Written by Tim Rigby
There’s nothing sexier than a muscular yet defined body, and of all your many muscle groups, there are three in particular which make you turn heads. Training to build and shape your abdominals, glutes, and biceps (in partnership with a healthy and clean diet) can really make you catch the attention you seek. Here’s a look at each of these three muscle groups, why they’re important to looking hot and fit, and a signature exercise per muscle group for you to perform.
ABS
Your core may be the be-all-and-end-all of looking hot. Society’s emphasis on a lean, chiseled abdominal section has gone through the roof in recent years. Gone are the days when only an exclusive group of people who had beautiful faces were considered attractive. Modern culture has opened it up for everyone, and as long as you have ripped abs, you don’t have to worry an ounce about whether you’re good-looking or not. Establishing a washboard mid-section is largely the by-product of very clean eating, however, if you really want to show off muscle definition and tone, then it behooves you train your abs too. Here’s an essential move to do:
>> Bicycle Crunch
A study from the American Council on Exercise ranked the bicycle crunch as the single most-effective move to activate stimulation in your abdominals. Lie on the floor facing upward, gently press your lower back into the floor, draw your knees in toward your chest, and raise your shoulder blades off the floor with your hands at the sides of your head. From here, straighten your left leg, and by rotating your core to the right, bring your left elbow toward your right knee. Reverse the motion past the point of origin and over to the other side, and keep repeating.
GLUTES
Your backside is very important when you’re trying to evoke a truly sexy psyche. Anthropologically speaking, curvy hips on a woman were thought by primitive man to mean she was the most likely to bear children, and therefore these attributes were considered attractive. Though even men today have embraced training this muscle group more and more, in an attempt to elicit a more male sexiness as well.
>> Romanian Deadlift
Okay, you already know how to deadlift, right? But wait – the Romanian variation of the DL contains some significant variations in execution in order to take the emphasis off your back and shift it squarely onto your butt. Here’s how to do it. Begin by grasping a barbell with an overhand grip of about shoulder width. Stand tall and let the bar hang in your extended arms in front of you. Bend at your hips in order to maintain a straight back while the bar descends in tight to the front of you; at the same time, your butt will stick out behind you. Pause in the bottom position, then reverse direction to return to the top.
BICEPS
The interior two heads of your upper arm have been directly associated with strength and power since the dawn of time. These days, of course, having massive, chiseled pipes are not something reserved exclusively for the men. Women too have come to appreciate the aesthetic value of biceps and have caught up to the men in making this muscle group represent hot and sexy. Since there are two of them, naturally, it’s equally as important to make sure they’re symmetrical and balanced, in addition to possessing great mass and definition.
>> Incline Dumbbell Curl
Let’s not mince words. We all know that it’s the “peaks” of your biceps that you really want to develop in order to show them off to your peers, judges or the opposite sex. The peak is made up of the long head of the biceps; as such, it requires training from a certain angle to stimulate the muscle most effectively. Specifically, an angle where your upper arms remain behind the plane of your body. The incline dumbbell curl achieves this wonderfully. Set up on the bench, palms up, keeping your upper arms fixed and behind you, and curl the weights as you would in a conventional curl. Forget preacher curls when you’re trying to heighten your peak. Stick to the incline dumbbell curl (or a cable curl variation that keeps your arms behind you).
