![]() Lat pulldowns, however, are a bit more versatile in that they allow you to use a wider range of resistances to hit both high reps (with lighter weights) and low reps (heavier weights) to stimulate maximum muscle growth. Going behind the neck, however, places more emphasis on the upper lats. Why It Works: Just as wide-grip pull-ups are great for developing back width, so too are wide-grip lat pulldowns. Hold this position for a second before slowly lowering back to the start, making the negative portion of the rep as slow and deliberate as the positive portion. As you crunch, twist and cross your elbow over to the opposite knee. With your hands cupped loosely behind your head, contract through your abs to lift your shoulders and upper back off the floor. How to Do It: Lie on the floor with your knees bent and feet and lower back flat on the floor. The version here is a bodyweight oblique-focused move. It's probably best to not add too much weight to exercises like cable oblique crunches, so as not to add bulk to the area, but you don't need to steer clear of such moves either. For this goal, twisting variations of crunches are useful. Why It Works: While you can't technically trim your midsection with ab exercises (regardless of what the infomercials try to tell you), you can create the appearance of a more streamlined midsection by developing the diagonal fibers of the oblique muscles. Target Muscle: Internal and external obliques Complete all reps with that arm, then switch arms. At the bottom, don't let your arm come all the way to perpendicular with the floor (this will keep tension on the middle delts). ![]() When your arm reaches parallel with the floor, pause for a count, then slowly lower the dumbbell back to the start position. Begin with your working arm hanging straight down, then raise the dumbbell up and out to the side. ![]() Lean out to the side of your working arm, keeping hold of the structure with your other hand so that that arm is fully extended and your body is at a 10-30-degree angle with the floor. How to Do It: Stand holding a dumbbell in one hand with your other hand holding onto a solid structure. When you're standing upright with dumbbell lateral raises, that last bit of range of motion offers basically no tension with the leaning version, you're better able to eliminate this "dead space," provided you don't let your arm take a break perpendicular to the floor. And then, the leaning position helps keep constant tension on the muscle the entire rep. Because it's a unilateral move (one arm at a time), you can put all your focus on that one side to maximize the contraction. Why It Works: Lateral raises in general target the middle delts, but this variation does so in even more isolated fashion. Now that you know the V-taper and X-frame muscles, it's time to train them with the below exercises. It's impossible to fully isolate any one quadriceps muscle from the other three (vastus medialis, vastus intermedius, rectus femoris), but narrow-stance squats will nonetheless emphasize the lateralis. Targeting this area involves doing squatting movements with a narrow foot stance (inside shoulder width). ![]() This is the muscle responsible for the "outer quad sweep," where the legs bow out from the waist to create lower body width. Overall quadriceps development is important, but there's one specific quad muscle you want to focus on for wider th ighs: the vastus lateralis. ![]() And what exercises develop wider lats? Pretty much anything with a wide grip – namely, wide-grip pull-ups and wide-grip lat pulldowns, though rows performed with a wide grip are useful as well.įinally, the bottom half of the X. When someone is said to have a great V-taper, wide lats are always present. The latissimus dorsi (lats) are as important as any muscle when it comes to creating maximum width in the upper body. The best exercises for this are incline presses and flye movements. When it comes to creating a V-taper, not to mention an X-frame, the chest doesn't quite deserve the priority of the shoulders, but well-developed upper and outer pecs certainly add to the aesthetic by adding some width and creating the appearance of "broadness" (for lack of a better word). Your go-to exercises here are mass-building overhead shoulder presses, lateral raises, and upright rows, all of which hit the middle delts. More specifically, we're talking about the middle deltoids, which are the lateral "caps" of the shoulders the front (anterior) and rear (posterior) delts provide thickness to the shoulders, but not width. It all starts at the shoulders, as this is the widest aspect of the body and the beginning of the V-taper. ![]()
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