Workout for Broad Chest & Slim Waist

Bodybuilding takes a lot of hard work and good nutrition. The payoff includes big, bulging muscles and the V-shaped body that most bodybuilders hope to achieve. The V-shaped body consists of wide muscular shoulders, ripped abs and a slim waist. The broad chest and back tapering to a slim waist is aesthetically pleasing to most people. You can achieve the symmetry of this type of body by doing exercises designed to broaden your back and chest and slimming your waist.

You can get a broad chest by doing a chest strengthening workout three times each week. Dumbbell exercises can build up your chest muscles for a wider chest in a few short weeks. Start by doing some dumbbell bench press exercises and chest flies using a heavy dumbbell of 10 pounds or more. Choose a weight that you can press for four sets of eight repetitions each. Pushups are a powerful chest exercise that works not only your pectoral muscles, but also your shoulders, back, arms and abs. Bench presses and pushups are powerful exercises that will help build your chest muscles.

Your chest will appear wider if you build your latissimus dorsi muscle, or your lats. Building up your lats will give help you achieve a V-shape torso with a wide upper body and narrow waist. Pull-down, pull-up and chin-up exercises will help to build your lats to broaden your chest and upper body. Pull down exercises build width to your chest and back. Rowing and lifts help to build your pecs as well as your shoulders and lats. When you first start building your lats for a wider chest, do four sets of five to six repetitions of each exercise. Increase the number of repetitions as your muscles grow stronger.

The quickest way to ripped abs and a slim waist is to do ab-strengthening exercises, including crunches. Crunches work your entire ab area, including your obliques, for a firmer, flatter abdomen. Knee lifts work your lower abs. Situps also help you develop a ripped waist. Grab a chin-up bar and do hanging knee lifts to work your entire abs and tighten your waist. Burn fat while doing ab strength-training exercises by moving from one exercise to the next with little or no rest between sets.

Bodybuilding can become an obsession, especially for men who already have a strong muscular build but believe they have not achieved a muscular body. People with muscle dysmorphia do not see themselves as having big, well-defined muscles. They will spend hours in the gym doing weight and resistance training, and may even lift weights despite an injury. In some extreme cases, a person with muscle dysmorphia might resort to steroids to help increase the size of their muscles; this could threaten good health. You only need to weight train three to four days each week to achieve a muscular chest and slim waist. Seek medical help if you or someone you know may be suffering from muscle dysmorphia.