This Is The Secret Code to Building a Great Body
This Is The Secret Code to Building a Great Body
Let me preface by saying that when I say ‘great body’, I am referring to a lean, well muscled and absolutely chiseled physique. The type of physique that would blow both men and women’s socks off. Incredible definition, great proportion and just the perfect amount of muscle without being overdone.
Step One – You Need To Get A Taut Waist
The first and most crucial component of building a great body is achieving a taut waist. This will ensure a sleek low body fat and will support a powerful shoulder to waist ratio – the most powerful sign of physical attraction in men.
Look at any super aesthetic Hollywood actor and invariably they have a very slim waist. In fact, most Hollywood actors are going to have a waist measurement of around 31-32″ and sometimes less. Zac Efron easily has a 30″ waist. That said, some of the bigger guys like Chris Hemsworth and Henry Cavill have around a 33″ waist.
When you drop a couple inches off your waist your physique will instantly take on a more masculine appearance. Your upperbody will appear bigger and broader relative to your slim waist. You’ll also seem leaner and taller. Your shoulders will become more separated and your chest will start to become more square like – this is a result of having a lower body fat.
I recommend setting your target waist at around 44-45% of your height. Measure your waist first thing in the morning around bellybutton level (don’t suck in and don’t push out). Someone who is 5’10 is going to want to aim for a 31-31.5″ waist.
When you get your waist at the ideal measurement, you’re going to weigh a lot less than you’d expect. In fact, someone around 5’10 with a solid amount of muscle is going to weigh around 165 – 175 lbs. That said, most people are going to think they are much bigger.
Now the most effective way to slim down your waist is by dialling in nutrition while eating proper macro’s and engaging in proper strength training to support strength and muscle mass.
This is where my Warrior Shredding Program would fit the bill. You’d slim down while building strength and dense muscle.
If you have a lot of fat to lose, I’d suggest going lower in calories, while still enjoying big meals and a good balance of fats and carbs. In this case, the best approach would be to do an Aggressive Fat Loss cut.
Step Two – You Need To Build High Relative Strength on Key Lifts
When your waist measurement is dialed in, gaining strength and muscle will have a much more profound visual effect. This is because, unless you’re very lean, any muscle you gain will be obscured by a layer of fat.
Now as far as optimizing your physique is concerned, the key is gaining relative strength on key lifts. Relative strength is a powerful indicator of body composition or your fat to muscle ratio. The more relative strength you have, the better fat to muscle ratio and the better you will look.
It is not enough to solely add strength, since that can result in fat and muscle gain. To ensure pure muscle gain, you need to focus on boosting relative strength. This is done by adding a lot of strength with a proportionally smaller increase in bodyweight.
Relative strength is different than absolute strength. Bench pressing 300 lbs may sound impressive, but it’s not that impressive if you’re 300 lbs. That’s simply a 1x bodyweight bench press and chances are that person is going to have a horrible muscle to fat ratio. Now a 175-pounder bench pressing 300 lbs is a feat to admire. This guy will automatically have a very high level of muscle mass to fat mass.
So in essence, the better your relative strength is, the better you’re going to look. Anytime you improve your relative strength, you will look better.
There are two ways to increase relative strength: you either get stronger on your lifts or you lose weight. Or a combination of both.
If you’re gaining bodyweight, make sure that your lifts are going up at a much faster rate. So gaining 10 lbs in bodyweight should result in a 30-40+ increase on your bench press and weighted chin ups. This will ensure that the weight you gained was predominately or exclusively lean mass.
And if you’re losing weight, you want to maintain your lifts. This way you’re maintaining muscle mass while stripping away the fat -and thus, improving your relative strength and body composition.
What Are The 4 Key Kinobody Lifts?
There are four key lifts that I have found to be the most effective for producing an incredible physique. These are incline presses, weighted chin ups, overhead presses and heavy curls. These four movements will build an absolutely powerful upperbody.
You’ll definitely need to do some supplemental work and of course, hit your legs and abs. That said, when you’re improving on these four movements your physique is going to transform. As a result, the goal of your training should be to promote strength gains on these four movements.
My current lifts are as follows (at a bodyweight of 175 lbs and around 8% body fat)
Incline Bench Press: 250 x 6 reps (1.43x bw)
Weighted Pull ups*: 120 lbs x 4 reps (0.69x bw)
Standing Press: 185 lbs x 5 reps (1.06x bw)
Barbell Curls: 145 lbs x 6 reps (0.83x bw)
*Make sure you’re using a high quality weight belt that won’t interfere with your training.
How Do You Build Awesome Kinobody Legs?
In the next article, we will be addressing exactly how to build powerful legs that look good. The best exercises to support lean and defined legs that will maximize your athleticism and functionality. If you want an in depth program to achieving god like strength and aesthetics – check out my Greek God Program.
Most people gain about 50 lbs onto their chin ups and incline presses within the first 4 months of the Greek God Program. This translates to some serious dense muscle and functional power.
Which Program Is The Best For You?
So now you have a few different options as to which program to follow, depending on your goals: the Warrior Shredding Program, Greek God Muscle Building Program, or for more rapid fat loss – the Aggressive Fat Loss program.
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Hey Greg, thanks again for all your help. I just had a quick question regarding ratios with respect to arms. I recently went on spring break and looking at pictures felt that my arms were actually too large for my body (i have similar numbers to you when you’re around 10-12% BF, 5’10, 32ish waist) and thought that they overpowered my chest and made me look less defined.
Do you have any advice on how to slim down my arms/add more definition? I already don’t do any direct bicep exercises, maybe 3 sets once a month, and only do dips for triceps with more of a chest focus. The only idea i had was more cardio? Any advice you have would be much appreciated!
When you get down to 7-8% body fat, your arms will naturally become smaller. If you’re taking any creatine, you might want to stop. Other than that, that’s all you can do. Well of course, not doing any direct arm work.
Great article. I’ve been getting better results by valuing relative strength and following an adjusted routine based on one of yours.
“When you get your waist at the ideal measurement, you’re going to weigh a lot less than you’d expect. In fact, someone around 5’10 with a solid amount of muscle is going to weigh around 165 – 175 lbs. That said, most people are going to think they are much bigger.”
For a 5’7″ male it would be like 150-160lbs? The formula would be: you start at 5′ and 120lbs and go up 5lbs on weight per inch above 5′ or I am just overanalyzing things?
And finally, I’ve been thinking of translating some of your best articles for a Brazilian lifting internet forum. What do you think?
Awesome man! Yeah it’s usually about 5-7 lbs per inch. So for you, 150-160 lbs is bang on. I appreciate you translating my articles, just make sure to leave credit :)
Any ideas as to why one week I will bench say 200 x6 but then next week I can only get 200x2or3? Same with weighted pull ups, I’m hitting my macros, sleep is ok, working out every other day.
I need to know more information to figure out what’s going on.
My waist is a bit too taut, more so my shoulders are a bit too broad. Is it more appropriate to gain weight in the waist and maintain the shoulders or neglect the shoulder (not completely)?
Interesting. It’s rare to be leaner and bigger than the proper measurements. I’d have to see a picture to know exactly. But these measurements might not apply to everyone, so keep that in mind.
You are very good.
You have almost mastered visually attractive body. Slim waist is the beast. Outer bicep – okay, middle shoulder – great, slim waist and abs – perfect.
If you add in the last piece of the puzzle – outer chest which you lack and which responsible 90% of how wide your chest looks, you’ll look the best. Bradd Pitt from Troy and Snatch is the perfect example. Cosmetic bodybuilding by Vince Gironda.
Thanks, I’m working on those guns!
This is a warrior physique? Body fat? Weight?
http://i1369.photobucket.com/albums/ag216/obogdan23/1009914_290550121088647_1174672424_n_zps6dd8d408.jpg
http://i1369.photobucket.com/albums/ag216/obogdan23/Burlacu_Sezonul_4_0015_zps79373204.jpg
http://i1369.photobucket.com/albums/ag216/obogdan23/1540482_388832764593715_1269408227_o_zps8d4079fc.jpg
http://i1369.photobucket.com/albums/ag216/obogdan23/636x947_13837598160b9ded0e_zpsd4c9ad99.jpg
He has more muscle than the warrior physique – I’d say he’s more around greek god development.
Hey Greg,
How much would one weigh with a good amount of muscle at 5’8″ and ideal waist of 30-30.5 inches?
Probably a solid weight would be about 73kg so like 160 lbs
I am very pleased with your strength fundamentals so far bro.
I am 163 lbs and my bench has surpassed 275, my incline is 205 x 6, Pistol squats are at a 75lb single. My shoulder press and weighted pull-ups and chin-ups need work still but they are improving all the time. , Your stuff works, its only been a few months!
Keep up the good work it is appreciated.
Sincerely,
Dude that’s amazing! Keep up the fantastic work, really solid strength.
Hey Greg!
A few questions I’d like to ask you:
1. Have you found any benefit to training shoulders 3 times per week (1 heavy with shoulder presses, 2 light with rear and/or lateral delt exercises) as opposed to training them 2 times a week?
2. There’s some debate on fat intake during bulking for body composition. Have you found any difference from eating lower fat (closer to 20%) vs higher fat (closer to 30%) while bulking or does it come down to personnal preference?
3. I’ve been experimenting with fasted training and I’ve been loving it. I feel much more alert and energetic than when I train fed. That said, I’m not taking any BCAA’s pre-workout. Therefore, I’d like to know whether if you (and your clients) have found any noticeable benefit from taking BCAA’s pre-workout as far as workout performance and strenght and muscle gains go.
Thanks a lot for taking your time to answer our questions!
1. I find two days to be sufficient. Overhead presses and lateral raises on one workout. And chest presses (this hits front delt too) and rear delts on the other workout. I don’t think a third day will make much of a difference. If anything it will slow down recovery.
2. I think 25-30% fat intake is closer to optimal. Unless you simply do better on lower fat. But I doubt it will make much difference.
3. I used to do fasted BCAA’s but haven’t anymore. Hard to quantify if it makes a difference and by how much. Try it without and if you’re making gains and progressing then I don’t see any reason to take BCAA’s. But if you’re super serious and are adamant about staying on the safe side then go for it.
What Strength Standards would you recommend someone to reach on the key lifts with the strength and density routine before moving on to Mega/specialization/3 day split routine?
Good or great development.
Hey Greg,
When I watched your 3 videos on the superhero program before you released it, I saw a comment you made about hitting arms twice a week, one day heavy the other day pump, for better gains. I’m still working on the GGP, so should I switch upthe workouts to hit arms twice a week for better results?
Thanks man.
Twice per week on arms will give you better results. But I would only do that until you’re already very strong. Doing weighted chins with 80+ lbs and incline pressing 200+ lbs. Get your lifts up then move to the superhero bulking program.
Hey Greg. I follow your Greek god program (i love it), i have been emailing you before, you maybe recognize my email. I’m tall and have quite skinny legs for my height, do you think that squats would be good for about 2-3 months to build some muscle on my chicken legs? :) And after that do sumo deadlifts
for leg training? Have a nice day!
Yeah you can do some squats for a few months. Aim to get up to squats with 1.5x bodyweight for 5 reps. That is solid strength and at that point you shouldn’t lack any lowerbody muscle. You may not even have to get to that point. The next step would be to focus on pistol squats or sumo deadlifts.
What about dips?
Dips are great too! If you prefer dips over bench press/incline press then you can use that as one of your four key lifts. I prefer to use dips as a plateau buster. I definitely enjoy benching more.
Hey Greg, great video as always, since you are speaking about great bodies, I would love to hear your thoughts on this guy I have been following on instagram, he used to have like 10K followers last year, now he has 200K which he totally deserves, his body proportions are just perfect.
http://instagram.com/michaelromerojr
It would be great if you can do a segment on him just like you did on that Dan guy.
Thanks in advance.
Yeah he has an awesome physique. Two things stand out – very low body fat and great abs development. You don’t need to be huge to have that physique – although his shoulders are quite developed. But he’s on the skinnier side. I’m not sure how tall he is – but assuming say 5’9-5’10, I’d give him 160 lbs. If he was to wear a shirt you wouldn’t be able to tell if he had an awesome physique or not. NOthing wrong with that.
This guy has an outstanding physique, very lean with the V-taper. He has that X build no doubt.
BUT, looks to me he is lacking big time in the upper chest! NO? He’s straight up & down like a bean pole looking at him from the side, if he added in some incline BB press he’d be off the charts with his physique.
I actually do quite a bit of incline work. It’s a very difficult muscle to build. You’re not going to get it jumping out of nowhere without some drug help. But yeah, I’ve been keeping volume low on my chest, I could fill it out a bit more. That said I like the sleek square chest look.
Hey Greg, again an excellent article on obtaining a Hollywood-style physique. I’m having a bit of a problem at the moment. I’m currently a student and I cannot afford to go to the gym anymore because its too expensive. The cheapest gym that I could find locally to mine is a 40 min bus drive away and costs about $30 a month. I’ve decided that the only way I can therefore keep working out while having enough time and money is to go calisthenics. What exercises would you suggest I do (or aim to do) in order to get a greek god physique? I know that the best way to build muscle with bodyweight is to do each exercise slowly so that there is enough time under tension to build muscle.But what should the reps/sets look like and how slow should I go(I want to be able to obtain both strength and power when I work out)?
Thanks for all the great articles and motivation you give me to help me improve my body as well as giving me better confidence.
That’s not true. Doing exercises slowly is not the answer. Getting stronger is ;)
I’d suggest getting a power tower (chin up / dip stand). Weighted belt and some plates. Get very strong on weighted chins and dips. Supplement this training with handstand push ups, assisted one arm push ups and pistol squats. You can build a great physique with this method.
Do you mean to say that a good physique can be built on just the 4 lifts? Or is that the base for a program that has other lifts. I like the simplicity of the 4 lifts though. What rep/set range do you recommend and how many times per week?
Thanks
Someone new to the game, could start with just 4 exercises and hit them all in a workout. He could make some rapid progress with this method because he could train these ‘key lifts’ 2-3x per week. Although I’d have them do the core movements on Monday and Friday. And a lowerbody workout on Wendesday. Once they max out on this method, they’ll want to split these 4 lifts up over 2 days with an extra 2-3 assistance lifts on each workout.
Ex :
Upper A
Weighted Chins
Standing Presses
Cable Rows
Skull Crushers
Lateral Raises
Upper B
Incline Bench
Flat Bench Press
Incline DB Curls
Hammer Rope Curls
Rear Delts
Hi Greg, just curious as to where you would fit in lower body training (a squat and/or calf raises) in that template? Or whether you would bother with including it at all in there?
Yeah so you’d do those two workouts once per week and a lowerbody workout. For legs you could do squats, romanian deadlifts, leg extensions and calf raises.
I will probably need to push all my lifting and abs and cardio towards Friday Night Saturday and Sunday due to working out of college full time. Prior I would lift M-W-F (2 splits) and do abs and cardio T-TH (10 min sprint interval/10 minute steady state)
Will there be drawbacks as far as recovery pushing the lifting back to back to back but switching splits and doing the abs and cardio after the lifting? I feel confident i’ll keep the same results just concerned about length of time of inactivity during the week.
You can still make good gains with that method. Hit the workout that you want to give the greatest priority to on Friday (since you’ll be the most fresh).
Hi Greg,
I’m a big fan of the relative strength you mention throughout this article, just want to get your thoughts on whether you should try to maintain a certain ratio between the incline press ratio and the weighted pull ups ratio? I notice your incline press is a much higher ratio, should we aim to try to bring the weighted pull up ratio closer to that or are the muscles different and don’t require the same relative strength to grow as powerful?
Thanks
You’re completely mistaken. When doing pull ups with 0.7x your bodyweight, it’s really more like 1.7x your bodyweight. Because you have to lift your body too ;).
But in actuality, a bodyweight pull up is only technically 0.8x your bodyweight. Meaning if you can do 10 pull ups at a bodyweight of 200 lbs then you should be able to do 10 strict lat pull downs with 160 lbs.
So if you’re doing pul ups with 0.7x bodyweight, it’s really like 1.5x bodyweight lifting. This is more than the incline ;)
Greg,
I have been following your blog for a couple of years, and listening to the podcast since day 1. I just wanted to say thanks for all the solid information without all the bullshit. Also, congrats on achieving a damn near perfect aesthetic look while being strong as a bull. I also really appreciate the approach that fitness is part of your life, not your entire life.
I am an older dude but still striving to make strength gains and get leaner…it can be done.
Thanks again,
Jeff
Thanks for the kind words man! Great job on you’re journey.
Hi Greg!
I have always been a big admirer of your ab development. But damn! The mind to muscle link in yours abs in that video is other worldly! Big inspiration!
Great article greg, as always. Looking forward to reading the leg part.
What supplements do you take on a weekly basis ? BCAA, whey ?
Thanks in advance for your answer.
I just take Carlsons Cod Liver Oil, that’s it.
Hi Greg,
I’m in a bit of a dilemma here. I come from an Asian family where the guys are short (5’2″-5’5″) and have stocky legs. I used to be really fat for my height (close to 170 lbs at 5’2″ circa 2011), but I’ve gotten down to 131-135 lbs over the last two years by generally following a low-moderate carb eating lifestyle. It still bothers me, though, that my “jelly trunk” thighs haven’t gotten smaller in relation to my upper body. I’ve always thought that 130-135 lbs was a nice range for my bodyweight, but should I strive to lose even more fat by dropping to the 120’s, or is getting down to that kind of body weight in relation to my height dangerous? I tried playing around with a macro calculator once, and a standard deficit puts me at around 1100-1200 cal daily. Also, given my family’s genetics, should I drop lower body work altogether? I’m kind of new to strength training myself, and lately I’ve been focusing on my chin-ups (13 rep max), rows, and presses.
Yeah if your legs are really big you can drop leg work and instead just do sprints and jumps. I would lean down and drop fat until you have a 27-28″ waist, which is perfect for your height.
Hi greg,
Another great article. Im following your new superhero course and its really fuckin awesome!
Thanks man :)
What about the glute muscles, I think women find that muscle the most attractiv. Thanks in advance Greg, great site!
Yeah sumo deadlifts are another great movement to track that will add solid muscle to the lowerbody and glutes. Sumo deads also carry over nicely to sprinting and jumping since they rely on more leg drive than regular deads.
You don’t want to overdevelop the glutes and develop a bubble butt. I get complicated on my ass all the time by ladies. But I don’t do much for my glutes anymore. Once you have a solid butt, you don’t want to overdo it because then it looks silly. A lot of powerlifters and bodybuilders have way too big legs and buts. Athletes tend to have better and more balanced butt development.
For building more of a Daniel Craig type physique, would you recommend weighted chin ups or pull ups? I know that pull ups work more of your shoulders and back than chin ups, but I’m looking to really add some size to my arms at this point.
Both will hit your back hard but pull ups – slightly harder. I’d suggest using both variations. Alternate 6-8 weeks with each variation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzQL9A2JQ2E
You were huge here. You work out 4 days a week.
Is training 3 days a week the best?
Is it possible to workout only twice a week and heve rezults ( strenhg, mulsce, leanness)??
Yeah you can make gains training twice per week. And I actually got way bigger and stronger than that video when I went on 3 days per week.
Hey Greg, Elite member here & on GG..FOR LIFE. LOL
As one gets stronger, say, benching 280+, chins & dips with 100+ lbs, etc. Going from 3 to 2 workouts a week will be best, correct?
Also, how about an article & video on that bench pressing form you utilize?
In regards to this article, there was a guy at my gym in the late 90’s who was a powerlifter, he put up BIG numbers on the bench & dips, flat bench was 402 tops, and 250 on weighted dips. He was natural, no supps, just quality food. He weighed 175, but looked like 195! He did no size training whatsoever! He was 5’9” and his waist was 30′, He was lean n’ mean…very impressive to say the least! He was in his late 30’s and said he had power-lifters help him in his late teens, start him on the proper path & it really pay payed off. He always did the BIG lifts & didn’t waste his time.
So here is my my question, is it a good idea to reach high numbers in the bread n’ butter lifts, and or achieve my goals on certain body part measurements before putting in the time/energy to start on some size/sarcoplasm training? OR, it won’t hurt my progress to add in some size training now & then for short stints w/o hurting my progress.
My thinking is, why do a bunch of flys, curls, the little fluff when one has a 41 inch chest/back measurement or 15 inch water pistols?
The only reason you would go from 3 workouts to 2 workouts per week is if you wanted to maintain muscle – instead of keep building. WHen you get very strong, I would go to a 3 day split instead of a 2 day split. That will allow for slower gains, better for advanced.
41″ chest/back and 15 inch arms is actually quite good – assuming a lean waist measurement of 31-33″. I don’t think there’s any harm in doing some pump training as long as your greatest focus is on building up your core lifts. You also probably don’t need to do pump work on every muscle group. Just the stubborn ones.
In this article https://kinobody.com/workouts-and-exercises/the-perfect-male-body/ You wrote that
waist – 45-47% of height is ok. Now that 44-45%. Which is proper. I,am 188 cm heigh. Is 88 cm waist ok for me or should I aim less?
45-47% is solid! To look really sharp and defined 44-45% is ideal.
In one place You wrote about chin ups and in other about pull ups. Which of this excersises is contained in four key lifts. Which is better?
Either or. I utilize both in my routine. I’ll spend 6-8 weeks on one variation and then the other variation.
Hey Greg.
Interesting article.
Are actors using steroids ( HGH for example)?
Your way to great body is simlpe ( low volume, low reps, big weights).
I read that Henry Cavill worked for Superman 2.5 hours a day. Ryan Rynolds 2 hours six day a week?
Whay professional trainers use that kind of training ( long time, big volume) if there is a simple way that You preach?
http://henrycavill.org/en/hc/workout
Another question. You don;t recomend squats and crosfitt. We can read that Henry Cavill ( trainer Mark Twight) did also crosfitt and a loyt of squats.
It really depends whether actors were likely using drugs or not. But I’m not them, so I can’t definitively say. But yes, it’s possible.
A lot of people equate harder and more work/volume to better results. It’s hard for people to wrap their heads around a much simpler and more minimal approach. Cross fit and squats aren’t what caused Cavil to look the way he did.
Greg,
Jim Stoppani has mentioned numerous times that reverse grip bench pressing can be beneficial for the upper chest and is superior to regular incline pressing. What’s your take on this and have you tried it?
Thank you!
Yeah I’ve been doing it for a few weeks now and enjoy it. I’ll need to do it longer to get a very good idea. The only downfall is that many people may find it awkward or dangerous. So it’s not the best exercise to recommend unless you can watch them perform it. You definitely don’t need reverse grip bench to build a great physique (i’ve only done it 4x now lol). But it can be beneficial. I’d definitely recommend a spotter if you decide to do it.