What do you think is the honest reason for people to work out? Most people would say for health or weight loss reasons. But there is another reason other than those two usual answers. Workout enthusiasts may not admit it, but the aesthetic value of working out is the number one reason behind all that hard work. So what? If it is vain to want to turn heads wherever you go because of your amazing physique, so be it. There’s nothing more confidence-building than attracting a lot of attention and admiration. It just means that all your hard work and eating lifestyle changes have paid off.
Yet, achieving a Greek God physique with beautiful body composition is a long, arduous, and challenging task. It needs a firm commitment and knowing what to do for you to get there. There are no shortcuts when it comes to changing your physique aesthetically especially when it comes to the Greek god program.
What does aesthetics physique mean?
All Greek God physique people share common things to include:
- Defined muscles from the core, chest, legs, back, and shoulders
- Their overall body fat is very low
- They have huge muscle mass even when they can’t really compete with professional bodybuilders
Reaching the aesthetic physique level needs lean muscle build-up of at least 20–30 pounds. If you look at this statistic, you see that this is achievable.
The Ideal Male Body
Asking a person what the ideal male physique looks like is a bit like asking which car is better – Ford or Holden? However, there are some physiques that nearly everyone agrees is close to the ideal when it comes to the Warrior Greek God look. The statues that the great sculptors of old carved out of stone often represented this ideal. We can think of the statue of David by Michelangelo as a prime example. Many bodybuilders have used this statue as their ideal to work towards.
One Bodybuilder who not only achieved, but exceeded, the David look was Frank Zane. He was a mathematics teacher from southern California who turned to bodybuilding in his teens. Zane gained a lot of attention in 1968 when he defeated a huge young Austrian bodybuilder by the name of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Although Arnold was much bigger than Zane, Frank was far more defined, or ripped. That means that he had a much lower level of bodyfat. Zane’s physique was also more aesthetic. Although he wasn’t as muscular as Arnold, he had a more aesthetic physique. One of the most impressive things about his body was his very narrow waist and wide flaring shoulders. In fact, Zane displayed the Golden Ratio.
The Golden Ratio appears all through nature, including all over the human body. It is the perfect ratio to be aesthetically pleasing to the human eye. The Golden Ratio is 1:1.618.
When it comes to the Warrior Greek God look the most important application of the Golden Ratio in with regard to the hip and shoulders ratio. If you are able to achieve the Golden Ratio, then you will have an awesome V shape appearance to your upper body.
Let us take a look at what the measurements of the Golden ratio would look like. A guy who had a hip measurement of 34 inches would need to a have a shoulder measurement of 55 inches (34 x 1.618). To really achieve the complete Warrior Greek God look, this guy would also want to develop flaring quadriceps that sweep out from the hips and prominent well developed calf muscles. His chest would also be well developed and striated. On top of this structural development, his body fat would be low enough (under 12%) to delineate every individual muscle group.
Frank Zane’s body was so good that he was able to go on to win the top bodybuilding prize – the Mr. Olympia – three times in the 1970s (1977, 1978, 1979). Many people today believe that he had the most perfectly developed physique of all time (with the possible exception of Steve Reeves). While a lot of guys are blown away by massive bodybuilders like Ronnie Coleman or Phil Heath, it is Frank Zane who most guys would actually want to look like!
Another pro bodybuilder who had an aesthetic Greek God bodybuilding physique was Mohamed Makkawy. This guy, who had the distinction of belong the only bodybuilder to ride a camel onto a bodybuilding stage, had one of the greatest physiques of all time. Competing on the Mr. Olympia stage a decade after Frank Zane, Makkawy, who was Egyptian, had close to perfect balance and lean muscle dimensions to his physique. He also displayed the Golden ratio from shoulders to hips and was ripped to the bone. To top it all off, Makkawy was a master at displaying his bodybuilding physique on stage.
Aesthetics training
Before anything, map out your goal as a way to plan your workout routine. Always remember that you need to maintain a low percentage of body fat while building up your muscle mass. If you are a male, your body fat should be below 12%. Females should only have a body fat of less than 20% when the goal is aesthetics physique.
Compound exercises
A gym has literally hundreds of machines that can help you vary your exercise moves. Doing compound workouts are recommended for aesthetics training because they can work on more than two muscle groups at the same time. Compound exercises also strengthen the joints of the body which is crucial to weight lifting.
Lifting heavier weights holds the key to achieving the perfect development of the muscles. Yet, even when compound, like the shoulder press, workouts use two or more muscles, there is a particular targeted muscle area that develops more than the rest.
Here is a simple guideline for you to know what muscle area is targeted when doing compound exercises:
- Overhead shoulder press to build muscles of the shoulders
- Deadlifts and pull-ups for the back muscles
- Leg press and squats for the legs
- Chin-ups for the biceps
- Incline dumbbell press and bench press for the chest
- Close grip bench press for the triceps
Using some other forms of isolation exercises, such as lateral raises, bicep curls, leg raises, triceps pushdowns, and a lot more can serve to complement compound workouts. However, 80% of the effort should be concentrated on compound exercises if you want to achieve a Greek God aesthetics physique.
Other than muscle building, compound exercises also burn a lot more calories compared to isolation workouts. This works to your advantage as fat loss is a requirement for aesthetics training and strength training.
Heavy lifting
If you want to be big and strong like the other guys in the gym, heavy lifting is the only way. Lifting the same weights just because you have become comfortable with them will not give you the Greek God physique you’re aiming for.
Adding more weight does not mean competing with the heavyweight lifting the big guys are doing in the gym. It simply means lifting weights that are a bit heavier than what you’re used to. Lifting a weight that represents a one rep max of 85% has been discovered by numerous studies to promote muscle growth.
This means that muscle growth can be achieved if you can do around 8–10 reps on each set you do within that weight range. If you’re thinking that you can’t do it, then you’re right because you won’t be able to do it.
A positive attitude and determination toward aesthetic training are the best tools to counteract negative thoughts about failure. If you fail to lift a weight goal, dropping off weight to allow you to do several reps will already affect your workout.
It goes without saying that the best workout is doing the perfect number and intensity of reps and sets. Aim for success during your intense workouts. Failing to lift the desired weight can kill your entire workout or you end up doing fewer reps.
Failure can be avoided when you have a good workout plan. Remember that the typically expected reps for each muscle group when it comes to aesthetic training is 50–70.
High-intensity interval cardio training
Aesthetics training is a challenging workout for everyone. Not only do you need to build muscle mass, but you also need to lower the percentage of body fat.
Fat loss is achieved with any heart-pounding cardio exercise. This means that high-intensity cardio exercises should be included in the training program to achieve maximum aesthetic results.
All cardio exercises are good, but one type stands out above the rest. This is the high-intensity interval cardio training. This includes activities such as sprinting, boxing, or going up and down stadium stairs. Doing these types of high-intensity interval cardio workouts burns the most calories even when you’re resting.
Each week must include three high-intensity cardio interval workouts for you to gain maximum fat loss results. The body enters an after-burn effect after each session of high-intensity cardio workouts. This means that you still burn calories even after the workouts.
While jogging for 60 minutes can be intense, doing a HIIT workout for only 20 minutes is even more intense. Fat loss becomes less of a struggle when you include three high-intensity cardio interval workouts per week.
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Conclusion
Aesthetic training is simple and straightforward. The things to focus on during the training are to become lean and strong. Make it simple by scheduling intense cardio workouts three times a week with three days concentrated on weightlifting. Take a one-day rest to allow the body to recover from the intense workouts.
if you are a beginner, dumbbell and barbell workouts are good for building muscles. For those more experienced the barbell bench press, deadlift and squat are excellent workouts. The key is to ensure correct form before you start increase weights. Aim for good form and increase weight every 2 weeks. This will result in muscle gains and increased strength.
