Genetics and symmetry

Many people suggest that you must be born with a genetic gift in order to attain such a physique, and there’s a lot of truth in that statement. Three time Mr. Olympia Frank Zane was once asked, “You are particularly famous for your body symmetry. Is there a special way that you train which gives you such great proportions?” Frank replied, “Blame it all on my parents. I guess I was just fortunate to have inherited good bone structure in the first instance.”

If you didn’t “choose” the right parents, what then? Don’t worry. There are specific qualities that create “the illusion” which are obtainable by all. Although not everyone is capable of developing the symmetry of Reeves, Zane or Labrada, every person can improve their muscle shape and symmetry above and beyond where it is today.

Some of the left-brained scientific types throw a tantrum the minute a bodybuilder mentions “muscle shaping.” It may be true that you can’t change your bone structure, muscle insertions or other genetic factors, but you can certainly change your overall body shape and improve your symmetry if you know how. In fact, that IS the very essence of what bodybuilding should be.

Let’s now take a look at some of the specific strategies that can literally sculpt your body into a work of art.

Balanced development

Almost everyone has a favorite body part or a body part that grows very easily. But favoritism in physique development can quickly destroy your shape. Frank Zane said, “The whole point is not to fall in love with one particular body part and throw everything else out.”

Many people believe that symmetry is the perfectly balanced development of every muscle in the body, but that’s only one aspect of symmetry. Having a huge upper body with toothpick legs makes you unsymmetrical, but there’s more to it than that.

Symmetry doesn’t always mean adding muscle evenly everywhere. Sometimes it means developing certain muscle groups to their absolute maximum, while minimizing others.

Low Body fat

One characteristic that will destroy anyone’s symmetry is excess body fat. It doesn’t matter how shapely your muscles are if they’re covered with a layer of squishy lard. Body fat adds width and circumference in the hips and waistline, which is one of the quickest ways to destroy your symmetry. Even if you’re not one of the “genetically blessed” with favorable bone structure and muscle insertions, reducing your waist size by losing body fat is a guaranteed way to improve your symmetry.

Tiny waist

The smaller your waist, the more of an “illusion” of symmetry you create. This is achieved mostly by fat reduction through nutrition and cardio. However, certain exercises can broaden the waist. Anything that builds the lateral obliques like dumbbell side bends, should be avoided. Certain athletes may use side bends for sports training purposes, but if symmetry is your goal, stay away from them.

Heavy squats can increase your hip and waist size too. This is especially true when performing the squat powerlifting style. If you are naturally thick waisted and wide in the hips with large glutes, avoid the back squat if you want to improve your symmetry.

Broad shoulders

Broadening your shoulders creates the optical illusion of a smaller waist, even if your waist size doesn’t change. To see just how much of a difference this makes, take a sock or a ball of tissue, and stuff it inside your shirt on each side of your shoulders. Then look in the mirror. Even a small increase in width completely transforms your appearance.

The portion of the shoulders you want to emphasize the most for symmetry is the lateral head of the deltoid. Most people overwork their front deltoids. They emphasize too many shoulder presses, front raises, and bench presses and not enough lateral raises.

I have never seen an exercise performed improperly more often than lateral raises. The most common error is to let the thumbs come up high and the elbows fall too low. The proper way to do lateral raises is to lead with the elbows and keep the palms facing down. To activate the side deltoid even more, you can use the “pour the water” technique, where you internally rotate your arm so your little finger is slightly higher than your thumb. Larry Scott, the first Mr. Olympia, used this technique to help him build some of the greatest shoulders ever, even though he wasn’t genetically gifted in the broad clavicles department.

Another terrific width builder is the medium or wide grip upright row. Most people perform this exercise with a narrow grip, which lets your trapezius hog all the glory. If you’re naturally narrow in the shoulders and you want to maximize your symmetry and V shape, avoid direct trap work in favor of side delt work.

Wide, tapering back

Lat width gives you a “V-Taper,” making your waist look smaller. Lat width is NOT easy to develop for most people and takes intense training and higher volume than other body parts. It also requires the proper selection of exercises.

All chin up and pulldown variations are great for lat width. It’s a myth that a wide grip makes your back wider. It’s not the grip width that affects fiber recruitment; it’s the angle of pull relative to your body position. Medium and close grip chin ups and pulldowns are equally if not more effective for developing the V shape as a wide grip.

Here’s five more tips on lat width: (1) To activate the Teres Major, which lies directly below your rear deltoids and also improves width, emphasize the stretch position on your pulldowns so you are leaning forward with your head dropped between your arms. (2) Perform a lot of seated rowing work with a medium overhand (pronated grip), pulling a short straight bar to your low pec line. (3) To work the Teres, get a full stretch and do not arch your back in the contracted position; to hit the mid back and lat belly, arch and get peak contraction. (4) If you have an adjustable height low pulley machine, set the height to 16” off the floor or seat level for your cable rows. (5)To put a real whooping on your lats, perform a maximum stretch exercise such as pullovers immediately after your pulldowns or chin ups in superset fashion.

Rows also help with width, but since they work the lat fibers that attach to the mid and upper spine, they are considered “thickness” exercises more than width exercises. A fully developed back has width and thickness, but to specialize on symmetry, do the majority of your exercises for width until you achieve the proportions you desire.