declining ones. You want to build the 

upper chest and not targeting the lower chest in case it gets you the droop or saggy chest which we 

call ‘bitch tits’. Although the pec is one huge muscle, it can be targeted at different places to 

recruit different fibres to shape it.