The Perfect Male Body and 5 Exercises to Build It

By Greg O'Gallagher | February 3, 2011 |

My flagship program, Movie Star Masterclass, explains in step-by-step detail how to work out to attain the perfect male body.

Kinobody is about building the an amazing physique without having to live in the gym.

There is no need to build a huge bodybuilder type physique unless you’re trying to attract Snookie from Jersey Shore.

With that being said, there is a perfect male body workout you should follow to build an awesome physique. It incorporates only the most important exercises that build muscle in all the right areas while staying lean. The Warrior Shredding Program stays true to these philosophies.

Let’s face it, you never see big bodybuilders starring in Hollywood action movies anymore. This is because this look is ‘cheesy‘ and is not considered attractive to women.

The action stars of today achieve an ideal male physique and have a GQ look to them. They have a ‘decent‘ amount of muscle but not close to enough to be considered bulky.

According to several studies on what the ideal male body looks like, “The physique of a slim waist, broad shoulders and muscular chest are often found to be attractive. A near-universal sexually attractive feature of a man is a V-shaped torso: a relatively narrow waist offset with broad shoulders.”

We wanna look like GREEK GODS!

Body Ratios of the Ideal Male Physique (aka Perfect Male Body Measurements According To Height)

The perfect male body ratios are:

Waist – 45-47% of height
Shoulders – 1.618x waist
Arms – identical size of neck circumference
Chest – 10-12″ greater than waist

Now lets take a 5’10 individual as an example:

Waist: 31.5-33″ (45-47% of your height)
Shoulders: 51-53″ (waist x 1.618)
Arms: Same as Neck (roughly 15.5-16.5″)
Chest: 42-45″ (10-12″ bigger than waist)

Now that you have an idea of what ratios to hit, let’s talk about the perfect male body workout…

The 5 Exercises You Need To Build A Body Of A Greek God

1.) Incline Dumbbell Bench Press

This is my favorite chest exercise! It effectively builds the chest with a focus on the upper chest.

The upper chest is the most important area for guys to develop as it exudes a masculine appearance. When bodybuilders overdevelop their lower chest it looks like they have boobs.

In addition, a well developed upper chest creates a sweet line down the middle of the chest.

You should aim to be able to do this exercise with 100% of your bodyweight for 6 reps. If you weigh 160 lbs then you would work up to 80 lbs dumbbells per hand for 6 reps.

I perform this exercise with two 125 lbs dumbbells for 6 reps (I’m 170 lbs).

An alternative to this would be the Incline Barbell Bench Press.

2.) Weighted Pull-ups

Pull-ups/Chin-ups are by far the best back building exercise out there and are great for building a V-Shaped Torso.

You should strive to be able to perform at-least 12 strict (full range of motion) pull ups in a row. I have built up to 20 consecutive pull-ups in a row and my back development is CRAZY (pull-ups get 100% credit for my back development which is why I included them in the perfect male body workout).

The trick to doing more pulls ups is to actually train with weighted pull ups, using a high-quality weight belt.

I had to start doing them only once per week because my back kept on growing! Granted, this was after I built up to 120 lbs attached for reps.

3.) Standing Overhead Press

Building great shoulders on a natural lifter is tough. I attribute all of my shoulder size to getting ridiculously strong on the overhead press.

Build up to your body weight for reps and you’ll have some boulder shoulders!

In combination with the overhead press, I like to add in extra volume with lateral raises. This exercise is great at hitting the medial deltoid.

This will add width to your shoulders thus increasing your shoulder to waist ratio.

4.) Barbell Curls

Pull ups alone will not build up our arms enough. We need to add in some extra barbell curls to really get our arms to pop and bring them closer to the ideal ratio size.

5.) Plank

The plank is a great exercise to strengthen your transverse abdominals (TVA).

The TVA is like your corset muscle – it keeps your stomach pulled in tight and aids in stabilization.

The goal to hit here is 3 consecutive minutes with perfect form.

Once this becomes easy you can either raise your forearms up on a stability ball OR put your feet in suspension bands – my personal favorite.

The perfect male body workout that incorporates these 5 exercises is:

1a) Incline DB Bench Press: 3 sets x 5-7 reps

1b) Pull-ups (add weight if necessary): 3 sets x 5-7 reps

2) Standing Overhead Press: 3 sets x 5-7 reps

3a) Bar Dips (add weight if necessary): 3 sets x 6-10 reps

3b) Biceps Curl Variation: 3 x 6-10 reps

4) Plank: 3 sets x 60 seconds (contract abs as hard as possible)

This workout was designed with the Greek God physique in mind.

Perfect Male Body Workout Notes

Stick with the given rep ranges if you are looking to add muscle size
If you just want to add muscle density than you can lower the rep ranges to 3-5
Perform this workout 2-3x per week on non consecutive days
1a and 1b means you perform a set of 1a, rest, then perform a set of 1b, rest, and repeat for desired sets
If you need to add muscle to your legs you can perform 3 sets of 4-6 reps of squats or deadlifts
If you are looking to drop a little bit of extra fat then the Warrior Shredding Program is going to be the best fit for you
If you are ready for the next stage of strength and muscle building, make sure to check out the full Greek God Program here