The v-shaped look, the V look, known as the V-taper, is one of the most coveted body types in the fitness industry. Every average joe wants it but not everyone knows what it takes to get it. There are a couple things that you need to do and some things you need to avoid to ensure that V-taper is as defined as possible. Let’s start with what you need to do.
Develop Your Shoulders
The shoulders play the biggest part in developing that V-taper. The wider and bigger your shoulders, the more prominent your V-look. Ensure that your shoulder workouts are hitting your shoulders from all different angles to have the best effect.
Include Exercises Such As:
Dumbbell Side Lateral Raises – Perform 4-6 sets of 12 reps using a light-medium weight. This exercise builds up the outer sides of your shoulders which really helps to give your delts that 3D round look. Be careful with this exercise, if it’s your first time, do it with the lightest possible weight to get your form right and then work your way up.
Barbell Press – This is the best shoulder building exercise because it targets pretty much the entire shoulder to a certain extent. Its a great mass builder and is an absolute must in any shoulder building routine. Perform 6 sets of 8-12 reps.
Develop Your Lats
The next part that you need to be focusing on is your back, specifically the lats. Big lats help to give your body the wide look that is crucial to a proper V-taper. Plus, you can never have a strong enough back, the stronger your back, the better your posture, the bigger you look.
Include Exercises Such As:
Pull ups – Pull-ups are one of the best (and most natural) ways to build an impressive upper back. Pull ups put a tremendous stress on the lats and when you can do upwards of 50 unassisted pull-ups, I guarantee that you will have an impressive V-taper. Perform as many as you can until failure.
Lat pull downs – There is no better way to work your lats than the lat pull down. By using a closer hand grip on the bar, you ensure that you maximize the stress on the lats, helping to build and strengthen them. Perform 6 sets of 12 heavy but controlled reps.
Now, let’s move on to the things you shouldn’t do.
Don’t Overwork Your Core
Some of you may be shocked to hear this but the key to having an impressive V-taper is wide shoulders and lats and a small waistline. If your core muscles are over-developed, you will never get that V-look.
Heavy, weighted core exercises will build large core muscles which will make your abs pop out will give you a blocky look, which we need to avoid. Instead, focus on strengthening your core using stability exercises such as hanging leg raises, planks and side planks.
I hope these tips can help you get closer to the V look you are after!