The perfect body formula (January 2009) by John Barban
Build a V-shaped torso
Follow the three exercises below to achieve victoryRelated articles
These three exercises can make your upper body wider and appear more athletic from any angle. Do three workouts a week – heavy, light and medium – with at least a day off in-between. Complete five sets of five reps of each exercise on the heavy day (rest two minutes between sets), three sets of 13 on the light day (rest 60 seconds in-between) and four sets of eight on the medium day (with 90 seconds of rest).
Wide-grip dead lift
What it does Works your trapezius muscles, the pair of triangular-shaped upper-back muscles controlling your shoulder blades. The bigger and stronger you make your traps, the wider and thicker your upper back will be.
Keep your arms straight and your chin up.
How to do it Stand in front of a loaded barbell with your feet shoulder-width apart and the bar close to your shins. Squat and grab the bar with an overhand grip that’s about twice your shoulder width. Your lower back should be flat and your arms straight. Now stand as you pull the bar up the front of your legs. Finish the lift by pulling your shoulder blades together.
Golden opportunity If you extend the range of motion, you make the exercise harder, giving you the dual benefit of building bigger muscles and increasing fat-burning potential. You can do this simply by using smaller weight plates.
Incline dumbbell chest press
What it does Works your upper chest and the front part of your deltoid muscles, adding width to your upper body when viewed from the front. As a bonus, it also hits your triceps.
Pull the dumbbells up in a straight line.
How to do it Set an adjustable bench to a 45-degree incline. Grab a pair of dumbbells and lie on your back on the bench, holding the dumbbells just above your shoulders with your palms facing out. Then push the dumb - bells straight up from your shoulders.
Golden opportunity For more emphasis on your upper chest and triceps, you can substitute the incline narrow-grip barbell bench press. Set the bench to a lower incline (15 to 30 degrees), and hold the barbell with a shoulder-width grip. (A typical bench press grip is about one and a half times your shoulder width.)
Chin-up
What it does Works your lats through a full range of motion while also hitting your biceps. Well-developed lats are, by design, V-shaped – wide in the middle of your back and tapering down to blend into the connective tissue of your lower back.
Raise your body so your chest touches the bar.
How to do it Grab the chin-up bar with an underhand, shoulder-width grip. Hang straight down hand, from the bar with your knees slightly bent and your lower legs crossed behind you. Pull yourself up until your chest touches the bar.
Golden opportunity There’s really no exercise that improves on the chin-up. However, if you can’t do many, substitute the underhand-grip lat pull-down. But try it while kneeling on the floor instead of sitting on the bench. If you pull the bar to your chest from a kneeling position, you’ll use more muscles to stabilise and balance your body.
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