Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - How to Build the Mathematically Ideal Male Body

Episode Date: December 30, 2019

Let’s face it: a big reason most of us guys work out is to look great. You know, muscular, lean, proportional . . . “aesthetic” as the narcissists like to say. People are always looking for “hacks” and shortcuts to live a better life and looking good is a big one. When you look good, people instinctively like you more and treat you better, and this more or less always pay dividends no matter what you’re trying to do. How exactly do you build that type of physique, though? In this podcast, you’re going to learn . . . - The ancient formula that dictates the proportions of the “ideal” male body - How to compare your body to these standards to see what parts need the most work - How close you can expect to get to these numbers based on your genetics - And finally, how to eat and train to build the ideal male body. Let’s get started. 6:56 - What is the golden ratio? 14:56 - How can we use the golden ratio to create the ideal male body? --- Mentioned on The Show: Legion VIP One-on-One Coaching: https://legionathletics.com/coaching/ --- Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: https://www.legionathletics.com/signup/

Hey, Mike here. And if you like what I'm doing on the podcast and elsewhere, and if you want to help me help more people get into the best shape of their lives, please consider checking out my VIP one-on-one coaching service where we can help you get in the best shape of your life. My team and I have helped people of all ages, circumstances, and needs. So no matter how complicated or maybe even hopeless you might think your situation is, we will figure it out and we will get you results. Every diet and every training program is 100% custom. We provide daily workout logs and do weekly accountability calls. Our clients get priority email service and discounts on supplements and other products, and the list of benefits goes on and on. So to learn more, head over to www.legionathletics.com slash coaching. That's legionathletics.com slash coaching and schedule your free consultation call. I should also mention that there is usually a wait list and new slots do fill up very quickly. So do not wait. If this sounds even remotely interesting to you, go ahead and schedule your call now. Again, that URL is legionathletics.com slash coaching. Let's face it, a big reason most of us guys and gals

work out is to look great. You know, muscular, lean, proportional, aesthetic, as the narcissists like to say. And for us guys in particular, we want broad shoulders with bulging biceps and triceps. We want a big flat chest on top of a V tapered torso. We want a narrow waist and a defined core. We want developed and defined legs that end in sculpted calves. And of course, we want all of that with a low level of body fat that gives everything a tight, hard look. And there's nothing wrong with that. People are always looking for hacks and shortcuts to live a better life. And looking really good is definitely a big one.

When you look good, people instinctively like you more and they treat you better. And that more or less always pays dividends no matter what you are trying to do, including making money. Research shows that better looking people tend to make more money. And that's just a natural consequence of the subconscious preference we all have for things that are pretty the question though of course is how do you build that type of physique and yes bodybuilding but these days that's a pretty loaded term because contemporary bodybuilders are all about packing on freakish amounts of mass in a quest to look like a hybrid between a human and a Belgian blue cow. That wasn't always the case though. Once upon a time, before the advent of steroids, bodybuilders wanted to look like athletes in their prime or ancient warriors, not hulking

mountains of anabolic-infused muscle. For example, go check out the father of bodybuilding, as he's often called, Eugen Sandow, who was in his prime in the late 1800s before steroids were even a thing, before they were even available. Now, by today's bodybuilding standards, Eugen would be considered small and fat, but his physique is also more or less the best you can hope for as a

natural weightlifter. And I'll add is outstanding. He had an outstanding physique and especially considering the time at which he built his physique and how little was really known about proper nutrition and weightlifting. And if you look though at his overall muscularity and his proportions and his body fat levels, again, that's about the best most of us natural weightlifters could hope for. Maybe we could get a bit more chest because we know about the power of the bench press, I think more than he did in his time, but everything else is pretty big, pretty well developed. If you were to take a stab at his normalized FFMI, it's probably 22 going into the 23s even, and that's pretty muscular. And of course, that's also perfectly okay with most guys who would pike a pod of baby

seals to look like Yujin. Another good example of this is the bodybuilding pioneer Otto Arco, who achieved his look in the early 1900s. Again, before steroids, go check him out. Otto, O-T-T-O, Arco, A-R-C-O. And he looked very similar to Yujin. He was big, he was muscular, he was lean, could use a bit more chest and could probably have gotten a bit more chest if he would have known what we know today, but impressive nonetheless. Another good example is George Hackenschmidt, who was a contemporary of Sandow's and Arco's, and he actually was the inventor of the barbell bench press, and he had a bit more chest, but he too was a big guy, big and lean. And remember that these guys couldn't just dial

up their doses of the hashtag dedication to gain endless muscle. So instead, what they did is they pursued the ideal relationship between size and symmetry and became literal embodiments of the essence of male beauty, which was just the right balance of overall muscular development, proportion, and definition. And what's more, nothing these guys did is entirely out of reach for the average guy. And that includes you and me. Chances are, we both have average muscle building genetics. I've done some DNA tests, I've done a couple now, and apparently I have above average because of two gene expressions in particular, but not outstanding. I do not have the genetics to

ever be a top tier bodybuilder, no matter how many drugs I'm willing to take or a top tier strength athlete, no matter how many drugs I'm willing to take. And chances are you are in the same boat. Now, while we can't forge our bodies into carbon copies of Eugens, Ottos, or Georges, we can almost certainly reach their level through enough hard work and patience. And that's what this podcast is going to be all about. A deep dive into exactly what creates that look and how to create a plan that will actually get you there. And yes, that means that building an aesthetic physique is formulaic and anyone can do it, including you. Let's start this discussion with something called the golden ratio and how it applies to the ideal male body. So after spending most of

his life building siege weapons, fortresses, and camps in support of Julius Caesar's campaigns across Europe, the architect, author, and engineer Marcus Vitruvius published the book De Architectura. And this has become one of the most important sources of our modern knowledge of Roman building methods, planning, and design, including plans and materials for towns, temples, civil and domestic buildings, pavements, aqueducts, and more. Vitruvius' publication also includes ideal human proportions, though, which he believed should inform the structure of sacred temples. In fact, Vitruvius claimed that the human body corresponded to the hidden geometry of the universe itself and thus was a microcosmic representation of the physical realm. Then,

over 1500 years later, sometime around 1487, Leonardo da Vinci drew the human figure in accordance with Vitruvius' observations, and he named it the Vitruvian Man. That's that famous drawing that you've seen with the man with his arms out, his legs spread in the circle. And like Vitruvius, da Vinci was fascinated with human anatomy and he believed that man is a model of the world. The Vitruvian man would quickly become an exemplar of perfect male proportions and researchers would later discover that its balance and beauty stemmed from its expression of a mathematical relationship known as the divine proportion or golden ratio. Now, Euclid first defined the golden ratio in his Tour de Force Elements, which was published all the way

back in 300 BC. And the concept is very simple. Two quantities are in the golden ratio if the ratio of the sum of the quantities, so them together, to the larger quantity is equal to the ratio of the larger quantity to the smaller one. Now, if you're having a hard time visualizing that, just give the golden ratio a search and pull up the images and you'll see what I mean. And this will probably help too, because numerically this ratio is expressed like this, 1 to 1.618. And in the case of, let's say, just a line, picture a line, and you have segment A is the longer part of this line. Segment B is the shorter part of this line. Together they make the full line. If the line is going to express the golden ratio,

segment A, the longer segment, is going to be 1.618 times longer than segment B, the shorter one. To keep it real simple, if the shorter segment, if segment B is one unit long, then segment A would be 1.618 units long. And the fascinating thing about this is it's not just some abstract thought experiment. It appears to be a natural law of sorts. Scientists have found its expression everywhere in nature, including the arrangement of branches along the stems of plants, the veins of leaves, the skeletons of animals, and the disposition of their veins and their nerves, the composition of chemical compounds, and the geometry of crystals. And researchers have even recently reported that this ratio is present at the subatomic level. Nowhere is the golden ratio more exemplified, though though than the human body. The human face, for example, abounds with examples of the golden ratio.

The head forms a golden rectangle with the eyes at its midpoint. The mouth and the nose are each placed at golden distances between the eyes and the bottom of the chin. The spatial relationship of the teeth and the construction of the ear, each reveal the ratio as well. And the golden ratio is also found in the overall proportions of the human body. The different lengths of the finger bones, for example, the makeup of the feet and the toes, and even the structure of our DNA. What's more, as da Vinci observed so long ago, and Vitruvius long before him, the more the body embraces the golden ratio, the more beautiful it's perceived to be, which is

why it has been used by artists for centuries now to create more beautiful figures, and even more recently by modern plastic surgeons and cosmetic dentists to create more attractive faces and mouths. Now, some scientists have pointed out that you can find all kinds of various equations in nature if you look for them hard enough. But the golden ratio is so pervasive that it is impossible to dismiss it as merely a coincidence. it is impossible to dismiss it as merely a coincidence. And it has usefulness for our purposes here too, because by adjusting the size of various body parts in relation to others to align with this ratio, we can improve our visual attractiveness. And this is not a new concept either. Eugen Sandow was the first person actually to popularize this approach to bodybuilding, and he used it to build one of the most impressive physiques of his time. And that brings me to what

is called the Grecian ideal, and that's something that Eugen talked about. Now, this guy was renowned for his resemblance to classical Greek and Roman sculptures, which were known for their portrayal of the ideal male physique, a small waist that expands upward into a sweeping, powerful chest and wide shoulders. And then that is balanced by developed and defined legs. And if you pull up your favorite search engine and you look for Sandow doing his best impression of Glycon's statue of Hercules. So if you just search for Sandow Hercules, it'll probably come up. You can see that he did a pretty damn good job. There is a striking resemblance there. And that was no accident because Sandow measured the statues in museums that he aspired to look like. And he found that they had certain proportions between body parts

in common. And from these observations, Sandow developed his own blueprint for what he thought was the perfect physique. And he called that the Grecian ideal. And although he didn't know it at the time, Sandow's system for building a beautiful body revolves around the golden ratio. And it also then later served as a model for future bodybuilders who became known for their gracefully muscular physiques. You know, guys like Steve Reeves, Danny Padilla, Serge Nubre, Bob Parris, and of course Arnold Schwarzenegger. Perhaps no one better exemplified this approach to bodybuilding though than the one and only Frank Zane, who truly had outstanding proportions and symmetry given his size.

Hey, before we continue, if you like what I'm doing here on the podcast and elsewhere, and if you want to help me help more people get into the best shape of their lives, please consider checking out my VIP one-on-one coaching service. Now, my team and I have helped thousands of people of all ages, circumstances, and needs. So no matter how complicated or maybe even hopeless you might think your situation is, we will figure out how to get you the results you want. Every diet and training program we create is 100% custom. We provide daily workout logs and we do weekly accountability calls. Our clients get priority email service as well as discounts on supplements and the list goes on and on.

To learn more, just head over to legionathletics.com slash coaching. And if you like what you see, schedule your free consultation call. Now there's normally a wait list to work with our coaches and new slots do fill up very quickly. So if this sounds even remotely interesting to you, head over to legionathletics.com slash coaching now and schedule your free consultation call. And let's see if our program is a good fit for you. So what are these proportions and how can we use them to look like a Greek sculpture as well? Well, it starts with establishing reference points. So parts of the body that will determine how large other parts should be to achieve a maximally pleasing whole. Some of these reference points, such as the wrist and the knee,

don't change in size as you get older or gain or lose body fat or muscle, but others like the waist do. So for example, by measuring your wrist size, you can determine how large your upper arms should be. And then from that measurement, how large your calves should be. Your knee size determines how large your upper leg should be. And then your waist size tells you how broad chest and shoulders should be. So in other words, the ideal male physique really can be reduced to a pretty simple formulaic set of relationships between body part measurements. And here they are. The first one is your flexed arms should be 150% larger than the circumference of your non-dominant wrist. So this is wrist circumference times 2.5. That should be the size of your

flexed arms. Now to do this, to take these measurements, you first want to measure the smallest part of your wrist. So you want to find the bony lump on the outside of the wrist. It's called the styloid process. Open your hand and then wrap a tape measure around the space between that lump and your hand. And then to measure your arms, you want to measure the largest part of your flexed arms. So that's the peak of your biceps in the middle of your triceps. Now, some people say that you should only measure your non-dominant arm, but I like to measure both and then average the sum for a more accurate number.

And also by looking at both arms, you can identify any potential muscle imbalances between them. So you might find that one arm is slightly bigger than the other, and then you can address that. And I also recommend that you take these measurements under normal conditions. So that means no pump, no carb loading to increase your muscle size. Don't do it right after a workout. Do it like first thing in the morning, because if you don't do that, if you do it with a pump or if you've already eaten quite a bit of food, your measurements are really not going to reflect your everyday look, your everyday level of muscularity, which is really what matters the most, not how you look for the 30 minutes following a workout.

which is really what matters the most, not how you look for the 30 minutes following a workout. And some people say that this rule, this first criterion applies to an unflexed arm, not a flexed, but I disagree. My wrist, for example, is the wrist circumference is seven inches and my arms are about 17 inches flexed and about 14 and a half, 14 inches unflexed. And I think that they look nicely balanced in comparison to my chest and shoulders. But if I were to assume that this ratio applies to an unflexed arm, that means my arms would have to swell to like 17 inches unflexed and 20 plus inches flexed, which would look absolutely ridiculous and require copious steroid use. So even if you lack a prominent biceps peak, just stick with your flexed

measurements. All right, the second rule of thumb here is your flexed calves should match your flexed arms. And this is something that bodybuilders have been saying for a long time and is immediately obvious to the eye when you see it. When you have someone who has a big upper body, especially big arms and small calves, it just doesn't look as nice as bigger calves, even if they have big upper legs. And the reason why flexed calves, well, if we're going to measure flexed arms, we should also then measure flexed calves. So we're comparing apples and apples. So to do this, to flex your calves, you just raise your heel and you press your toes into the ground.

And then you wrap a measuring tape around the largest part of your calves. Again, measure both, average, and then see if there's any imbalance that needs to be corrected. both average and then see if there's any imbalance that needs to be corrected. All right, the third rule of thumb is your shoulder circumference should measure 1.618 times larger than your waist. So that's your waist circumference times 1.618. That should be your shoulder circumference. And this, of course, is what produces that coveted V taper that even scientific research has confirmed is attractive to women. Now, how do you take these measurements correctly? Well, to measure your waist correctly, you want to circle it with a measuring tape at your natural waistline, which is located just above your belly button and below your rib

cage. And don't suck in your stomach when you are doing this. And don't do it right after eating a big meal. Again, kind of first thing in the morning after you've gone to the bathroom is a good rule of thumb for these measurements. And then to measure your shoulder circumference, what you do is you stand upright with your arms just comfortably at your sides. So don't flare your elbows and don't spread your lats and just have a friend wrap a measuring tape around your shoulders and your chest at its widest point. So this is usually right around the top of your armpits. The next Grecian ideal criterion is your chest circumference should be 550% larger than the circumference of your non-dominant wrist. So this is wrist circumference times 6.5. Now,

there are other ways out there on the interwebs to reach the ideal chest measurement, but I like this because it's easy and reliable. It reliably produces not just reasonable results, but realistic results. So to do this, let's talk about measuring your chest circumference first. How do you do that? Well, what you do is you stand upright with your arms comfortably at your sides. Again, don't let your elbows or spread your lats and then have a friend place a measuring tape at the fullest part of one of your pecs and then wrap it around the other pec and then under the armpit across your shoulder blades under your other armpit right back to the starting point. Then just take in a normal breath. So don't overly expand or deflate your chest and note down the result. All right,

the next rule of thumb here is that your upper leg circumference should be 75% larger than your knee circumference. So this is your knee circumference times 1.75. So that means that yes, to qualify as a certified Ubermensch, you need an impressive set of wheels. We know that we don't skip leg day, do we? And to take these measurements first, let's talk about your knee circumference. And to do that, you just extend your leg and then you wrap a measuring tape around the middle of your kneecap. And then to measure your upper leg circumference, you want to flex your upper leg and then wrap measuring tape around the widest part of your thigh and hamstring. All right. So that's the model. That's what we're going for. Are you ready

to say you measure up before you do though, before you break out that tape measure, know this, if your body fat percentage is too high, your measurements will be skewed because some areas of your body are going to be affected more by this than others. So if you want to use everything I just discussed to see which parts of your body need improvement the most, you should get lean first. So specifically, I recommend that you get to somewhere around 10 to 12% body fat, which is lean enough to showcase your physique, but not so lean to be impractical or even unhealthy. And as for taking your measurements, it's a pretty straightforward process. You just take the following measurements first thing in the morning before eating or working out, after the bathroom, and just note down your numbers.

So you have your non-dominant wrist circumference, you have your arm circumference of both arms, you have your shoulder circumference, your chest circumference, your waist circumference, your upper leg circumference, both legs, your knee circumference, and your calf circumference, both calves. Then you compare your numbers against the formulas given earlier and you note your strengths and weaknesses. So for me, for example, here are my current measurements. I have a 7-inch non-dominant wrist. I have 17-inch arms, 51 52 inch shoulder circumference, 45 and a half inch chest circumference, 25 inch upper legs, and 17 and a half inch calves, I wish. And so then according to that, I should increase my shoulder, chest, upper leg, and calf measurements. And I mostly agree. My shoulders can always use a bit more goosing because you can never really have too

much shoulders as a natural weightlifter. And I'm pretty happy with my chest development. I'm two inches off the ideal, but I think my chest is already pretty big as it is. But I do agree that I could use more lats, which would then expand that chest measurement. And per bodybuilding standards, my upper legs are a little bit behind, but I like the look. I'm happy with where they're at. And quite frankly, I don't really want bigger upper legs. I mean, it's already hard enough to find jeans that fit. If I were to gain another inch on my legs, I'm not even sure that I could, but if I were to, I think I would just be wearing sweatpants or workout pants for the rest of my life. And finally, yes, my calves always need size. And I'm going to blame my

genetics at this point. I think it's a lost cause. I've trained them so many different ways and they've gotten as far as they've gotten. Maybe there's something that could save them outside of steroids, but I haven't found it yet. And all that brings me to an important point, which is that the Grecian ideal is a helpful reference point, but it's not dogma. So in many cases, like in mine, the targets that it's going to set can be unrealistic. Like no matter what I do, I will never have 17 inch calves, or maybe the targets can be a bit excessive. So I mentioned my chest already looks almost strangely big for my overall size. So there's really no point in trying to add another couple inches. And I don't think I could, even if

I did want to. So really the point here is that you take your measurements and you compare them against the model. And then you just see where you agree and you program your training accordingly. And you might be wondering how close you can get to the Grecian ideal. And applying the golden ratio to our body's proportions does give us these nice objective standards that we can strive for. But remember that our genetics are going to largely determine how close we can get to achieving these goals. While there's no simple pat way to calculate or predict exactly how big each of our major muscle groups can grow, there are some formulas that can actually give us reasonable estimates. So for example, thanks to the work of Dr. Casey Butt, you can use your height, body fat percentage, and your wrist and ankle

measurements to gain insight into how big you'll be able to grow your chest, biceps, forearms, neck, thigh, and calves. And if you want to play around with a calculator that does all the math for you, just head over to Legion Athletics and search for Ideal Male Body, and you'll find an article that this podcast is based on. Or just hit your favorite search engine and search for legion ideal meal body and you will find it and about at the midway point of the article there is a nifty calculator that will take your height your wrist ankle and body fat measurements and spit out your maximum stats without steroids. And something that is worth mentioning about these numbers though, is the data that was used to create these formulas almost certainly included

steroid users. So I think it's smart to reduce the targets produced by about 5%. And you should also keep in mind that the results from the calculator represent best possible outcomes and assume that you have good genetics and do everything right with your diet and training. But if you don't have good muscle building genetics or if you are not all that dedicated to your diet and training, then you will not be able to achieve the numbers that are spit out by this calculator. That said, it definitely is a useful tool though for estimating how close each of some of your major muscle groups can get to achieving the proportions of Sandow's Grecian ideal. So for example, me, I'm 6'2", I'm about 10% body fat right now, and my wrist is 7 inches and my ankle is 8 inches. So according to this calculator, the maximum measurements I could hope to achieve under ideal circumstances is a chest of 47.3 inches, chest circumference, biceps, 17.6 inches, forearms, 14.1 inches, neck, 17.1 inches, thighs, so upper

leg, 24.5 inches and calves, 16.4 inches. Now, as I said a moment ago, it's probably best to scale these numbers down a little bit. And then that gives 44.9 inch chest circumference. It gives a biceps measurement of 16.7 inches, forearms, 13.5 inches, neck, 16.2 inches, thighs, 23.3 inches, and calves, 15.6 inches. And for what it's worth, these numbers are spot on in my case. I'm right in the middle of both of those actually. They represent more or less exactly what I've been able to achieve in a decade now of high quality proper diet and training. I had trained for about seven years prior to that, but I didn't know what I was doing and I didn't gain that much muscle and very little strength for that. And accordingly, it's then fair for me to assume that most of my body parts are about as

big as they're ever going to get. And that also lines up with similar calculations of my overall genetic potential for whole body muscle gain. And those calculations say that there's very little, if any, muscle left for me to gain no matter what I do in the gym. And hey, I'm okay with that. I like the way my body looks. And of course, thanks in part to the fact that I've gotten are going to be able to achieve perfect ratios, and that is nothing to fret about. With the right plan and enough hard work, just about everyone can get a few of those key muscle groups like the chest and the shoulders and the arms and the upper legs up to snuff, and that alone is enough to build a physique that is head and shoulders above the average weightlifters,

not to mention the average guys. And if you can do that, and I promise you, you almost certainly can, and if you can maintain a relatively low body fat percentage, most guys seem to be most happy at 10, 11, 12% because you look good, you have abs, you don't have to be too OCD about your calorie intake, you get to quote unquote cheat, you get to have your free meals a couple times per week, go out to eat, drink some alcohol, whatever, and you look fantastic. And that is the end game, really. And then it's just maintaining that, which is much easier than getting there. You have to work way harder to get the body you want than you have to work to maintain it. And so that's my wish for you, that you put in the three to five years of hard work that are going to allow you to gain the amount of muscle

that you want in the places that you want it. Stay patient, follow well-designed strength training programs and effective meal plans, and you will get there. And chances are, you will be able to come very close to the Grecian ideal. Who knows? You might be able to nail it. Some people come with these, not just genetics in terms of how well do they respond to weightlifting, how much muscle can they gain or how quickly can they gain it, but also it's their physiology. It's their anatomy.

they gain or how quickly can they gain it, but also it's their physiology. It's their anatomy. You might just have the right setup to be able to get really right on the money with those key muscle groups that on the podcast and elsewhere, and if you want to help me help more people get into the best shape of all ages, circumstances, and needs. So no matter how complicated or maybe even hopeless you might think your situation is, we will figure it out and we will get you results. Every diet and every training program is 100% custom. We provide daily workout logs and do weekly accountability calls. Our clients get priority email service and discounts on supplements and other products, and the list of benefits goes on and on.

So to learn more, head over to www.legionathletics.com slash coaching. That's legionathletics.com slash coaching and schedule your free consultation call. I should also mention that there is usually a wait list and new slots do fill up very quickly. So do not wait. If this sounds even remotely interesting to you, go ahead and schedule your call now. Again, that URL is legionathletics.com slash coaching. All right. Well, that's it for today's episode. I hope you found it interesting and helpful. And if you did, and you don't mind doing me a favor, could you please leave a quick review for the podcast on iTunes or wherever you are listening from, because those reviews not only convince people that they should check out the show, they also increase the search

visibility and help more people find their way to me and to the podcast and learn how to build their best body ever as well. And of course, if you want to be notified when the next episode goes live, then simply subscribe to the podcast and whatever app you're using to listen, and you will not miss out on any of the new stuff that I have coming. And last, if you didn't like something about the show, then definitely shoot me an email at mike at muscleforlife.com and share your thoughts. Let me know how you think I could do this better. I read every email myself and I'm always looking for constructive feedback. All right. Thanks again for listening to this episode and I hope to hear from you soon.