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If you’ve ever walked into a gym, you’ll notice a variety of physiques. Unlike the extremely fat people who mostly look the same, the shredded individuals tend to differ.
While some people might have an amazing lower body, others will have chicken legs due to neglect.
Even in the upper body camp, there are primarily two different types of physique the torso dominant and the limb dominant.
While you might have your own personal preferences regarding which one you like better, it’s almost impossible to change your basic body type as it depends a lot on your genetics.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t train to change your physique, but genetics still remains a huge factor.
In this article, we’re going to take a look at what exactly an arm-dominant physique is and how you can change it or achieve it depending on your goals.
So without further ado, let’s jump into this rabbit hole of fitness knowledge that’ll help you on your fitness journey.
💡 Quick Tip: Want to build your arms? You got to put in the work even when you're not in the gym and that is why we say keep adjustable dumbbells at home!
Core Fitness Adjustable Dumbbells
Arm/Limb vs Torso Dominant: Which One’s Better?
There are all sorts of people in this world and along with the variety of personalities, there’s a huge variety of physiques and personal preferences as well.
From having arms built like a gun to having the back muscles of a god, athletes come in all shapes and sizes. While some people prefer the aesthetics of a v-taper that comes with a strong torso, others would rather have bulging arms than anything else.
There are basically two types of physiques: the limb/arm dominant and the torso dominant.
Limb Dominant
The limb-dominant people have a hard time widening their shoulders, enlarging their chests, and achieving the v-shaped taper. Even though these limb-dominant individuals can grow their legs and arms quite fast, they find the torso area to be a challenging one.
Torso Dominant
The torso-dominant individuals, on the other hand, find it easier to load muscle onto their torso, and it’s the arms and legs that give them a lot of trouble.
Which do women prefer?
You might be surprised! Muscle and Fitness ranked the most attractive body parts and found that women prefer abs most of all! 🤯1
But don't let that depress you. Overall strength and the body that shows it is still very important to women.
Here is the full list (and a bonus the best exercise to build each):
- Abs – planks
- Glutes – barbell squat
- Wide Shoulders – overhead press
- Tapered Back – pullup
- Strong Arms – biceps curls and triceps extensions
- Chest – bench press
- Face – plastic surgeon
- Mouth – dentist
- Hands – Fat Gripz
- Facial Hair – Red meat, screaming while deadlifting, and beard oil
So, overall it seems like women may prefer a torso dominant physique over an arm dominant one.
Focus on What Looks Good to You
This makes the comparison between any two physiques almost redundant. Since there’s no standard body type that’s supposed to be better than others, you’re free to choose what appeals the most to you.
Most of the time, our personal preferences are shaped by the athletes, movie stars, and models whom we idealize. Since everyone has a different upbringing and perspective with regards to training, only you’ll be able to pinpoint which physique you’d like to develop.
💡 Quick Tip: Want to build up a massive v shaped torso? We recommend focusing on your back. Chest is great but often overworked these days and nothing builds that v taper like strong lats!
Vanswe Lat Pulldown Machine
What if I Want to Change My Body Type?
A common misconception among most people is that they can do nothing about how their body looks because of their cursed genetics. This simply isn’t true and there are countless stories of people who trained to achieve a particular physique.
Sure, genetics do play a role in how your body appears after losing fat and gaining muscle, however, the role of training shouldn’t be undermined.
The best way to change your body type is to heavily focus on the area you want to grow.
Then just set aside two days every week to focus on growing those muscles.
Example plan if you want to grow your arms
Two days a week do the following:
- Standing EZ Bar Barbell Rows – 3 sets of 5 reps – We recommend using a rackable curl bar like this
- Dumbbell Concentration Curls – 3 sets of 12 reps – We recommend these adjustable dumbbells
- Waiter Curls – 3 sets of 15 reps
Example plan if you want to grow your overall torso
Two days a week do the following:
- Hanging Scapular pulls – 3 sets of as many as you can do
- Pull Ups – 3 sets of as many as you can do
- Lat Pulldowns – 3 sets of 8-12 reps
- Rows – 3 sets of 8-12 reps
Conclusion
All in all, it doesn’t really matter if you’re genetically proposed to a particular type of physique as long as your nutrition and training are on point.
Sure, it’ll take you some time to reach your goal physique if you aren’t genetically predisposed to it, but you’ll eventually achieve it. As long as you’re breaking down the right muscles and providing them with adequate protein and other nutrients, there’ll always be growth.
So don’t just go to a gym and start pumping out iron blindly, without a thought.
Try to find out your problem areas and devote sufficient time to bring a change.
Training can affect how your muscles grow to a huge extent and the ones who ignore it usually always wander off their fitness journey. If you stick to it in the long run, you’ll definitely see noticeable and measurable changes.
Footnotes
1 THE 10 MOST ATTRACTIVE BODY PARTS RANKED BY WOMEN
