How Do You Achieve A V Shaped Body?

[Liquid Snake]

Alright I'm really interested in knowing how to do this and would really appreciate on some tips. I've read numerous articles on BB.com about V shapes and would like to broaden my knowledge a bit more about it. My waist is pretty small at 31-32cm. Although my obliques do take away some of the V shaped look. Does this mean I should stop oblique training while training abs? I mean I don't train my obliques much anyway, but what abs excercises do not train your obliques? You can check out my picture below of my front and back and help me figure out how to achieve a V shaped body.






As you can see in this picture, my back has formed a sort of V shape but is then ruined a bit above the waist. Are those my obliques?



Would really appreciate it if you can help me find the solution to my problem. My waist does not consist of fat, I just don't see if my obliques are the reason of the problem or not.

Thanks in advanced.

[WIGuy]

Wide lats, clavicles and shoulders, and small waist make the V shape. Your midsection looks fine. Work on your lats hard...but keep in mind a lot of it is just going to be your genetics.

[Ryan314]

You look great man, keep it up. I think if you just keep doing what you're doing you'll get there.

Try doing some cable crunches for the v shape... I've heard that these have worked for some people.

[BoDyBuildBoYCT]

cable crunches??? hmm.....

[Liquid Snake]

Thanks to both of you who have replied and I want to say that I already do cable crunches at the end of each workout. I do 3 sets.

[No. 1]

Behind the neck pull-ups

[adam75south]

like someone above said...genetics. some people are built with thick torsos, some have a nice taper from the beginning. unless you build some ridiculous lats you'll never have an extreme v-shape...same for me. just like i'll probably always have a bird cage chest. all you can do is make yourself the best YOU possible...and you're doing a pretty good job at it already.

p.s. i'm sure you already know it, but lots of wide grip chins and lat pulldowns to build those lats.

[mikecart1]

Originally Posted by Liquid Snake

Alright I'm really interested in knowing how to do this and would really appreciate on some tips. I've read numerous articles on BB.com about V shapes and would like to broaden my knowledge a bit more about it. My waist is pretty small at 31-32cm. Although my obliques do take away some of the V shaped look. Does this mean I should stop oblique training while training abs? I mean I don't train my obliques much anyway, but what abs excercises do not train your obliques? You can check out my picture below of my front and back and help me figure out how to achieve a V shaped body.

31-32 cm? WTF?

To get the V, get lats. You should be squatting, deadlifting, and benching anyways. I am not sure what all this emphasis you have with abs and obliques.

:/

[Mlb07]

i think the guy thought he meant the v abs

[Liquid Snake]

Originally Posted by mikecart1

31-32 cm? WTF?

To get the V, get lats. You should be squatting, deadlifting, and benching anyways. I am not sure what all this emphasis you have with abs and obliques.

:/

I already do all those dude. I just thought there is a problem occuring with my workout and that's why I ain't getting a V shape. Since it seems to rely more on genetics I'll just continue with what I'm doing as it seems there is no problem with what I'm doing so far.

Also thanks to everyone who has helped.

[mikecart1]

Originally Posted by Liquid Snake

I already do all those dude. I just thought there is a problem occuring with my workout and that's why I ain't getting a V shape. Since it seems to rely more on genetics I'll just continue with what I'm doing as it seems there is no problem with what I'm doing so far.

Also thanks to everyone who has helped.

Here is key info (and not to be rude at all): Do get bigger anything, lats, v-shape, chest, abs, etc. you gotta lift heavy weights. And I mean very heavy. It is not realistic to expect to have a v-shape if you aren't lets say doing weighted pullups with enormous weight to bw, etc. Not saying you aren't lifting heavy weights, but I would work on lifting even heavier weights. The v-shape will form eventually. GL!

[Liquid Snake]

I'll try increasing heavier weights when I can and be capable of not losing posture or stop getting my technique right.

So I'll try increasing the weight when I can.

[ChickenTuna]

looks like you already have a nice v shape, keep up the great work!

[adam75south]

go heavy, but don't limit yourself to a bunch of 3 rep sets with bad form. can't exactly grow when you're injured plus, everything i've ever read about muscle growth recommends 8-12 reps per set. (yea i know, key word...read..what are you gonna do? damn internet)

[Piteng]

you need big lats to have a good v-shape..

nice body anyway..

[MedicineWheel]

You do not appear to be big enough yet to have a noticeable v-shape. Some guys are built so that they have that sort of shape before they even start lifting, but your bone structure is not as such. Work hard on adding mass to your Shoulders, back, and legs. With your already small waist, this will help to create a greater illusion that your waist is even smaller. One thing I will suggest is using a reverse grip on your pulldowns and chins. A lot of people like to think that using a very wide, palms forward grip on chins is going to give you the best stretch, but if you look at the way the muscle is constructed, a reverse grip spaced just inside shoulder width will give you the best stretch of all hand positions. I have been doing this for 2 months and have noticed a marked increase in my back width...enough to sprout a couple of new 2 inch long stretch marks just below my rear delts.

In short, over the next year or two, you need to eat like a monster, and double the weight you are doing for reps on the following exercises:
-reverse grip pulldowns/chins
-incline press
-shoulder press
-front squat
-barbell row

It wouldnt hurt you to make the same sort of strength gains on all of your lifts, but those are the ones that will contribute most to your "taper".

[BoDyBuildBoYCT]

i dont do weighter pull ups...

just pull downs...

[Dylang]

It doesn't look like genetics to me, it looks like your lats are seriously lagging

big lats + small waist = V shape

[FaceThePain]

Train your lats hard.
If you do lat pulldown, do them normally, and reverse grip, 5 x 10, then do chin ups and pullups 4 x 12 w/ bodyweight first, and then add 5 lbs each set.
You'll get those lats flared in no time.

[shavenwookiee]

do NOT WORK TEH EVIL TRAPS!!

[IRON HORSE J]

Really concentrate on your lat pulldowns... Squeeze when you get to the bottom and hold for a sec or two... Then release.. Make sure you aren't using your biceps...

This made get wings for sure!

[turbo904]

medicine wheel has it spot on. You can do all the lifting in the world, but if you don't eat, you'll never get it. You need a little size, everything else seems to be in order already. Lift big, eat big, get big.

[reiterman]

All you need is heavy, as heavy as you can lat pulldowns, with heavy bentover rows, and some heavy deadlifts.
Also you need to eat , eat and eat some more, you need lots of quality food to put on muscle. you will have to put on a little fat to gain the muscle needed for a good v. then you can diet back down, but dont let your body fat go up by more the 2 to 4 %.
best of luck, keep up the hard work.

[Chris@UGA]

Just increase the size of your lats and you're there.

[spot_skater]

Lats, bro, like everyone else said. Any type of rowing movement toward your mid-section/ flank will hit your lats. Wide grip pull ups are great, too.

I do heavy, heavy db rows (started dipping into the triple digit db's), wide grip pulls, close grip pulls and stuff like that, FWIW.

Also, IMO for working back in general it's OKAY to cheat a little bit to get that last 2 or 3 reps in when you're going really heavy.

Good luck, man.

[R!cardo]

Got Lats?




Want some?

[adam75south]

this kid has some back muscle ^^^^

[vin1382]

one thing that has not been mentioned for overall width(at least from a front appearance) is the boulder shoulder look. hit your medial delts very hard. i have a similar build to you and found that hitting them 3 times a week, only one exercise but high reps near the end of my workout, has helped. and as everyone has said, lats. but focus on different angles and elbow positions because if you arent blessed with the genetics, it will take almost exact perfect form for YOUR BODY to work. investigate many different exercises for lats and try them differnet ways until you actually feel it working. ive been very suprised how how just a slight shift in angle has made my muscles just start growing, from not growing before. and i used to blame it on genetics.

[VitaminTuna]

You should most definitely continue training your obliques. Using a very light bar, do seated and bent over twists. These will tighten your obliques, but not increase their size (leading to a better v-taper).

[cgcgraded]

Originally Posted by R!cardo

Got Lats?




Want some?

wow, strong lack of humility, strong thread steal, strong self-promotion



to the OP, a good V is achieved with good shoulders, a developed back, while minimizing waist size as much as possible