What is the ideal male body type to attract women, an athletic or a muscular build?
Both body types are lean and strong, so which one do women like more?
In this article, I will compare the athletic build and the muscular build in terms of attractiveness to women as I had both body types at different points in my life (I rule the dad bod out because I had a dad bod for the better part of my adult life so trust me when I say it doesn’t attract women at all).
- An athletic build is defined as “toned”, “fit”, “not beefy”, “not overly muscular”, or “not bulky”. A man with an athletic build still has a considerable muscle mass but his muscles are not noticeable unless he takes his shirt off.
- A muscular build is defined as “big”, “jacked”, “beefy”, “brawny”, or “burly”. A muscular man’s muscles are noticeable even when he has a shirt on.
Most men believe that an athletic build is the most attractive male body type and women claim that bigger muscles are a turn-off to them. Who’s telling the truth?
I’ve lived long enough to know that what people say is often vastly different than what they actually do. This is especially true for women. We already know that women’s attraction advice is completely useless, but most men don’t know jack shit about what’s attractive to women either. Most men believe that women aren’t attracted to men with big muscles.
I don’t care about opinions, I only care about the facts. I watch what women do, not what they say.
Previously, I had a lean, athletic build. Now I have a muscular build. So I have enough life experience to decide which type of physique is the most attractive male physique.
When I had an athletic build, my muscles were only visible when I took my shirt off. When I had a shirt on, I looked like a normal guy. I used to believe that if I built six-pack abs, girls would flock to me like moths to a flame. But, the reality was different. Unless I went to the beach (which I hate) my muscles and my six-pack abs were mostly invisible to the women I wanted to attract. I could tell that women loved my muscles because they would go “wow” when I took my shirt off before sex but that wasn’t the time when I needed my muscles to attract them. There’s little point in attracting a woman more when she’s already attracted enough to decide to have sex with me. I wanted to attract them without having to take my shirt off. I wanted to look muscular with a shirt on. So I started lifting weights. After 8 months of lifting weights, I had added 12 pounds of muscle to my frame.
Adding 12 pounds of muscle made all the difference in the world. Now, my physique is a defining factor in all my interactions with other people, including my family. Almost everyone I encounter makes a comment about my muscles. Men in random places like the mall, grocery store, etc. approach me to ask how I built my muscles. Men in the gym are asking for training tips.
As I experienced with different body types at different times, I can clearly tell which type is the most attractive male physique.
A Muscular Physique Is The Ideal Male Body Type To Attract Women
After becoming noticeably muscular, the attention I get from women skyrocketed. I’m not tall, I’m of average height (5’9) and I don’t have a distinctly attractive face. Until I built a muscular physique, I was more or less invisible to women in public. In order to get girls, I had to work my ass off and push through a lot of rejections.
Now I’m living in a completely different reality. When I’m out, women don’t just look at me. They stare, they gawk. Groups of girls stare at me and giggle. Girls would never approach me. Now they do. I never had this kind of attention before and I like it. Call me superficial or shallow, I don’t care. I revel in the attention I get from women.
Banging girls got a lot easier. Before I was muscular, I needed to make up bullshit reasons to bring the girls to my house. Now, I just say “let’s go to my house” and they agree. I no longer need to jump through hoops to bring them home. My attempts to escalate are always welcome. In the past, when I bring a girl home and attempt at a kiss, girls would be coy about it. The escalation was slow. Now, I go for the kiss and there’s not even token resistance. I take her to bed and there’s no resistance either. At first, I couldn’t believe it. It was too good to be true. But now I’m getting used to it.
Tell me all about how girls love the Brad Pitt Fight Club look. I will not believe it. I believe what I see with my own eyes.
The sad part of this story is, no one tells men the truth about building muscle and attracting women. Men mistakenly believe that big muscles are unattractive to women and they write it off without even starting to train for size.
Having bigger muscles opens up a whole new world. If I knew big muscles would make such a difference, I would start building muscle at the age of 15.
Now I’m on my way to adding another 12 pounds of muscle to my frame. I’m certain that the bigger I get, the more girls I will attract.
What Does Science Say?
A recent study1 by Aaron Sell, Aaron W. Lukazsweski, Michael Townsley of Griffith University confirms my real-life experience.
Estimates of physical strength determined over 70% of men’s bodily attractiveness. Additional analyses showed that tallness and leanness were also favored, and, along with estimates of physical strength, accounted for 80% of men’s bodily attractiveness. Contrary to popular theories of men’s physical attractiveness, there was no evidence of a nonlinear effect; the strongest men were the most attractive in all samples.
I don’t need science to confirm what I’ve seen with my own eyes but there you go. Note that the study found being muscular is the #1 determinant of a man’s bodily attractiveness to women, even surpassing height.
More Evidence: Watch What Women Do
It’s common for women to say one thing and do the complete opposite. For example, they all say they want a nice guy but they dismiss nice guys in favor of bad boys. When you ask women about their preferred male body type, you will get a thousand different answers. It’s always a better idea to watch what they do rather than to listen to what they say.
Women are the target demographic of books in the erotica genre. When you look at the Amazon best sellers in erotica, you will notice that the majority of the best-selling book covers feature muscular men:
This is no accident. Marketers know full well that women fantasize about muscular men and they design the covers of erotica books accordingly.
You might object that women sexually fantasize about muscular men but they prefer other men for relationships but no. A brief look at the best selling books in the Amazon romance section reveals that women not only sexually desire muscular men but they also desire them romantically:
Women’s uncontrollable desire for muscular men is also apparent in their preference for movies. 96% of the audience that went to see the movie Magic Mike XXL in theatres are women. Just watching the trailer of the movie lets you know why women flocked to the theaters in droves to see the movie. It’s filled to the brim with muscular men:
I had to become muscular myself to witness the attraction women feel towards muscular men but when you look carefully, it’s there to see. Women love muscular men.
If You Are Not Muscular Then You Are Missing Out
Don’t believe what men who were never muscular have to say about the most attractive male physique. Don’t listen to women who claim to be turned off by bigger muscles. The reality is different.
There are few men who experienced being both athletic and muscular. Ask them and you will get the same answer. The bigger your muscles are the more attractive you are to women.
I hate the word “hack” but since you can build a noticeably muscular body by training only 3 hours a week for 2-3 years, building muscle is as close as it gets to a “hack” for attracting women.
Just 2-3 years of training can make you play the game on easy mode. 2-3 years of hard work can set you for life if you know what you are doing.
How To Build A Muscular Body That Women Love
I’ve been to various gyms around the world and I can confidently say that the majority of the men who are trying to build muscle are doing it wrong. There’s too much clutter and noise about fitness that finding muscle building information that gets results is harder than finding a needle in a haystack.
Building muscle isn’t complicated. Stick to the training and diet principles to get an athletic body and five essential principles of building muscle and it will only take you 2 to 3 years to build a muscular body that women love and men respect:
- Compound Exercises
- Progressive Overload
- Keeping a Training Journal
- Eating Right
- Consistency
All 5 principles are applicable to both bodyweight training and weightlifting. I started with bodyweight training and after I built a solid foundation I switched to lifting weights. I strongly recommend you to do the same. You can say that I’m only recommending it because that’s what worked for me but no. If you read Arnold Schwarzenegger’s book Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder, you will see that he recommends the same. Bodyweight exercises are great to get strong fast. You won’t get big with bodyweight training but you will build the muscular foundation that’s necessary for lifting weights. If can’t do 5 pull-ups then you have no business touching weights. Think about it. What’s the point of lifting weights when you can’t even lift your own body’s weight?
Moreover, most men are embarrassed to go to the gym and lift baby weights. Not when you start with bodyweight training. Bodyweight training built me such a strong muscular foundation that 4 months after I started lifting weights, I was deadlifting 460 pounds, bench pressing 275 pounds, squatting 365 pounds and military pressing 175 pounds. You don’t even need to go to the gym for bodyweight training. Get a pull-up bar, set it up in your home and you can do all your training in the comfort of your home.
Get a solid training routine and start bodyweight training. After you get lean and strong with bodyweight training, switch to lifting weights to add slabs of muscle to your foundation.
It will take about 2-3 years to get close to your genetic limits. After 3 years, your gains will creep down to crawl and there’s no reason to push beyond that point unless you want to be a competitive bodybuilder. Switch to the maintenance mode and just retain your muscle mass. Once you do the work and get muscular, it’s a lot easier to maintain your physique.
If it only takes 2-3 years of training to build an attractive body that will last for a lifetime then I can’t see a reason why you shouldn’t dive in with passion and determination. Being a man that women desire is one of the most reliable indicators that you are a winner. Building the ideal male body type is the fastest way to become attractive to women so, start building muscle today if you haven’t already.
Be sure to read:
- 10 Truths About Building Muscle That Nobody Wants To Believe
- Ripped with Bodyweight: 12-Week Program for Muscle Growth and Fat Loss, The ultimate bodyweight training program to build muscle fast while burning fat at the same time.
- Do Girls Like Muscles? – 10 Ways Building Muscle Helps You Get Laid
- Building Strength and Muscle: Bodyweight Training (Calisthenics) vs Weightlifting
- 10 Truths About Fitness That Nobody Wants To Believe
Footnotes
- Cues of upper body strength account for most of the variance in men’s bodily attractiveness, Aaron Sell, Aaron W. Lukazsweski, Michael Townsley, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2017)