Men's Physique V-Taper Workout
In the past if you were competitive, chances are you were a competitive bodybuilder.
Now a days there are many more NPC competitors around, largely due to the addition of the Men's Physique category which allows for a more natural looking, seemingly more attainable body.
One of the best things to keep in mind in training for physique is to aim for that V-Taper look.
A tiny waist and wide shoulders give this almost cartoon illusion.
Getting that waist to shrink is going to take some work in the kitchen but I have designed a few workouts for building on other key areas.
For me, my goal is to bring up my upper chest, lats, and create the biggest shoulders as possible.
I'll share one workout with you guys now.
I haven't started my cutting diet or cardio routines yet so I'm still in muscle building mode, pushing some heavy weights around with amble rest between sets.
(~2-3 minutes between heaviest sets)
Incline Press
*start off with these so you are fresh and able to handle some heavy weight to really build some muscle. Do a few light high rep sets first, taking your time to stretch at the bottom of the rep to warm up. After a few warm up sets go right into some heavy 8/6/3 rep sets.
Wide Grip Cable Bent Row
* Grab an incline bench and lean forward into the bench with your knees on the seat or your feet on the legs of the bench. Pull the bar to your sternum, flexing your lats and other back muscles hard with a 2 second squeeze at the top. Again, go heavy enough where 3-5 reps is about all you can get with good form. I like the cable because I'm able to keep constant tension on the muscle the entire rep.
Cable Cross Overs
*Go a little lighter on these so you can get in the 10-12 rep range and as your pulling the cables into a fly, cross one hand over the other just slightly, switching which hand is on top each rep. Focus focus focus on feeling your chest pump up and keep your chest high and shoulders back so your are not wearing your front delts out before anything else.
When you can no longer cross them, do a few more regular flyes, slowly going to failure.
**I like performing burnout pushup sets immediately following my last few sets of flyes.
Dumbbell Upright Row
*I prefer dumbbells so I can really pull the weights high and wide away from each other and focus more on the medial delts. You can try these one at a time as well to allow for heavier sets.
Reverse Fly
*This is the one exercise I intend to hammer very hard this season to really stand apart with big shoulders. Give a slight bend in the elbows and pull back until you feel the contraction and squeeze. Make sure you sit up tall and are not leaning forward or tucking your head low.
Wide Grip Lat Bar Cable Pullovers
*Position an incline bench at a cable station so that if you were sitting on it, you would be facing away from the weight stack. Grab the bar at the widest part and while seated at a little steeper than a 45 degree angle, lock your arms straight and pull the bar down, focusing on and squeezing the lats hard at the bottom.