What Kind of Physique Do Girls Like in Boys?

We polled 423 women to find out how muscular and slim men should be, as well as their favourite muscle parts and ideal body types. We shall discuss the outcomes in this article:

• What is the ideal amount of muscle mass for a man to achieve?

• Do women favour lower or upper bodies with more muscle?

• What physical attributes appeal most to women?

• What proportion of body fat is the most attractive?

• Which muscles appeal most to women?

• Does our appearance change with our neck size?

• Which body type is the most beautiful overall?

Here are the survey results:

To check the result super fast, go to bottom of this article.

We polled more than a thousand people to find out which body types they liked best. We only looked at modifiable characteristics, such body fat percentage, muscle mass, and muscle proportions. Since we can't do anything with information on height, bone structure, or muscle insertions, we weren't interested in that kind of information.

This article focuses on the most gorgeous bodies as judged by 423 straight women. There were no labels or orders on the bodies. We gave them this spread and inquired, for instance, "Which degree of muscularity do you find most attractive?"

Please take note that we are experts at helping slender persons gain muscle. The majority of the female respondents to our poll are trim, active, and have healthy diets. Of them, 82% are between the ages of 18 and 39, and 76% are Americans. This is not entirely consistent with the population at large. For example, it's possible that the typical woman favours larger males because they are heavier.

Another drawback is that men tend to pose in a way that makes them appear as slender and strong as possible when assessing their level of muscularity. Women are presumably evaluating guys on how they seem in regular situations rather than how strong they appear in their best poses. Guys that appear excessively muscular in t-shirt photos may look great when pumped up. At the beach, guys who seem great in the bathroom mirror may actually have a flat tummy. However, we can obtain a sense of the types of looks that appeal most to women.

Women were asked to choose the body they thought most appealing, not all bodies that they thought were attractive. It's possible that women found some or all of the possibilities to be appealing.

These are not photos; these are illustrations. This is a typical practice in attraction research and has certain benefits, such holding all other parameters constant except for the one up for vote. But there are drawbacks as well, such a diminished level of realism.

THE MOST ATTRACTIVE DEGREE OF MUSCULARITY

Women were evenly divided between the "athletic" and "strong" body types when asked which level of muscularity they were most drawn to; 51% of them chose the athletic build, while 43% chose the strong build. (Note that in the poll, I failed to label the bodies. "Body 1" was the choice made by women. As I discuss the outcomes, I'm naming them now.)

Just 6% of women voted for the strongest body type, while there were no votes for the slim body type. This is consistent with the findings of our earlier study and the general studies on beauty. There is one noteworthy exception, though. Strength and beauty showed a linear link in this study by Dr. Sell et al. A man was deemed more handsome and more muscular when he was stronger. Dr. Sell's findings would seem to indicate that the most handsome man would also be the most muscular.

I talked with Dr. Sell to find out the reason behind the discrepancy. After exchanging emails with him several times, I believe there are a few plausible explanations for why our study indicates that respondents like athletic bodies.

• Strong guys are perceived by women as conceited. However, if the man isn't conceited, that presumption would go as soon as you got to know him, eliminating the drawback. Moreover, the stigma may be exacerbated by the way shirtless guys appear particularly conceited when they pose in trunks.

• The prevailing evolutionary theory explains why women gravitate towards stronger males: men with greater strength are typically more fearsome, having superior fighting and resource-protecting skills. However, elite mixed martial artists lack the muscle mass of elite bodybuilders by a wide margin.

• College students participated in Dr. Sell's study. Since none of the guys in the sample were expected to have exceptional muscle-building genetics, they were probably significantly less muscular than the most prominent fitness influencers. Furthermore, college-aged males haven't had the time to develop to their full genetic potential for muscle mass. It's possible that the study's most muscular guys weren't all that muscular.

• Some men are capable of achieving levels of muscularity that were unheard of until lately. Even elite bodybuilders from the 1940s were nothing compared to today's natural bodybuilders, much less the guys using TRT, steroids, or SARMs. No developed desire exists for bodies that were nonexistent in the past.

Males like more muscular physiques than women do, which is another reason why males might be shocked that women aren't choosing the more muscular physiques. Men favoured the more muscular, "strong" body type when we asked them which body types they liked. This is also consistent with the findings of our earlier poll and with the body of research on attractiveness.

Let's see the results of what body type women like more:

These are the results for all kind of body parts which girls prefer.