The Ideal Male Body: Which Bodies Did Women Rate As the Most Attractive?
We wanted to figure out which male body types women would find the most attractive, as well as which body types men thought women would find the most attractive. To do this, we ran an informal study, surveying over 1000 people to see which bodies they preferred. The results surprised us.
We created several photo arrays and asked women to rate which male bodies they found the most attractive. Then we asked men to guess which bodies the women had picked. It quickly became apparent that most men were trying to build bodies that women didn’t even find attractive, let alone ideal. (We’ve since confirmed these results with a second survey using illustrations instead of photos.)
There were some surprises for women, too. For example, when we asked women which celebrity had the most attractive body, the most popular response was Ryan Reynolds. However, when we cropped his head off and placed his body in a line-up, they told us he was overly lean and musclebound.
On the other hand, Brad Pitt’s headless body (as Tyler Durden in Fight Club) performed incredibly well in the photo arrays, being rated extremely attractive by both men and women, showing some overlap between male and female preferences. But what was so special about this particular body type?
After all, Ryan Reynolds is only slightly leaner and more muscular than Brad Pitt, and yet those tiny changes made a dramatic difference (for the worse). Women thought that Brad Pitt looked strong and healthy, whereas they thought Ryan Reynolds looked like a fitness model, assuming he must be obsessed with his appearance.
Along with covering which male bodies and physical traits were rated as the most attractive by women, we’ll also cover which physiques men found the most impressive and what level of leanness and muscularity guys were most eager to achieve.
Lesson #1: Strong Beats Musclebound
- Brad Pitt was rated as having the sexiest male body by 73% of women. Even the women who didn’t vote for him still found him attractive, with 87% of women saying he had a sexy physique.
- The punk musician Henry Rollins is in second place, with 12% of women choosing his body as their favourite. 42% of women said he had an attractive physique.
- The MMA fighter comes next, with 10% preferring his physique and 37% saying he was attractive.
- In last place, with just 1% of the vote, we have three-time Mr. Olympia winner Frank Zane—famous for shifting the bodybuilding world away from mass and toward aesthetics. (Evidently, there’s still some shifting to do before he lines up with what women are attracted to.)
There are some interesting findings here. It’s no big surprise Brad Pitt was rated as having the most attractive male body. His physique in Fight Club is famous for precisely that reason: both men and women love how it looks.
What surprised me was that Henry Rollins’ thin body type took second place, outperforming the athletes and bodybuilders. It’s worth noting, though, that even though Henry Rollins is relatively thin in that photo, he’s known for following a disciplined exercise routine.
Perhaps most surprisingly, Ville Valo, the thin goth icon, beat out Frank Zane, the king of bodybuilding aesthetics. I think I know why that is. More on that in a second.
I also found it interesting that while almost all women loved Brad Pitt’s size, some were turned off by guys who were just slightly bigger (such as the MMA athlete), whereas other women were turned off by guys who were just slightly smaller (such as Henry Rollins). There may be other factors playing into that, though, such as body-fat percentage and proportions, which we’ll cover later.
The most interesting result, though, was 50% of men who completed the survey wanted to look like the bodybuilder Frank Zane, beating out the 40% of guys who wanted to look like Brad Pitt. Half the men who completed the survey wanted to have the physique women find least attractive.
Other observations:
- If we filter the data by women who self-identified as athletes, there’s a preference for more muscular male body types. Brad Pitt drops to 54%, the heavyweight fighter jumps to 31%, and the bodybuilder jumps to 15%.
- If we filter the data by women who self-identified as creatives, the opposite happens, with a preference for thinner male physiques. Brad Pitt goes up to 73%, Henry Rollins goes up to 17%, and the heavyweight fighter drops to 7%
- If we look at the women interested in fashion, there’s an even stronger preference for thinner builds. Brad Pitt drops to 67%, the healthy-looking Henry Rollins goes up to 22%, and the skinny Ville Valo goes up to 11%.
- No matter how we filter the results, Brad Pit’s Fight Club physique was always the winner. It’s a physique that almost all women can agree is attractive, regardless of their personal preferences.
Lesson #2: Soft Isn’t Sexy, But Neither Is Bony
When comparing guys of different body-fat percentages and body mass indexes (BMI):
- Anthony Ketis from the Red Hot Chili Peppers took home the prize, with 58% of women preferring his body-fat percentage and 81% of women finding his body attractive.
- Gerard Butler’s overweight physique came in third, with only 15% of women preferring his higher body-fat percentage.
- Christian Bale, emaciated for his role in The Machinist, got 0 votes.
What’s interesting is that Anthony Ketis’ and Brad Pitt’s bodies are similar in many ways. Both have around the same BMI, both are lean, and both look healthy and fit. However, their muscle proportions are quite different.
Brad Pitt built his physique by lifting weights, and developing proportionally bigger shoulders, arms, and pecs, whereas Anthony Ketis built his body with surfing and cardio. Does that make a difference? More on that in a moment.
Lesson #3: Fitness Is More Attractive Than Bodybuilding
We asked women to check off everything they thought was important about a man’s physique. Here are the significant results:
- 89% of women said men who keep themselves in good shape are more attractive.
- 75% of women want their men to be stronger than them.
- 62% of women want a man who can protect them.
- 59% thought it was important for men to have bigger arms than them.
- 38% said that being physically strong was important.
- 38% said that having an average physique was okay.
- Only 3% said that being ripped and muscular was important.
Lesson #4: Being Obsessed with Looking Attractive Undermines Attractiveness
So far, it’s clear that women prefer the physiques of guys who are in great shape. All the top-rated bodies were built with exercise, and most of them were built by lifting weights.
However, women want a guy who looks athletic because he enjoys being active and lifting heavy things, not because he’s obsessed with his appearance. If a guy seems like he spends all day staring at himself in the mirror while doing bicep curls and sipping protein shakes, all of a sudden, he becomes even less attractive than the guy who doesn’t exercise at all.
To be clear, Brad Pitt, who built his physique by lifting weights, was rated as the most attractive by almost all the women who took the survey. However, Ryan Reynolds, who was only slightly leaner and more muscular, seemed to have a physique that looked contrived—like he must be a guy who’s overly concerned with his appearance.
- If you talk about wanting to be strong, how you enjoy lifting weights, and how you love cooking good food, you’ll gain points. 92% of women said they want a man who keeps himself in good shape.
- However, there’s a tipping point. Only 3% of women said that being a health nut was attractive. If you talk about bodybuilding in the gym every day, you’re obsessed with training for a marathon, or you get stressed out by the thought of having a beer, many women will see this as a red flag.
The more obsessed a man is with his body, the more unattractive it becomes. Women want fitness to be just one component of a balanced life.
Lesson #4: Modest Confidence is Attractive
Next, we asked women to tell us how much confidence, shame, indifference, or narcissism a man should feel about his body. Here’s what they answered:
- 62% thought men should have modest confidence
- 35% of women said that a man should have pure confidence
- 3% said that men should feel indifferent about their bodies
- 1 woman preferred insecure men
Lesson #5: Wives Don’t want their Husbands to Have a Dad Bod
We asked women in relationships if they would be okay with their partners being chubby, like the photo of Gerard Butler on the left, or if they would prefer if he were fit, like on the right.
- 78% of women said they wanted their partner in good shape, like the photo on the right.
- 21% of women said they didn’t care.
- 1% preferred the chubby version.
Lesson #6: Women Don’t Want Their Partners to be Underweight, Either
We asked women what they would prefer if they had a naturally skinny boyfriend or husband. Would it be okay if their partners were skinny, like the photo of Christian Bale on the left, or would they prefer if he bulked up, like on the right?
- 83% of women said they’d prefer if their partner bulked up
- 17% of women didn’t mind if he was skinny
Based on #5–6, I think the message is clear. If you’re skinny, you can improve your appearance by building muscle. If you’re skinny-fat, you’ll look better if you get into better shape. If you’re overweight, you’ll be more attractive if you can lose weight. The fitter you get, the better you’ll look.
Lesson #7: A Great Physique Won’t Ever Hurt Your Chances, But a Bad One Will Hurt Your Chances 97% of the Time
Next, we asked single women what they were looking for in a man when it comes to health, fitness, and his body:
- 62% of women were looking for a man with a great physique but pointed out that it was just one of many factors
- 13% said that a guy’s physique doesn’t need to be great; he shouldn’t be overweight or skinny
- 6% said that a guy having a great physique is one of the most important factors
- 2% said it shouldn’t matter but wouldn’t date a chubby guy
- 1% said it shouldn’t matter but wouldn’t date a skinny guy
- 1% said they truly wouldn’t mind if a guy is out of shape
Adding those groups up, 96% of women said they would prefer dating a guy who’s in good shape, whereas only 1% of women were totally open to dating men of any size or shape.
Now, to be clear, if you’re in bad shape, you can undoubtedly win a girl over based on a myriad of other attributes… but 97–99% would still have found you more attractive if you’d been in better shape.
Lesson #8: Women Don’t Like Guys Who Are Musclebound or Shredded
In this photo array, we chose male physiques featured on magazine covers because of their purported sex appeal. We asked women to rank their bodies from most attractive to least attractive.
63% of women said that Bob Harper, the celebrity personal trainer from The Biggest Loser, had the most attractive best male body. They told us that they chose his body because it looked “natural and fit.”
In second place, with 24% of votes, is Ryan Reynolds, who women said was less attractive because he was “excessively ripped.”
Up third, with 12% of votes, is the underwear model Scott Herman, another famous personal trainer who has modelled for Men’s Health. Again, women said that his body was too big, too muscular, and “overboard.”
In last place, with just 1% of the votes, we have Adrien Brody. Women said he was too thin.
Here are some quotes from the survey where the women explain why they chose a particular body:
- Because it’s at once lean and muscular. Not too muscular.
- It looks the most natural/normal.
- It looks healthy and not overdone!
- Fit but not overdone.
- Fit but not overly muscular.
- I don’t find particularly defined abdominal muscles nice looking.
- I don’t like overly defined abs. It looks less natural.
- He isn’t disgustingly ripped.
- It seems most proportional.
- It’s not… too much…
- Not excessively ripped!
- Not too overboard in fitness
- Healthy, toned, but not too much. The others are a little too intense.
- Looks healthy, young, and not overly defined
- The muscles are well-proportioned
- I don’t like too much muscle, but I don’t like skinny either.
- Not obsessively or overly muscular.
- Not over-the-top muscular.
- Not too buff, not too slim, just right 😉
- The abs don’t pop out as much. It looks more like the body of someone fit because of a sport as opposed to someone who does it for looks.
All of the answers say basically the same thing: there’s such a thing as being too lean. It turns out that women like guys who are in good shape because they live a healthy lifestyle, not because they’re obsessed with their appearance. When women see a guy with chiselled abs, they imagine a guy who cares about his appearance so much that he eats plain, low-sodium boiled chicken breasts and unsalted broccoli all day. That doesn’t look sexy to them; it just looks vain.
Ironically, women preferred the body of the personal trainer. He likely puts more effort into his physique than Ryan Reynolds does; it just doesn’t look that way.
Interestingly, when we asked men to guess which body women would find the most attractive, 60% guessed Ryan Reynolds, 22% guessed Scott Herman, and only 14% correctly guessed Bob Harper.
Lesson #9: Paradoxically, Bodybuilders Do Great With Women
It would be fair to assume that because bodybuilders are consistently being ranked as having worse physiques by women, they’d have trouble dating. That’s actually not true, and it has to do with how rare their bodies are.
Only a small subset of women adore bodybuilder bodies, but since there are even fewer bodybuilders out there, they still have plenty of women to choose from.
Think of it this way: if 5% of women prefer how bodybuilders look, but only 1% of men look like bodybuilders, you have a situation where five women are competing for each bodybuilder. Perhaps that’s why guys with more impressive physiques are so certain women love big muscles. In their world, women do love big muscles.
Now consider someone who’s out of shape. Let’s say 5% of women are perfectly okay dating someone who’s out of shape, but 90% of guys are out of shape. Now you have a sea of men competing for just a few women.
Lesson #9.5: Grooming and Manscaping
- Hair length: Most girls like guys with medium-length (39.2%) or short (39%) hair. Only 8% of women prefer men with long hair. But because fewer than 8% of men have long hair, every guy with long hair will have multiple women who favour him.
- Chest hair: 85% of women liked guys with chest hair. However, many of them pointed out that if a guy is incredibly hairy, they will find him more attractive if he tames his chest hair (without shaving it off completely). 15% of women liked guys with shaved chests.
- Facial hair: When it comes to facial hair, 60% of women preferred scruffy guys because they thought it looked the most masculine.
- 6% of women preferred men with beards. However, less than 1% of preferred the massive Hell’s Angels-style beards. 0% of women preferred men with moustaches and goatees. (Fortunately, my wife is okay with mine.)
- Manscaping (shaving pubic hair): 93% of women said they preferred men with pubic hair, with 91% wanting it trimmed. 7% of women preferred men with completely shaved pubic hair.
Lesson #10: Confirming Results with Speedos
In this photo array, we found photos of guys in speedos and had women rank their physiques from the most attractive to the least attractive.
As expected, the guy who looked naturally athletic was rated as having the most attractive body type, beating out the guys who weren’t as muscular, as well as the guys who were considered musclebound.
Speaking of speedos, there’s a weird phenomenon where male muscularity tends to be judged by just upper-body muscularity. Leg size doesn’t seem to be much of a factor.
When it comes to the female bodies men find most attractive, lower-body size matters greatly. It’s an interesting difference in how men and women think differently about attractiveness. (For more, we conducted an attractiveness survey for women and wrote about the most attractive female body.)
Which Male Physique Was Rated #1 Overall?
Finally, we showed women all the photos at once and asked them to pick their absolute favourite male physique. Here’s what happened:
- Brad Pitt’s body came in first, with 23% of women saying that his torso was the sexiest male physique overall. If there’s an ideal male physique, it seems like this is it.
- 19% of women chose Bob Harper’s body as the most attractive overall.
- 15% of women chose the muscular beach body, an old-time natural lifter, back before steroids were invented.
There are a few interesting things about these results:
- Women preferred the bodies of guys who lift over the bodies of guys who do cardio. Anthony Ketis’ surfer body didn’t make it into the top three. In fact, all three most attractive bodies were the result of lifting weights.
- There’s a range of perfection. It would help if you were muscular, but not too muscular. Being slim and well-muscled is perfect, and so is being bigger and more muscular, so long as your body still looks natural, healthy, and not overly contrived.
- Women don’t care if you have abs.
Which physique was rated #1 overall by men? When we asked men which male physique they thought looked the best, the vast majority preferred Zyzz’s body— a body that didn’t even register on women’s radar.
However, Brad Pitt’s Fight Club physique was also quite popular, making it a great example of a body considered ideal by both men and women.
Here are some other articles you might like:
- How to Build an Attractive Physique: An article going over all the major attractiveness research. I also spoke with a leading attractiveness researcher.
- Why Are Some People Naturally Thin? Explaining how genetic factors can combine together, predisposing some people to be skinny.
Ooh awesome. Very interesting, is there one for what guys like about girls??
Yeah, we’ve got an article about the most attractive female body, too 🙂
I’d like a post about what kind of female body guys like best.
I’m kind of at a loss, because they don’t like skinny girls, a lot don’t like girls with big boobs, and I’ve heard over and over that athletic girls look scary.
So yes, a poll would be nice.
/<3
Looks like we have more female followers than I thought! Right on. I’ll create a survey like we did for this one. I have a feeling the result will be the same: a fit and healthy looking woman with a positive and confident attitude about her physique will take the prize. We’ll see!
It’s similar to what women want, I think. A mix between them all not overly leaning to one side so much that they become a caricature.
I like a woman who is lean but not ripped and can see all 8 abs. I like a woman who is athletic but not man-like arms, pecs, big neck/shoulders, etc. — just a hint of back muscle and a hint of tone in the arms but overall still very soft and “feminine” looking. I like a woman’s boobs and ass to be plump, firm, and a hand-full.. but not huge and floppy. That is, a booty that pops out in pants and underwear but not so huge that my head would disappear when she rides my face. I like boobs that I can grab with my hand and not completely engulf them but also not barely cover the tip. Less than D’s but still enough to bounce when running or to be able to “show cleavage” in certain clothes.
Summary: Skinny but not skeletal. Athletic but still ‘soft and supple’. Big boobs but only big compared to non-existent boobs — not a competition. Big booty but still holding shape and staying firm — not a kardashian. Again, balance NOT a living caricature.
In the end, though, even if you stray too much in any one of these areas.. men just find women that are trying, and that have decent success, sexy as fuck. Period. My girl has a little too big of a booty but not by much and a little less lean than perfect… but when she strips down and is walking towards me… gah damn.
So don’t overfocus on this shit so much, pay more attention to the general sentiment in this article “Looks like they’re trying but aren’t absolutely neurotic and obsessed about perfecting everything”. Because in the end it should be a side-issue to your main purposes in life. If looks ARE your purpose in life then you will probably stray too much in one or more of these areas and turn off more men than if you were straying too much in the opposite direction.
Small boobs > massive boobs
Small booty > kardashian booty
Slightly chubby or too petite > ripped as fuck
I like skinny woman and all other woman except obese, chubby is okay so probably similar to the women’s poll
I could be the minority, but I find 2 body types in women to be physically attractive. 1 being moderately athletic and 2 being petite. Butt definitely needs to be there, but it doesn’t need to even be average size, just noticeable. I find huge boobs as a huge turn off. I am attracted to average size and even small sized- (if the girl is petite figured). I can say that (a lot) of us men are equally attracted to a girl of ANY height (being moderately short, to super tall). The reason we prefer someone shorter because (a lot) of women are attracted to taller men and we need to not be fearful of how the girl we love perceives us physically, in order for us to be confident (an attractive trait). The biggest turn off of them all for us (good men), is actually the fact that they’re beautiful or perfect, so a lot of us who desire someone real, may not even pay a lick of attention to a super hot girl. A lot of good men may strive towards physically average women with imperfections out of fear of trust. Then get to know them of course. Hope I helped 🙂
Zyzz
Our research actually indicated otherwise, surprisingly!
I agree
Excellent article, i cant wait to hit the gym again once i return home from travelling.
What a waste of my time! This is the worst experiment Ive ever seen! Im a guy and I could pick these numbers! Honestly who wouldnt rate the Frank Zane worst or the Anorexic last or second to last? Anyone who watches fuckin movies could see that the first rated picture belongs to Brad Pitt… And no duh that they pick the fit version of Gerrard Butler or Christian Bale vs the skinny or fat version of him. Do you guys really think girls pay less attention to media and movies than guys do? Honestly?!
We surveyed guys, actually, and they couldn’t. If you look at #8 they incorrectly guessed what women wanted. The men thought women wanted quite muscular guys with very low bodyfat — not the case. If you check out bodybuilding forums you’d be surprised at the number of guys that think that the bigger you are the more mainstream appeal you have. We actually have a bit of a backlash in some of them, because people think that our survey is wrong — that women actually like far bigger guys.
But you have a point! Doesn’t take a genius to realize that Brad’s got the bod that women want!
I think your article probably notes some basic preferences of women. The issue is for the pic of Brad Pitts body you choose one that is highly recognizable as Brad Pitts body, and for many women they will likely think of his other features when picking it as number one. I mean women are choosing the body with blood and dirt on it lol; obviously they know where the pic came from. I am pretty sure if you choose a pic of Brad Pitts body in Troy with his roman trousers still on then you would see 86 percent of women choosing the well built body, which more or less resembles the overall 3rd place winner. Overall though the main take away is that not that many women would choose the bodybuilders body over a lean athletic body.
I think you’re right. If the results weren’t so consistent across all the different photo arrays, I think using Brad Pitt’s body would have turned out to be a real problem. Fortunately, in every single photo array, women chose bodies with similar muscularity and a similar body-fat percentage. I think you’re right about the conclusion we can infer from that, yeah: women find guys who are lean and athletic more attractive than bodybuilders and fitness models.
I’m also going to run a new survey using illustrations. That way I can single out single variables at a time. For example, keeping bone structure and muscle mass identical while fiddling with body-fat percentage. There are limitations to using illustrations as well, but that way we’ll have both 🙂
You’re wrong in that level of name effect, I didn’t recongnise him until I read the text and he was the most appealing before that (in fact his face would only make the picture worse, not my kind), it’s just what I and other girls I talked to like, not against broader body with higher fat percentage, but more muscles? nah, bodybuilders are liked mostly by other bodybuilders.
Very interesting!
Interesting, but it would be great to perform the study with a bit more science-y rigor, because there are some clear errors of study design.
One of the worst: Body language and position can affect people’s perceptions strongly. In Lesson #8, the lowest ranking picture has his hands crossed in front of him. There’s no coincidence there–crossed hands indicates anger or aggression.
Also, lighting, clothing, and tattoos can also subconsciously influence viewers.
So, interesting study, but if you repeat it, you’d need torso photos in the same posture, clothing, and lighting.
THEN you’d have some science.
Oh, and, uh, I forgot to tell you: you can’t believe what women say they like. Sometimes they don’t even know. The only way you can tell for sure is to check to see if their vaginas get lubricated. Pussy wetness uber-alles: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/magazine/25desire-t.html?pagewanted=all
Actions speak louder than words.. when I go out with my bodybuilder buddies who have 18 inch biceps and sculpted, bulky pecs and delts, I see the looks they get. I’m fit, athletic, and muscular, but in a button-down shirt, you can’t tell.
This study is crap, haha.
Girls like Brad Pitt. Real women like real men. Like Zyzz.
And even girls be mirin Zyzz-bodies. U mad?
This study is flawed in so many ways, its useless. Women do not respond just to muscularity and fat levels.. the tattoos are a huge influence, and deciding to use celebrities shows that the editors decided, ahead of time, a desired result, and picked images to reach that goal.
Too bad, could have been a useful article.
real women like real men like zyzz? so real women are necro’s?
hmmmm
Could have been more scientific, but at least they showed what they showed. Had they not shown the pictures they used it would be a lot harder to evaluate the merit and come to our own conclusions.
And sure lighting and positioning plays a role, but it looks to my like the bodybuilders have some pretty favourable lighting going on and some pretty well practiced poses.
BPIFC for the win
Sure if you take some photos and put them next to one another the guy with the Brad Pitt body might win. Put that guy next to Zyzz in a bar and girls will go for Zyzz. Why? Because Zyzz has the status. He has hte power.
Maybe the brah’s should decide to actually read the article instead of just looking at the photos (they are pretty). Why does it matter if Zyzz has more ‘girls mirin’ his body, or that it is obvious that brad pitt is the ‘celeb hottie’?
Bringing the entire article down to these few points is probably distilling it a bit too much, so READ the article:
Be fit and healthy and ENJOY it
Be CONFIDENT but not Obsessive
Be CONSCIOUS of your fitness and your body
This has some great tips on how to approach fitness, and life in general. Thanks!
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lettuce be reality
Zyzz’ body is better, the girls who voted against it are just fat and don’t want to feel insecure around the great god Zyzz.
“Women don’t know what they want until it’s right in front of them”-GymShowerNap
Guys who lift for girls are failures to begin with, Zyzz has the perfect body regardless of these results. Lol at brad pitts body being the ‘ideal’. That takes 3 months to achieve.
Awesome pics. Great size. Look thick. Solid. Tight. Keep us all posted on your continued progress with any new progress pics or vid clips. Show us what you got man. Wanna see how freakin’ huge, solid, thick and tight you can get. Thanks for the motivation.
ZYZZ
Whales, good luck with your unaesthetic-seeking goals of 2012.
Brad Pitt does have the sexiest bod! Bob harper is great too,and he is such a good role model on the Biggest Loser!<3
I would never even consider dating one of the steroid munching micro penis losers lol.
@sally randolf
I do the same thing, laugh with my boys when fat girls like you think we are checking them out. Jakes on you.
@myrongaines
lol hun referring to yourself as “alpha” that’s so cute.
I am far from fat you little insecure nerd.
Sally I accept your apology.
Wowza! I beat out Zyzz huh? Pretty big honor! Thank you to all of you beautiful women! *wink*
WTF so the people who win are ‘do you even lift?’ers?!
the fuck man,.. the fuck?
There have been studies done looking into the choices certain subjects make, and how they are based on their own personal insecurities. I don’t know the name of the journal article off the top of my mind, but it was released in 2009, I believe, in a major Psychology journal.
The data and results were overwhelming, and I can no longer take surveys seriously without looking at the subjects themselves.
I hate to say it, but I’m pretty sure that the majority of women didn’t go for the ideal male physique because of insecurities and short comings. I’m confident you will find a correlation between the choices the women make and their own physical appearance; i.e. confident/attractive females would be more likely to choose fit and defined body types (Reynolds/Zyzz/bodybuilder tpye) as compared to less attractive women who would choose more mediocre/average fitness/less fit bodies.
Whales gon whale
Any unaesthetic ganga who filled out this survey would cream herself if she saw Zyzz a few feet in front of her.
this is moronic at best. Guys shouldn’t work out for what WOMEN desire but for themselves. Define your surroundings don’t let them define you or else you have no personality. Who cares what women think ? At the end of the day it is about smarts, personality and wit. I work out to have a healthy body, to be stronger and to feel like i am setting myself goals and accomplishing them it makes me feel awesome to excel in something, looks are just a bonus. Innate insticts drive women towards funny and intelligent guys (it shows good brain function, essential for survival/success) and fit guys (good brain function, also essential for aformentioned) Notice how every constatation based on physique associates a personality to said guy ”looks like he tries too much”. It shows all that matters in the end is PERSONALITY, therefore intelligence.
Wimenz dun goofd. Zyzz is God. dealwithit
Should redo the survey by taking the opinions of women guys want vs the opinions of women who weigh more than 300 pounds
listen here man. I don’t know who you think you are. I really don’t, but you are really killing me inside. Killing me to the point where I just don’t want to see your face anymore. You have taken everything from me. My family. My girlfriend. My fkin cat. What the fck else do you want? MY SOUL MAN? MY SOUL? Get out of my face. Get out of my life, because I just can’t take it anymore. I can’t take the constant pain that you provide. I can’t take being without it.
ZYZZ IS THE KING.
ZYZZ HAS AESTHETICS.
RIP ZYZZ THE GOD
I would love to know how the results would change if the girls had to choose if they had those bodies in front of them. Something tells me Zyzz’s body would more than register on their radars.
this really depends on the girls that were surveyed.. hot chicks love muscular guys, fat chicks dig equally fat guys, and lazy skinnyh chicks love athletic guys
Just watch women when a ripped guy enters the room… Although they would never admit it. Because they cant speak as open about their desires as we do or they would be considered slutty.
Therefore you would have to test it like in that NYT article with their vaginal arousal. Cant LIE there.
Lol at this, girls are just intimidated by the Zyzz physique, he tops everyone else (no homo). Zyzz>Everyone
Why would we care about the opinions of whales again?
#$%&* be crazy
Ahahaha looks like we’ve confirmed at least some of the results of the survey — men do indeed prefer Zyzz!
If Zyzz got so many women with his body, why did he have to fly to Thailand to get laid like every other loser?
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Most men will not understand women and vice versa. But the writing is on the wall. MOST women (of all types) do not like overly muscled unnatural looking men. Those that DO are other bodybuilders and homosexuals. Simple.
For most men, shrink your waist and increase your shoulder width. The proportioned V taper is what women find attractive. If you take steroids you are an insecure wimp who once they go off their cycle have the same testosterone level as a 12 year old girl. Steroids make you LESS of a man.
I’m fawkin zeezbrah… saw this on Tmisc. Strong article is strong.
lol @ caring what women think.
Son of Zeus. Brother of Hercules. Father of Aesthetics. ZYZZ
lol what women say they want and what they want in practice is very different.
Just look at all the bishes Zyzz pulled with no effort
Also who listens to women anyway?
ITT: 85% of girls asked were fat as phuck and therefore cannot comprehend Frank Zane’s aesthetics.
oh, and everyone knows women don’t have a fukin clue of what they want.
edit: strong MISC presence ITT
I am demanding that you question us males and do a male survey, so that women know what to fix on themselves. Women are far too picky and the average female is either let themselves go or just plain unfit, they’re idea of “fit” is a swimmers build that requires little to no muscle development just fat loss.
Regards,
Hugh Ghaines
@Zyzzforbrains Watchout your comments mate. Why the hell would Zyzz go to Thailand of all places to get women? Have you not seen the women mirin him at festivals and in malls.
I’m pretty sure if they saw zyzz right in front of them, the ladies would just melt down and try to rape him on the spot. I would like to know which women took this survey.
lol @ acting like females actually know what they want. brad pitt = good looking celebrity with status and money, they already know him, of course they would pick him. but put zyzz brah in a room with these ugly ass chicks and i guarantee they will wet themselves (no nuthugg)
Most of these chicks being tested were probley over weight, tbh, they know they can’t hook up with a guy like that so they stoop to lower standards, afraid of the man looking better then themselves.
Yes my jimmies are rustled
Anyone who lifts to get chicks is a beta
It’s called cognitive-dissonance.
Brother of Hercules.
/discussion.
asking women what they want in terms of aesthetics? that’s a horrible idea.
obviously women are not going to pick the most proportionately aesthetic man, aka Zane or Zyzz. Not saying that some do have their personal preference, but i think most answers come from either their own insecurities or from a fear of coming off as shallow to the person conducting the survey.
moral of the survey, Zyzz and Zane win. every time.
The percentages only add up to 57%, so Zyzz won with 43%? IM FAWKIN ZEEZ BRUH
Man. So much guys got sooo mad here.
>2012
>lifting for women
>2012
>thinking you know what women want.
This just proves how dumb some women can be, 8% they would prefer christian bale stay as an aushuwitz level of skinniness? being that underweight is dangerous, not healthy.
Also, lifting for girls is not a good reason to lift in the first place, lolz curls for the gurls.
Gotta target that bicep from 30 different angles for wiminz.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/magazine/25desire-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
Very interesting article. We love that stuff. Thanks for posting it 🙂
Problems with this study:
1) Tattoos. They affect the score, many girls like them.
2) Celebrities. You should have used similar photos of total strangers. People recognize Brad Pitt even without the head. Even girls do.
Also the women that voted came most likely from all walks of life. But the fact is, that the hot girls with a fit and sexy bikini model body prefer more muscular guys. Fatties and nerds don’t. So if you want a hot girl, better get ripped. Not too much of course, pro bodybuilders and steroid monsters go too far.
How would you define short, medium and long hair?
I’d say short would be a buzz cut, medium would be a shag, long would be anything beyond that, and mine would be very long.
See, your average girl can’t really tell the specifics of fitness, musculature, and body fat among males.
“What do men think? They preferred Zyzz’s body (right) — the body that didn’t even register on the females’ radar because of its too-swollen muscles and too-chiseled abs.”
And proves my point exactly. Women don’t know anything about male fitness beyond a certain point. No self-respecting male who’s been lifting longer than 1 month would ever make Brad Pitt his goal body; everyone knows that pic is no muscle and just low bodyfat. The difference between Zyzz and Brad Pitt is that Zyzz had even lower body fat, and much more muscle at a height taller than Brad Pitt, which makes Zyzz’s accomplishments even more amazing.
Women want tall men:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22gtSCJd9jA
END OF STORY.
I didn’t recognize initally who Ryan Reynolds was until I googled him. It’s his face. That’s it. He’d handsome but in an approachable way. Really his body is almost a contrast to his face.
Shit poll because no Zyzz #1 king of aesthetics
As a woman, and yes, a fit in-shape one. My question to all you men insulting women is, why on earth does it matter what size a woman is? Does that make her stupid? Does that change what she finds attractive in a male body?
Please, go tell one of your female friends, if you have any, that a woman’s waist size dictates how intelligent she is. Say it to your mother, or grandmother. Say it to a college professor, and see what they have to say about -your- intelligence.
I think this study is spot on, and I eagerly look forward to seeing one about what men want in a female body as opposed to what women think they want.
I sincerely hope the comments by women there are as flattering to men as the comments here are to women.
Lots of guys here seem to have a boner for zyzz. Dude was ripped and popular, now dead. Get over it.
U MIRIN
Interesting how the images with the winning physiques for women also featured men with tattoos or, in the case of Brad Pitt’s image, in a context of something rough, dirty, and even a bit bloodied. To even approach something akin to an empirical study, the researchers would need to remove external modifiers like the “bad boy” vibe those images convey because those elements create the potential for bias towards one image over another due to factors that are outside of what they were trying to assess. Not that I’m suggesting the more athletic yet less gym-obsessed look isn’t more pleasing. I’m just pointing out that there are still other biases that may be swaying the numbers.
As GymGuy pointed out, they would need to use models that do not have tattoos and are not identified as a celebrity (you’d have to have lived under a rock not to recognize that Fight Club image even without the head (I’ve never even seen the movie and I recognize it)) to level the playing field in a way that would make the numbers a little more reliable. Better yet, use digital models based on real models so you also remove other variables like skin tone/condition/etc. Simply showing photos of torsos does not lead to a study that sufficiently eliminates uncontrolled variables in a way that generates numbers that could be considered reliable and unbiased in any way other than the bias the researchers were studying.
[…] tiempo fué publicada una encuesta hecha por la gente de Foxhound Studio acerca del tipo de cuerpo masculino ideal tanto para las […]
Women do not know what they want. Nor do men; nobody does.
For example, if you Google “hot guy” you will get pages and pages of pictures of hairless guys.
Yet in the survey women say they prefer the natural look unless you are super hairy. Wrong. They do not prefer that. That is what they say they prefer during a survey. Where are all the models with chest hair? Nowhere to be found. During a survey question about manscaping, women do not want to choose the man who seems like he works too much on himself. But when presented with a line up of guys, she’ll choose the hairless ones because she is not thinking about whether the guy engages in her ideal of not shaving and being perfectly hot naturally. All she is thinking about is who is hottest.
Who am I to say that people are wrong in their own answers? A student of economics who knows that people are frequently drastically different in their revealed preferences vs what they are surveyed on.
Remember to look at people’s revealed preferences as your more reliable guide to action.
Lol at at the bros and roid heads that want confirmation on their gross ideals, despite clear evidence otherwise. This study is right inline with any male that doesn’t have low-esteem or isn’t brain washed. I bet girls have the same reaction to articles that show skinny is grosss. lol. Still going for a Zyzz+ look though, just not doing it to get laidddd. Losers.
>2012
>Women knowing what they want
>lulz pick one
Oh and…Zyzzbrah not being #1 pleaseeee
Honestly comes down to the fact that if you are doing it for girls than you probably are the same phaggot that never squats or train legs. In the gym for the wrong reason and should quit while youre ahead. people should start worrying about themselves than about what other people think. Is that narcissism? I guess so but I would rather put myself first than some bish I want to “please”. There’s lots of bishes in the world anyway and it’s fact Zyzz pulled some of the hottest gangas so there is no argument. Girls don’t know what they want so Potatoes gonna potate.
Boy, it’s confusing. As a male I wouldn’t want to look like some jacked bodybuilder…just not my thing. I appreciate the work they do and their achievement. It’s just out of step with how men naturally look. Even the Brad Pitt bod is a reach for most, but somewhere just off that would be good. Typically guys don’t want to starve themselves to stretch their skin that tightly.
Basically this research and string of comments brings me back to square one— Your body type is more about personal identity than it is about what random women think looks good. Just have the type of body which you can identify with most and are comfortable in. There’s always going to be women in a so called ‘percentage zone’ who will like you, yeah even if you are on far ends of fat, skinny, or built. It’s all about identity.
Zyzz had insane success with girls, much of it documented in pictures or videos. As a guy with the Henry Rollins body I will gladly admit adult women prefer Zyzz’s physique. That’s why we all wanna get big and ripped like the god of aesthetics himself.
Lulz, bishes don’t know what they want.
Zyzz>anyone
/Website
I’m not surprised at all that the women love Brad because of his sex appeal and extreme attractiveness on women.
But us guys can’t complain of what women like and pleasing women especially in this era is extremely impossible. You may think you’re a 7 or 8 on a scale of 1-10 but women would rate you an 2 or 3. According to women us guys highly overrate ourselves.
[…] Polls on what both men and women consider the ideal male body (WARNING: images may be triggering for readers in ED recovery) reveal in no uncertain terms that the “women should order the salad, men can do whatever they want” mentality is as big a lie as Manti Te’o’s girlfriend. Men are expected to fit the Christian-Bale-as-Bruce-Wayne physique: broad shoulders, narrow waist, abs so defined they look like the individual compartments of an ice cube tray. Still, that same poll points out the Catch-22 of the ideal body: 86.7% of women surveyed think the ideal man needs to be as muscular as Batman, but 91.2% think that an obsessive workout regime would be a turn-off. Is there another way to look like Christian Bale? I’m thinking not so much. Even Christian Bale would tell you that he wasn’t born looking like Christian Bale. Calvin Klein’s Ad “Gears” […]
All this article does is move the goal-posts for what is the standardised beauty norm.
Some people love “emaciators, chubsters and steroid monkeys” (way to body-shame), and some women (and men) don’t care what their partner looks like because human sexuality and relationships are diverse and complex.
Your stimulus photos are biased, anyway, because they are pictures of actors, body-builders and musicians who are a They’re a product of this weird idealised idea of what humans “should” look like, because their image is what they are “selling” to the consumers in a homogenised mainstream market.
This article just perpetuates the same attitudes that cause people to feel inadequate about their bodies. Why can’t we just go back to the primary-school level of human sociology and remember that everyone is different and special in their own way, and that everyone likes different things?
[…] existence of polls on what both men and women consider the ideal male body (WARNING: images may be triggering for readers in ED recovery) reveals in no uncertain terms that […]
Women – They think something looks good on paper, but in real life they want something totally different. RIP ZYZZ <3
[…] vou traduzir um artigo grande da Foxhound Studio, que fala sobre o que os homens querem e o que as mulheres querem… é bem bacana!! Vamos […]
From what I’ve heard from girlfriends and other women, this article is pretty on point. Women don’t want scrawny guys but they also don’t like guys that are massive guys that look like they’ve been cycling roids. If you don’t care what women thinks do what you want to do, don’t bitch about it and call women fat. Just because a women doesn’t like you doesn’t make her a lesbian either.
Girls don’t find the excessively muscled guys attractive because they look weird and fake like the stick thin, plastic surgery, fake tan, fake hair, fake face girl equivalent. It is an outward expression of gender/sexual identity problems and also demonstrates an excessive emphasis on aesthetics and an obsession with themselves and as shown here, how other people look too. Being excessively muscled is very bad for your health and does not make you fit, it is purely an aesthetic achievement. That’s why women said in the survey they preferred a natural looking man, because it is impossible to have a relationship (where you relate to each other) when someone is obsessing over themselves like body builders do.
@Kat
That’s a stupid thing to say, body builder’s don’t obsess over themselves. We care about our muscles the way girls care about their clothes. You want to make sure your outfit matches, we want to make sure our legs are proportioned to the rest of our body.
An excessively muscled guy worked hard for his muscles and looks, it’s a life style, not some 30 minute make up routine. To compare muscles to plastic surgery or fake face girl is beyond idiotic. It’s not bad for your health unless you’re referring to cycling. Which even then if taken at the recommended dosages isn’t bad. You’re just perpetuation a misconception about steroids. Anything in excess is unhealthy, but body builders in general are not excessively muscular.
I agree females and males have different perceptions of beauty, but I have to agree that this study is flawed. Too many variables that were not accounted for.
[…] look how we are all clueless about look and no women do not like xyzz or whatever his name is: Foxhound Studio Reply With Quote « ADULT Content: Female Hypergamy: The […]
According to what I actually see in real life, when I go out to a club with my friends or we’re at the beach..It’s the ripped muscular guys who get all of the stares, attention and phone #s. None of my friends or my self look like we shoot roids, we’re far from being “competitive bodybuilders”, but we do look fit..Pull up our sleeves and we have large forearms, large biceps, flat stomachs, women love that in spite of whatever this study suggests.
Ooh awesome. Very interesting, is there one for what guys like about girls??
– T & A
We’re thinking about making one soon!
Girls want the zyzz body type
Guys want the zyzz body type
everyone wants to be zyzz
fuck off op with your phaggytiem article, Zyzz > everything else
ZYZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Brah? U sickKnts MiRin?
haha I love how all of the guys here are defending Zyzz by basically saying that girls don’t actually know what they want.
Let me tell you as a female… we want Brad Pitt from Fight Club. The article was spot on. You’d be hard pressed to find a more perfect male body.
The Zyzz body type brings back horrible memories of all those disgusting Jersey Shore dudes… Too cut like that is gross I think mainly because people who spend THAT much time on their bodies are usually egotistical to some extent and obsessive about their bodies… almost like a reverse eating disorder.
wondered why women want to copy fashion models when guys perfer the swimsuit models bodys
There is a simple equation for this.
The uglier the girl the uglier guy they will choose
Better looking girl = better looking guy
A more confident prettier girl will always choose a guy with a better physique like brad Pitt/Reynolds
[…] fin una encuesta de Foxhound dirigida los gustos femeninos pone de manifiesto que preferimos un cuerpo normal antes que uno muy […]
This is no surprise to me. All you have to do is look at magazines like Seventeen and Cosmopolitan and peruse the cute guys section(s). They’re all thin, lightly muscled and look very friendly and open, not hulking and intimidating.
Only gay guys like the really massive muscular men.
Excellent work! was a delight to read!
It’s interesting to see women more or less agreeing while insecure guys are flipping out, insisting that women are insecure, fat/ugly, and have no clue what they want. Seems like overcompensation to me. I guess that’s what happens when you tie your entire identity and all your self-esteem into lifting weights. Chill out, guys, it’s all gonna be alright.
You get it @collieman. The b-tches are just choosing what they think is attainable for them, hence the low number of choices for Zyzz. It’s good, because he would have rejected the majority of them also.
“The b-tches are just choosing what they think is attainable for them, hence the low number of choices for Zyzz.”
Yes… because if anyone is attainable, it’s Brad Pitt, the biggest male sex symbol of the last 20 years; a multimillionaire, world-famous actor who has been with girls like Jennifer Anniston and Angelina Jolie. Great logic!
It’s hilarious to see the mental gymnastics meatheads will do to protect their fragile little egos.
This is a silly ass study. Women can pretend that they just want a nicely fit dude, but any guy knows – when you’re out with the boys, it’s the guy with the biggest pipes and therefore the most confidence that the women fawn over.
Some data is better than none. i would agree that the images above create bias (famous bodies). More importantly, I agree with Taleen January 15th, 2012; that the barometer is tethered to self image. Fit females will likely find fitter males more attractive. For the average woman there is already tremendous pressure on how she should look. Choosing a partner who’s physical appearance is several magnitudes better than hers doesn’t bod well for her self esteem.
Egad! Read the alleged responses in Lesson 9, “overdone” “….as opposed to someone who does it for looks.”
You guys have to consider the population when reading articles like this.
Let me ask you this question, what is the parentage of males and females that are considered fitness model fit?
Probably less than 1% of males and 0.05 females. Women are always contradicting themselves. When they idealize the perfect body for themselves, guess what they always refer to? Yea most would love to have that nice lean, fitness model look.
Problem is, its extremely hard to achieve for women. Its evident women are far more insecure about looks then men.
I remember back at university this cute girl who would never approach me, I later found out from her friend she would never date me because I seemed the type to have many girlfriends and would easily cheat.She had a negative impression on me from the get go.
I think its more biology than anything. Women don’t like to have too much competition when selecting a mate. Its for survival purposes. But society has come a long way from that time and women can now have sex without getting pregnant.
Now if the article read, ” Which guy would you sleep with” one night stand, and no celebrity status in their names. That pole might change significantly.
AS for guys like Zyzz, Greg Plitt, Scott Herman.. In terms of physical attractiveness, I think they would always win in real life.
Moral of my long post, the gym is supposed to teach you hard work,ethics, discipline, finding out how hard it is to actually change your life and achieve success. Its a mind-body-spirit connection. Don’t be discouraged to build muscle, does not matter what women prefer, do this to test your limits and achieve success for yourself.
Cool Poll,
So I am in good shape then, do CrossFit and am defined but not ripped, a bit bigger then Brad in FC. as to what men want in a woman, for me it is fit, not skinny, they need to have some muscle definition, no plastic tits, would rather have small and natural then big and plastic. Must have great legs. So I guess for me, fit and trim. Do not like the typical American women that is way to high on body fat percentage.
ron
This is silly. You’re using a strawman argument here, presenting guys who are clearly underweight, starving, and ill as examples of “skinny guys.” A naturally skinny guy does not look like a Holocaust victim.
I’m female and I have strong preference for short and skinny guys. I love them. Yes, women with that preference *do* exist, though I may be a tiny minority. And again, there is a difference between a naturally skinny guy and one who looks like he has cancer or AIDS or something, like you’ve shown above.
It’s fine that you’re encouraging people to gain muscle in a healthy way, if that’s what they want to do, but you’re also preying on people’s insecurities.
Enough of this nonsense about “what women really want.” Women need to get real and not expect some 6’4″ Disney Prince with ripped abs. Women are always complaining about being judged on their looks, but they do the same thing to men, just as cruelly.
How about encouraging self-acceptance? It’s okay for men to be small, short, and/or skinny. Women need to hear that, even more than men do.
If guys want to gain muscle and strength, fine. That is a healthy goal, if done properly. But enough with this cruel notion that there’s something inherently wrong with being skinny, like it’s some type of flaw or disease.
Telling men that they need to look a certain way is not any better than telling women they need to look a certain way.
READ THIS IS INTERESTING! I got this from bodybuilding forums – “I used to be fairly skinny but had a good sixpack and I got my fair share of women. But, I also had those same women telling me I’d be hotter if I put on about 15lbs of muscle. So later, when I gained 20, I did notice a lot more attention. But, here’s the deal. I used to hear a lot of chicks telling me they thought I probably slept around a lot (due to my looks) and therefore avoided me, or they thought I was a player and wouldn’t settle down. Also, I’ve heard girls try to cap on really muscular and good looking guys also.
1. Here’s the deal…..they are TOO insecure and know they could never have those guys so they try to cut them down.
2. Or, they know if they got involved with a beefcake guy they would be “whipped” and they don’t want that. They want a guy they can dominate or push around. They want to run the show.
I’ve had lots of experience with women and I know these things to be true. Plus, the women who admit to liking muscles are usually the ones who are also sexually uninhibited, and like to get it on. Chicks who say they don’t like big muscles are lying or insecure. Period.”
Crazy huh?
Take a look at the words, they tell all:
89.2% of women say that a man taking care of his health is important to them
74.5% of women want a man that’s stronger than they are
61.8% of women want a man that can protect them
60.8% want their man to look his best
HEALTH, STRENGTH, PROTECTION, PERSONAL BEST.
The survey is interesting but flawed. You could picture B Pitts body nice and clean without the blood and he’d have gotten less votes.
Put a couple of cuts on your face like you’ve been in a fight, and women will turn on to that. They ALSO want you fighting for/protecting them if necessary.
Extremes are always minorities, remember bell curves. If you want to go to an extreme (or are there already), fine. But you will always be in a minority.
And CONFIDENCE will get you infinitely more girls than mucles (not douchey confidence btw). Confidence is emotional strenght.
Implying what girls want is relevant, ever.
If you described a body as having a tiny waist, big chest, smooth, waxed, tanned flesh wrapped in skimpy shorts that sit below where most people’s pubes grow, with flower tattoos and a Joan Jett haircut, I’d think you were talking about the perfect woman, but you’d actually be talking about Zyzz.
A great article, and it confirms other research findings about the sort of bodies that women like.
What wasn’t elaborated upon, but was hinted at in some of the responses, were women’s reasoning in not wanting the highly developed and chiseled male bodies.
It’s not just about the bodies. Most women avoid the obvious bodybuilder because they are turned off by the likely personalities of those men.
A bulked up body can indicate many things (I admire those bodybuilders for their achievements, no homo). Sometimes (often?) it can also indicate some pretty strange people.
Well, for starters, there’s the likely narcissism. That’s never attractive, and is ultimately boring when the only thing they’re interested in is themselves. Raging narcissism is just a starting place. It’s the tip of the iceberg as to the ‘issues’ you’d find amongst many hardcore bodybuilders.
Women want to avoid that drama (and danger).
PS, editors: There should be a little “update” note next to the photo of “Zyzz”s body. He died at age 22 of a heart attack related to steroid abuse. That’s hardly ‘healthy’ and it’s important to point that out.
Was it because of steroid abuse? He was known for abusing a few different drugs, and while it’s certainly possible that drug use contributed to his death, I’m not sure if we know which one did him in.
Great point about that look not necessarily indicating health, though. A more moderate physique would probably do a much better job of that. (Although his physique is certainly achievable without steroids, and many natural bodybuilders have surpassed that degree of size/leanness.)
“Although his physique is certainly achievable without steroids, and many natural bodybuilders have surpassed that degree of size/leanness.”
No it’s not and no they haven’t. No one looked anything like Zyzz or any of his present day peers before 1960. True then true now.
As a young woman, I prefer guys who are slim/lean but not anorexic-looking. Most girls like guys who look fit and healthy, but nothing extreme like too skinny, too fat or too muscular. Muscular guys can look intimidating and too much muscle is just not attractive. But then again a bear belly is even less attractive. I think Brad Pitt’a body in fight club is great! Sometimes I like them even slimmer.
Tall slim guys can be super cute! Skinny guys look fine as long as they are healthy and not too boney. But in all honesty i think most girls pay more attention to a man’s face over his body. Women love a handsome face regardless!
Useless article. If they wanted real research they would have used anonymous bodies and not popular male icons. What a joke. Women will choose Brad Pitt because well, he’s Brad Pitt!! They should have been presented with male bodies (not stars, but regular Joe’s with different physiques) and not mention who they are… then let them decide. This could have been a useful article but they completely blew it. 100% useless.
I read article about Zyzz and he said “I’m 100kg but i was beter when i was 80-90 couse CHICKS LIKE IT MORE”
I dont want the perfect body that girls will shy to talk.
I want the body that girls wll like.
Sory for my english.
Ehm, the “freaky” dude looks much better under normal lighting. In fact most of the other dudes muscled body gets lost in normal house lighting. Just because these bodybuilders have these pictures do not mean they look that extreme in everyday life.
That’s a really good point! Without the extreme lighting the ultra super lean guys wouldn’t look that extreme, and would perhaps thus rank higher. I’m not sure the pro bodybuilders are a good example of that though, because most people find the opposite – that world class pro bodybuilders look much BIGGER in person than they expect. (Not leaner, but bigger.)
Sorry to disappoint all the workout warriors out there, I am one too, but it’s the face that gets the girls. Not the body. I’ve had lots of positive public reactions in my 20s, I also had the face (older now). But I’ve seen guys “dubbed” more handsome than me draw all kinds of interest, and they didn’t even lift! Sorry, but it’s the face all the way. These pretty boys scored way more good looking girls than all of us bodybuilders. I’ll say fame is first, because females love famous ugly guys too (Ron Weasley!), then it’s the face 2nd, than body is 3rd. A muscular body will get you some looks from women, some grabs, opens doors & opportunities. Money is only for long term/marriage types, but it does help. Trust me when I say I’ve seen it and heard it through over 50 years of life experience.
I should add this. The face is first because it’s rather permanent. A girl decides that you have the look immediately. Then if she’s not into your body, she’ll want to change you there, to have you work out more. But not too much. If she’s okay with a guy’s non-athletic body then it’s less work for him. If you have to work on something, work on your teeth. A smile goes a long way. If you have naturally nice white teeth and a great smile that’s better than a muscular body to them. You can always dress nicely and cover your flaws. Girls do it all the time!
What i have noticed is that the more my muscles grow, more women come up to me in bars.
Much more now than when i was at “Beefy Brad” size. Maybe under influence they go for more muscle…
Anecdotally, I’ve definitely done the best with women at 22-23 bmi. I actually just read another study that confirms that, surveying 50 female undergrads. my sisters, ex girlfriends and female friends would all agree with this. So does my dad from his single days, and my friends with the hottest girlfriends are all about 23 bmi. I’m 200 lbs as I write this and pretty damn built, and am cutting down to 23 bmi from 28 or so.
guys always want to be bigger than girls want them to be, basically. maybe it’s a insecurity thing? either way, if you get to big, they are basically going to think you are a gorilla. in a bad way. if you’re deep into rap culture or some crap it might be a little different, but most educated, cute women are pretty much going for 22-23 bmi. you probably do want to hit 8% bodyfat but can get away with 10-12%. other than that, dress well and learn to talk to them! I get the feeling most of these roid morons don’t actually speak to normal women actually or communicate with the opposite sex at all. all I know is, the moderately built dude (most of them are just puffed up short dudes)in the corner sulking and waiting to start a fight is not the one the girls are trying to get with. well dressed, 21-23 bmi, nice socially aligned clothes, light cologne, breath mints, a haircut and smiling while being funny. those are the guys who ACTUALLY get the hot girls. trust me, i’ve tried it both ways. 22 bmi does way better than 28, even at the same bodyfat levels. I’m a better fighter at 28 bmi, but I know krav maga, so fuck it.
by the way brad pitt in fight club? 22 bmi, 150-160 lbs, 5″11″
I read your article first, then I re-read it to study the results. While it is obvious you put a lot of work into this piece, I am not sure that the women responders were 100% truthful or that your study took enough into consideration, ie tattoos, clothing style, perception of height, age, etc.
My reason for this belief is because I have spent most of my forty-eight years observing people. I have even made a living understanding human behavior; first as an Intelligence Specialist with the US Navy, then as a recruiter, and lastly, as a personnel evaluator with the US Department of Homeland Security. Currently I hold a Masters degree in psychology and serve several large corporations as well as various governments as a consultant in the field of human behavior.
There are many clinical studies that show human behavior and choices made, based on the individuals belief that they themselves will be judged as a result of their choice, ie women with low self esteem will select a mate that does not resemble an overly fit appearance if they themselves have a poor body image.
While it is true that people generally lean toward a mate that has an outward appearance of health, it should be noted that this is due to genetic programming that has taken place over thousands of years, it has resulted in the continued survival of the human species.
I do not believe this survey accounted for social pressures as well. Such issues as caused by things such as high visibility and uncomfortable attention in social settings, opinions of friends (ie friend envy or jealousy), race or nationality, tattoos, skin tone or complexion, etc.
While it may have been an amusing read, it is far from scientific and as such, the results are skewed and unreliable to say the least; entertainment value only.
To put it in layman’s terms: A woman that does not like what she sees in the mirror will be guarded in voicing her object of desire, just as a man that feels self conscious about his physique will make advances on a woman he finds less than desirable so as to minimize the chance that she will find another mate to replace him with.
Try this observation:
Find a seat at your local mall on a busy day and watch the facial expressions that women make when they see a very muscular guy walk by. Head turns do not lie, and thin guys don’t get them like muscular guys do.
[…] The Ideal Male Physique — what girls want & what guys want to be – Article based on a survey of men and women to show what an ideal male physique for looking attractive is. Probably the most fascinating thing about this survey is how different the results are for what men think is attractive in men and what women actually find sexy. […]
Although I personally think this analysis seems fairly correct, generally speaking, I’m SURPRISED that no one involved in this (non-scientific) survey-study considered the level of honesty from participants, the level of understanding from participants or the subtle, but highly influential, variable of context in relation to perception (in this case the physical attractiveness of the male physique). What I’m ultimately getting-at, is that the only variable that was REALLY studied here was: WHAT WOMEN SAY THEY FIND ATTRACTIVE IN A MALE PHYSIQUE” I feel the need to point this out, due to the likely possibility that some 16 y/old kids out there (or anyone who might be a lil’ immature) probably read this stuff. It could be psycho-socially harmful to some guys. Don’t get me wrong either though, because I’m not claiming that having a good body doesn’t matter or that women really find rock star guy more attractive then Brad Pitt. What I’m emphasizing is that there IS A LOT MORE complexity/subtly involved in how someone (or something as complex as the human brain and human psyches) makes a perception about who, what or when they see physical attraction. Food for thought..
All the last that made a position (1st’ 2nd’ 3rd’ 4th’) all train HARD to look as they do, Brad Pitt went solid for his role, he’s just naturally not a big dude but trained insane for the role, all the bodies require A LOT of work … My guess is the women surveyed for this are ether fatties, lonely and ugly and don’t get men like us … cause when I weighed 38kg at 20 I wasn’t getting any looks from anybody but since i started at gym and packed on 34kg and hit 23 I get a lot of women I couldn’t ever get before … Zyzz (the dead guy you placed as males choice) was a sex icon for women when he was alive and in his prime, the reason males want to be him is because we watched his abundance of youtube videos and watch the women swarm for the god like body, we watched his picking up left right and centre at melbourne festivals, we saw the comments on his social networks from thousends and thousends of women wanting him … Women like power, women like the alpha male, just as lions, beara, gorillas etc do, we as a species are ether alpha or beta, the alpha male gets the women, the alpha male is never the skinny little unaesthetic lad, its the big, swole, strong alpha lad who puts the little skinny beta in his place. It’s science brah, its life, its how it will always be … STAY SWOLE LADS!!!
Is there anyone who did not recognize Brad Pitt? Anyone? What a way to skew the results. They should have just shown a ripped guy next to a porsche filled with money and would have gotten the exact same result.
[…] Just nice size that is appealing to girls. Hah. You might be done in a couple of months, then. Foxhound Studio ^ That shows the % of women who favored that physique most of all. This following guy's […]
If women are to be believed in valuing a guy’s personality, then they may rank the bodies based on the personality they expect, ie a fat guy would have a gem of a personality. If women are not too dissimilar from men in terms of finding a sexy body hot, then they’d be most sexually interested in say the look of a natural bodybuilder.
In trying to find a balance between personality (which they claim to value) and sheer lust (human nature), they end up with a guy who’s a little bit lean and muscular, but not too much.
I think that guys should realize that if their focus is attention from women, they should strive for a natural bodybuilder look.
Was i the only person that noticed that guys with tattoos scored generally higher than guys without? its not a real experiment if there is more than one variable.
Story story. Girls don’t like this, girls don’t like. Infact girls don’t know what they like frankly speaking. Any man who would compromise his ideal just be accpeted among the opposite sex folk is a complete bozo.
Now, I didn’t read through All of the comments posted (I sort of tuned out when people started throwing insults back and forth and railing on and such) so I don’t know if someone already brought this up but could body type also play a Bit into the muscle prefer/don’t prefer argument?
I mean I’ve seen some guys that are ripped and look awesome, but then I see other guys (some that pair with those same guys in workout routines) that are also packing some muscle on and it just doesn’t look good on them. I’m not saying that this makes a big difference or not. Just an observation from lil ol’ me.
And I’ll be looking forward to the female version of the post if you guys end up doing it! The results seem like they’ll be interesting. ^^
Hey Meg, we didn’t do a survey to find the most attractive female body (although we probably should) but we did write an article going over the science of the most attractive female body.
Hehehe, I’m laughing at all the juicy goons raging here about how women really love oversized gorillas who look like they have watermelons under their armpits.
You can try and convince yourself it’s so, but that just speaks for low self esteem and living in denial =)
Time and time again it’s been proven that women love confident men who look lively and healthy, they don’t need to be muscular and it’s OK if they have a bit of a belly aswell.
The only kind of women who truly adore exaggerated muscles and form are stupid diva bitches like those in Jersey Shore and such, who I’d stay away from to begin with.
Oh, and to prove a point I’m a guy you meat heads would call scrawny, my arms are like frozen sled ropes during winter, and I’ve had more ass than King Solomon. And no, they were not ugly and fat scarecrows, there’s been models, caucasian, asian, young, older, well trained, even a couple of reserved women (which I’m not too proud of, but shit happens).
Get out of the gym and meet people, you might actually learn that you’re wrong and delusional. Only people you’re gonna meet at the gym are other men who are just as delirious as you are. In case you’re not a homo, that’s the wrong place to search company at 😀
Why cant some of you accept the survey?
Most women dont like over muscled guys. Come on! Since when
has the gorilla lookj been a good one?
I always said Brad Pitt| Tom Cruise have the ideal physiques
And if asked me for the sexiest womens physique its the lean
Fit looking tennis players and vollyball. Beautiful. I find wonen
Bodybuilders awful. So i guess it works both ways.
Look at themovie stars top men. None have the bulked up
Bodybuilders physique. Not fat some are fit some not so
Clooney, Depp, Brosnan, Gere. .not exactly bodybuulders .
I always thought the Arnie- Stallone physiques looked awful
They are basically trying to compensate for being “plain looking”
Look m8 women care about personality social status confidence and humor. If you have muscles they’ll run hands on them. If you have belly fat they’ll pinch it. If your skinny they’ll pick you up and hug you. That said zyzz has the best body known to man. And frank Zane has the best aesthetic mass body ever. Want a normal chick have a normal body. I’ll be in the 9% range where the hotties are. Peaceout bye.
The bigger the man the more respect and deference he gets from other men, thus the more status he tends to have. Women may be more attracted to brad pitt, but they are far more attracted to status than to physical attractiveness. Thus the intimidatingly large dude will be swimming in vag, while the little ottermode twink will be sitting in the corner wondering why no females are hitting on him.
Sure are a lot of sour grapes in this survey.
@S.M. Haha! I know right? Just read the article and before I even got to the comments I already knew it was going to be filled with posts from angry and butthurt Zyzz disciples using miscer lingo. Although I agree the survey could have been done better, the conclusion is mostly right on. Shane’s biggest mistake was using Zyzz in his article. Swole acceptance brah!
Having just read this article, it’s fascinating. Yes, there are methodological flaws, yet it’s very much in line with what I and all the straight and bi women I know think, regardless of our widely varying ages, shapes, ethnicities or levels of fitness: Given that a man has the right personality for us, we prefer him to be reasonably fit and healthy – and we’ll take a bit over- or underweight over ripped bodybuilder physiques any day.
While “fit and healthy” looks different according to body type, there is a certain… something that lets you know that this person is in that range. A man might be whip thin or heavier naturally, but because it’s his naturally healthy state it’s attractive.
In the end, of course, we fall for a range of guys, and there’s no such thing as a guarantee that a certain kind of body will attract a particular woman. Biochemistry determines who we are attracted to in real life, and the way we treat each other determines whether that initial attraction blossoms.
The comments are equally fascinating: A few men who recognise the trend, note that this is what the women in their lives tell them, and point out that there’s no need to slag off the unknown women who participated in this study for having the temerity to voice their own preferences; and a slew of bodybuilders who are furious with women for not fancying their bodies, and react to this with intensely misogynistic slurs and bizarre homophobic comments (if a man is lifting in order to get women to fancy him, he’s gay? does not compute. Also, being gay is perfectly natural; it’s like shouting, “Hey! You’re blond!”).
The majority of self-identified lifters and bodybuilders commenting in this thread are not covering themselves with glory here regarding women or gay men. They do appear to confirm the widespread stereotype of bodybuilders as either so insecure and/or deeply closeted that they’re a bit unstable and not good people to have in your life. It gives the impression that performing hyper-masculinity through bodybuilding is all about feeling terrible about yourself. It’d be interesting to hear from bodybuilders who don’t conform to that stereotype.
I think a lot of guys are frustrated with the results because they have worked so hard to achieve an aesthetically improved body type, but a woman doesn’t seem to care. I can vouch myself that a lean guy with a nice haircut and quiet confidence is more appeasing to a woman than a burly built man and shaved head. All the guys must also realize that their father was not a bodybuilder, but your mom still had him. Woman tastes haven’t really changed.
…this article is so far off I wonder if they have actually asked 1000 girls, or 2000 guys making up 2000 x-chromosomes :/
This is portraying the female view that they want macho, beefcake, confident, overbearing, neanderthal types… the reason this is obviously actually written by a man is because…WOMEN ARE NOT THAT VAIN! ¬.¬
This is just a summation of what men think women want, not an actual survey…probably. Otherwise this is a survey comprised of a very selective group of women…I am guessing you pulled together a load of gym bunnies and promised them a free kale smoothie if they chose the right answers.
Shame on you for confirming an incorrect stereotype.
We asked 1000 people overall, with only around half of them being women. We also wanted to see what men would guess would be the most attractive male body type to women.
We aren’t portraying the idea that women want a macho, beefcake, overbearing neanderthal type, though. In fact, the excessively lean and muscular men were rated as being less attractive than the guys who were lean and strong in a more “natural” way. I’d say the idea that we’re portraying is that women prefer men who are strong, fit, and athletic. That lines up with most other research.
It seems a lot of men are upset with this study. If you are, I do think there’s one thing you can pull from this. Most men trying to get a body that women love turn to weights first and hit them hard, leaving the torso out… or neglected relative to upper body.
Men don’t always have there shirts off.. So so so… When you have a shirt on, studies suggest shoulders are the first thing to work on followed by bi’s and tri’s for men. A mans chest can become to bulky often, but if you follow a simple push up routine your chest, shoulders, bi’s and tri’s will benefit.
Shirtless, it’s all about torso.. So be sure to do your situps, always engage your abs when doing most activities. A healthy diet is the best way to get that lean look. Don’t neglect your lower, mid and upper back as that will help you break through PLATEAUS in your routine. HOPE THAT HELPS
I think these results suggest that lifting weights and eating a good diet will make you far more attractive. After all, that’s what Brad Pitt did, and he was consistently rated as having the most attractive male body. I think the only real risk of taking it too far would be if you start taking steroids and/or diet down to under 8% body-fat. Without steroids, though, I don’t think there’s any risk of building a chest that women would find overly bulky. Even with a bench press up around 315 pounds, which is quite remarkable, I don’t think you’d be passing that upper limit of natural muscularity.
Isn’t it funny that all the guys are getting butthurt about Zyzz not being the women’s choice? They’re the only ones defending him, and their argument is that “haha all the girls who don’t think he is the KING are big fucking whales haha”. You all deeefinitely don’t sound like sad gym rats. Zyzz, while muscular, is far from my first choice. All of these idiot comments sound like they could come from a guy with Zyzz’s body. Sounds like they’re little boys in denial. Ah well.
You Forgot To mention taylor lautner ll cool j bi rain the korean singer ((megan fox had a crush on him :D)) david gandy joe manganiello jason statham i am sure that those names would make difference in the survey
What difference do you think those names would make? I’d still expect women to rate the guys who looked lean and strong in a natural as having the most attractive male bodies.
Imagine you spend 10 years of your life hitting weights, taking steroids, hanging around with other pumped up steroid abusers to look super buffed. You then take your shirt off expecting women to drool over your muscles, instead they look disgusted.Even mocking you.
“I guess they are angry. It wasn’t supposed to be like this”
Be strong, be lean, be fit, keep it natural and don’t be obsessed with it. Much better all around.
I would love to ask a body builder, especially a drug induced, over cooked, steroid abuser…”what the f*** are you doing?”
No Anthony you have no idea what you are talking about.
——————————————————
It seems a lot of men are upset with this study. If you are, I do think there’s one thing you can pull from this. Most men trying to get a body that women love turn to weights first and hit them hard, leaving the torso out… or neglected relative to upper body.
Men don’t always have there shirts off.. So so so… When you have a shirt on, studies suggest shoulders are the first thing to work on followed by bi’s and tri’s for men. A mans chest can become to bulky often, but if you follow a simple push up routine your chest, shoulders, bi’s and tri’s will benefit.
Shirtless, it’s all about torso.. So be sure to do your situps, always engage your abs when doing most activities. A healthy diet is the best way to get that lean look. Don’t neglect your lower, mid and upper back as that will help you break through PLATEAUS in your routine. HOPE THAT HELPS
Rember for guys try to achieve this…no more
<12% b.f. <12% you aren't fat. No spare tyer, no flab…sport fit. Look good in clothes and you can see definition. Trying to achieve anything less than 10% isn't necessary…and it is also very hard to achieve for people that have real lives.
V=shape shape. – Strong wide shoulders, aim for 31-34 inch waist with the golden ratio of waist – chest- shoulders of 1:1.33:1.6 Strong muscle legs but not so big they stop you wearing trousers. Again it's all about proportion. It's ridiculous to have a 32" waist and a 48in chest. But if you keep in natural you should keep your looks natural. The blue print should be movie stars, modules and sports stars (not fat or steroid induced ones)
Avoid steroids,synthol e.t.c. unless you have lost your mind and want to die looking like an alien.
Some pictures cant be compared….women look at the whole body,the bigger picture and since women like tattoos its an unfair advantage and the survey’s results would probably have been a bit different if none of the pics had guys with tattoos so they would only judge the bodies…I mean im a guy and the tattoos kinda caught my attention for a sec so imagine what it does to women(lets be honest they get distracted soooo easily).Thats all I wanted to say.Why are u still reading this I got nothing else to say so move on.
Interesting topic…
But according to this topic, Billy Zane is really a loser. Heheh…
Ofcourse not. Why do we think about one hundred random selected woman?
If we have 72 Brad Pitt and 12 Henry Rollins like men…
Yes maybe, only one of these average women actually likes Billy Zane… Poor Billy…
However we haven’t much that type of fit men. Maybe %5 of all mankind actually looks like these buddies…
So for 100 random selected women, we have just 4-5 of these men available… Other %95 of these women have to try thin, average or really fat buddies:)
So all of these men are it’s hard to find and that’s why they are so popular, at least in their communities…
And we have just one Mr. Olympia every year.. For every 10000 Brad Pitt like man, we have just one Billy Zane available:)
I bet,significiant number of women wants to try that experience no matter what they said:)
I made a big mistake sorry. I am talking about Frank Zane of course not Billy Zane:)
It seems like alot of woman are making judgements of character when looking at a picture. An inanimate object (photograph) doesn’t have a personality and you should therefore leave your judgements of what you “think” the individual is like at the door.
With that being said I have been training for around 10 years with a few month breaks due to sickness etc and i can tell you from firsthand experience that once i started to pack on some serious muscle and definition in my physique the woman came a flockin’. I’d like to think i am a pretty charismatic man and i’d say alot of that had to do with my personality but the body made them curious. Sometimes curious enough to start chit chatting and within minutes of not being a typical “meathead” i had their undivided attention.
I can only speak from my own personal experience. Hopefully i didn’t offend anybody
I’m very offended, Shad.
I love women . . . yet, I am a bodybuilder(minus the steroids) so I guess many of them may think that I am too in to my body but I’m not, I just love training (though I do love the results I guess), but hey . . . other guys liking my look is flattering as well!!!
It is very true. Many guys at the gymn tend to think that a big muscular body attracts women. The reality is only women that are muscular body builders. Most women like the Brad Pitt’s look. lean and mean, rather than big and bulky.
Bulkiness and size impress other guys, not girls. That explain why cute girls at the gymn hang out with the skinny guys.
of course, all of this equation changes if MONEY is involved. Then body doesn’t matter.
Actually, there’s research showing that even once you factor in money, that doesn’t do anything to change which body types women find the most attractive, nor does it affect which men they wind up choosing as romantic partners.
For example, if you’re a doctor, chances are that you’re going to marry another professional: a doctor, lawyer, etc. But that won’t do anything to make you more physically attractive. If you want to be a doctor who marries a fit women, better to be a doctor who’s in great shape (at which point you’ll be most likely to wind up marrying a woman who’s similarly educated, wealthy, and fit).
This site is geared more what girls want in guys. It is not for egotistical guys who “know” what girls want. This study is one of the best conducted that I’ve ever seen. I think there should be one about females as well.
We’ve written another article about the most attractive female body here: The Most Attractive Female Body
How many girls were interviewed for this study?
We tried to get an even split between men and women, but we collected as many responses as we could. If I recall correctly, there were slightly fewer than 500 women, slightly more than 500 men.
I have to say enjoyed reading the study, you asked quite a lot of questions. I’ve seen similar studies indicating similar results. What does make me laugh Is the amount of enraged guys in the comments, I know a lot of us workout to look good and its great to take pride in your body, but striving to look good just so you can be good with the ladies is a total waste, do it because you enjoy it! Body aesthetics have their place, but the other myriad of factors that contribute to female attraction make it pretty foolhardy to believe a freaky huge body will be the single largest factor in getting a women anyway, regardless of results shown in this study.
It’s reassuring to see so many of the guys in the comments who are certain that women consider Zyzz’s body to be the most attractive. It lines up with what the men guessed when we surveyed them.
Wow! Great article and great findings! Very interesting! Seems like the more “in the middle” you are between extremes as a guy, the better.
I think that’s correct. Just so long as we don’t confuse being “in the middle” as being average. Women consistently rated the guys who were in exceptional shape as being more attractive. It’s only the professional bodybuilders and male fitness models, many of whom are on steroids, who were so extremely lean and muscular that they were considered less attractive by women.
1 pic of zyzz 1 pic of brad pitt from fight club
zyzz will win most of the time. stop lying.
No, when we showed women photos of both Zyzz and Brad Pitt from Fight Club, almost all of them rated Brad Pitt as having the more attractive male body.
This is just a terrible study. The sample size is ridiculously small.
If you were to up the sample size and survey girls who are into the fitness lifestyle, or upped the sample size by a lot with equal representation of different types of women, I guarantee the results would be dramatically different. Of course girls who don’t live the fitness lifestyle aren’t going to be into ripped, fit guy. They don’t understand the value of hard work, self satisfaction, accomplishing really hard goals and what it takes to be really fit. The girls that these types of guys want are more than likely, like minded girls anyways.
Besides, people who are truly into the fitness lifestyle shouldn’t be doing it for members of the opposite sex. They should only be doing it for themselves and not giving a crap about what people think.
I can’t believe people read this garbage. I can’t believe I read this garbage. Perfect example of how stupid people are.
I feel stupid for reading and commenting but I felt compelled.
Naturally fit and athletic?? Always looking for the diamond in the rough who doesn’t need to work hard. Sickening and extremely rare.. People just want it easy, and don’t have the heart to appreciate extreme dedication and hard work.
To me this is discouraging people who want to be their absolute best self.
1000 survey respondents is actually a very large sample size for this kind of study. And we did seek out respondents from within the fitness industry. We even have a section in the article where we filtered the results by women were into fitness and went over which male body types they found the most attractive.
I have to laugh at all the men assuming that the larger they are, the more women will be attracted to them. Yes, just like the thinner a woman is or the larger her breasts are, the more attracted to her men are. Oh, what’s that, are you a man and aren’t more attracted to a 48J cup than a 34C one? Imagine that! Impossible!!1 You’re obviously only saying that because you’re ugly/lazy/insecure/…!!11!1
A confound/flaw to this study is the fact that not all pictures are standardized in terms of the background, the pose, lighting, tattoos on the body etc. One for example could rightly ask, what if tattoos make the men appear more attractive??
I think one notable thing the level at which women associate looks and personalities. Is it really that women are more physically attracted to Brad’s body then Zyzz, or have most women learned that men who have bodies like Zyzz are just so often raging assholes. Is the answer different if the question is “If you could have a kind, caring, loving men who would be forever loyal, and you could select any type of body for him, what type of body would you choose?” Just a thought.
What’s funny is the bodybuilder you used, Frank Zane, is considered one of the smallest Mr. Olympias. By today’s standards he is actually very small.
I also don’t get why you did not use offseason bodybuilder pictures…because bodybuilders are not in contest shape all the time.
I agree with you, at least to a point. I think for a professional bodybuilder like Frank Zane, he wouldn’t have been rated as much more attractive if we used an offseason photo. He’d probably still be considered far too muscular.
For a drug-free fitness model like Scott Herman, though, where adding a couple body-fat percentage points would him look strong and natural, I bet it would have made all the difference. In more normal conditions, I bet he would have been rated as having one of the most attractive male physiques.
I think that ripped guys are more likely for one night stands, whereas normal looking guys are for relationships.
Just look at Zyzz Roulette videos on youtube. Watch the facial expressions of each girl that connects…
But I think if you are ripped, intelligence is an important factor as opposed to being some thick meathead retard.
so are these ugly?
No roids, just healthy lifestyle and heavy lifting…but we shouldn’t do this as womnen only want skinny/fat guys?
It’s not what I see in real life.
If you keep in natural, live healthy you don’t have to worry about “what women like” you’ll find out from the looks, glances, what they like.
HINT: waist/shoulder ratio
Yeah, ten years on the club/party scene and this study pretty much sums up all my experiences. Being “skinny-jacked” is magnitudes better than looking like Zyzz. Most girls simply prefer muscle tone, not muscle mass.
Wow, lots of butthurt going around in here.
I’ve been in and out of the bodybuilding culture for awhile now, and it still shocks me how much my fellow weightlifters don’t understand muscles don’t necessarily mean chicks. It’s similar to how girls think men want Victoria Secret levels of skinny (most of us don’t).
My old man wisdom (been around the world, been to all the social scenes and bars, seen it all, love to watch people and behaviour) is that handsomeness trumps muscles 95% of the time, and you don’t want to be too muscular, either, because that really does turn a lot of them off. Most chicks don’t want 200 lbs of that on top of them. (My best friend’s quote about my other friend’s rise from slightly ripped to huge: “He used to look cute, but now he looks like a monster!”)
But it kinda depends on the culture. American girls go for muscles more, not so much in Europe.
Then, of course, there are other important things such as the way you dress, height, posture/movements, etc. And don’t get me started on attitude/game/personality (but I’m talking about physical stuff).
Then again, if you wanna get super jacked, then go right ahead. Some chicks will love you for it.
Also, much as I love watching Zyzz on Chatroulette, it isn’t often you see a girl who is legit impressed with him. Most just laugh or dance along (who wouldn’t?), others just sit there bored, and some borderline mock him by mimicking his poses. I’ve had better success playing my guitar shirtless with my long hair breezing in the wind of my desk fan.
Anyway, lift on, brothers!
In test 8.
If Adrien Brody had his hands on his hips he would would look almost identical to Bob Harper.
Yet Bob gets 63% and Adrien gets 1% so either women have issues with their vision or more likely they have no idea what they want.
I don’t think that’s true. Bob Harper looks like he has quite a bit more muscle than Adrien Brody. I’d guess that there’s a difference of about 20 pounds of muscle between the two. Brody is also leaner.
MOST OF THIS SO-CALLED WHAT A WOWAN FINDS ATTRACTIVE IN A MANS BODY IS BULLSHIT. The real reason women are not attracted to a very athletic and chiseled male body is because they are embarrassed about taking their clothes off with that man ….so its their own insecurities that are causing them to judge this way…my advice to them is take better care of your body and you will judge differently and honestly!!!
I don’t think that’s the case. The men who women rated as being the most attractive were in excellent shape: lean and muscular, just not to the point where it looked unnatural or unhealthy. If a women were insecure around guys who were in great shape, I don’t know why they would have rated Hollywood sex icons and celebrity personal trainers as being the most attractive. I think their ideal male body shape is simply different from what a lot of men expect.
Great job! A very interesting, entertaining, well-written and sensible (albeit predictable) study. As many point out in the comments, there are countless psychological reasons why most women don’t prefer men who spend too much time in the gym (their own insecurity being just one aspect of it – they might be put off by a thought of being less important to the man or having to bear the brunt of housework and taking care of the kids all the time, etc.) There are also studies that evaluate male physique according to different types of sports, and – no surprise there – women preferred runners the most (or men that look like runners), since from the evolutionary standpoint those would have had the best chance of survival in a hostile environment – and so would be the best gene pool and protectors for having children with.
Impressive article. As a single girl I find skinny men less attractive. I mean, of course I do? I don’t want to end up sharing pants because we have the same size lol 🙂 Men with meat are much more attractive, that’s for sure.
Something to keep in mind is that how someone looks in photographs and how they look in the flesh can be quite different. People don’t realize how small and skinny Brad Pitt was in Fight Club (the most popular choice in pictures here). He is listed as 6′ tall and was only about 160lbs. then.
I’m just under 6′ tall and when I was training heavy in mma I was 165lbs. and had a physique similar to Pitt’s fight club pictures. The problem was that you aren’t walking around all day with your shirt off and whenever I ran into someone that I hadn’t seen in a long time I was always asked the same question, “You look really skinny, have you lost weight?”
These days I’m no longer training mma and have been lifting quite a bit more and weigh 187lbs. I’m not anywhere near as lean but can still fit into size 32″ jeans so it’s not like I put on a ton of fat. Instead of hearing how skinny I look people now usually tell me that I look look I’ve been working out.
Anyway the point is that I would take these results with a grain of salt. If you had these guys standing there in the flesh with a bag over their heads or if you were evaluating people with similar physiques that you met or passed in the street on a daily basis I suspect that the results could turn out somewhat differently.
I think that’s a great point, John. I think you’re right that these guys appear bigger and more muscular than they really are. I suspect that in real life, women might rate the guys with a bit more muscle mass as being more attractive—guys who would look strong even while wearing more clothes.
If you think about it the reason the naturally fit looking physique is more sexually attractive than the super jacked gym one just makes sense from a evolutionary perspective. The primitive man maintained his muscles and low body fat from hunting, fighting / protecting and physical labor. Not from doing dozens of reps isolating each muscle group 5 times a week and eating crazy lean or low carb diets and supps. He ate animals (fat and all), nuts & fruits and such — just what he had access to in nature as it was.
Wow. Its fascinating how the comments proved the survey was right.
Men think women prefer the zyzz look and if girls say otherwise its because they’re too insecure to like a man like that or they’re lying or they’re judement is skewed by tattoos….haha. That’s completely untrue. I didn’t even know men thought that look was attractive to women.
Most women think the bodybuilder look eg Arnold Schwarznegger is gross. You know the way men feel when they look at pictures of female body builders?? That’s exactly how women feel about male body builders. They don’t consider that attractive at all. Arnie is attractive to women because he has a beautiful face and golden blonde hair, a smooth voice and he plays nice charming characters. He looks good with clothes on but any pictures of him topless – yuk!
I just googled pictures of zyzz and he looks gross, sorry. Not as gross as bigger bodybuilders I’ve seen but still – yuk.
Girls stare at bodybuilders bodys because they’re unusual and they rarely see a body like that – it doesn’t mean they are checkin them out, it doesn’t mean they find them attractive. Its like staring at someone with rainbow coloured hair or Siamese twins or a giant.
Having said that gay men seem to like bodybuilders….gay men think He-Man is hot. Girls don’t.
None of the above photos were the ideal male physique. Girls do like a ripped physique – where you can see all the muscles but only just. Once they reach a certain size, or low bodyfat, its gross. Visible veins are gross.
Girls love Daryl from Walking Dead. They think his arms are great. “But, my arms are WAY bigger than his..”, I would think to myself. So I agree with this study, in general. Daryl is similar to Pitt. Also in general, men who get buff ONLY to try to pick up chicks are douches. Girls in my gym have an “off” switch when it comes to those guys. And they look so silly, walking around like peacocks, they are just showing how clueless they really are. Girls like a guy who is fit enough to be confident, healthy, and has fun. If a skinny guy can exude confidence, then it’s attractive. Sorry meatheads, but you are severely misguided (as I used to be).
Bob Harper’s body looks almost identical to Adrien Brody’s in those pictures…. minus the tats.
Adrien Brody is quite a bit thinner than Bob Harper, with a far lower BMI, as well as a slightly lower body-fat percentage. I think he’d look more similar to Bob Harper after adding around 20 pounds of muscle, which probably would have changed how women ranked his attractiveness.
Haha. Take a look at Zyzz doing an expo or trolling a kebab shop. He is batting the women off like flies and the ones he decided to pick up for a hug are giddy for hours. The photos of the bodybuilders are taken at contest time-photo shoot time in general they look far less… vascular and would come across as just more powerful looking versions of the more ‘natural’ looks. I’m sure it’s been said but no-one achieves a godly physique like Zane or Zyzz thinking about what women are looking for. It isn’t make up or plastic surgery it requires thousands of hours of intense mental and physical domination; the motivation of pleasing the fickle mind of a capricious girl is nowhere near enough to do it. Men push yourselves and discover what you are capable of don’t let anyone restrict what you can achieve let alone a no name girl you have never met.
If you read the article, we explain why guys like Zyzz are so successful with women: because men with exceptionally developed physiques are scarcer than the women who prefer those physiques. Especially if you’re talking about a fitness expo, where you’re pre-selecting for women who prefer more muscular men, you wouldn’t expect Zyzz to have a problem there. However, women at fitness expos being more drawn to Zyzz, who was fairly small for a fitness model, might indicate that even then, they prefer the guys with smaller physiques.
I like how all the body builders or androgen-filled males saying the results is bogus because the survey goes against their preconceptions on athletic attractiveness
No they say the results are bogus because it goes against what they see going on in the real world. If you look at calendars with pictures of men marketed towards women buyers or what the average male stripper is built like you see few, if any, built like the skinny 160lbs. Fight Club Brad Pitt or Bob Harper and an awful lot built more like Frank Zane and Zyzz.
Isn’t Channing Tatum the male stripper who’s most famous for being a sex icon? He has a body that’s remarkably similar to Brad Pitt in Fight Club.
Anyway, who cares what girls want? Only those who need girls’ approval. Feel fit, with energy, healthy. The rest can go to hell.
Put another way, the only people who care what girls want are the people who a) care about girls, and b) want to have a girl in their life.
Uh, what? The “calendars with pictures of men marketed towards women buyers” mostly do contain guys built like Brad Pitt in Fight Club. Ever flipped through a Playgirl magazine?
You’re better off being toned and moderately muscular than bodybuilder-esque. This is a consistently well-established fact, tested and true.
I agree. Looking at the men in magazines like Cosmo shows the same trend.
Are girls really that attracted to 6 pack abs?
This question has actually been answered, in a reasonably scientific fashion (link posted below). Although, it doesn’t necessarily address 6 pack abs specifically, it is definitely part of the equation of the ideal male physique. I think you might be…
Lool,only white guys in those pictures..You mean to tell me that women only find white guys attractive and every other man of another race isn’t?
Hmm
Hey Gwen, I see your point, but comparing men with the same skin colour doesn’t say anything about which skin colour women find the most attractive, which is entirely the point. If we’d mixed in men of different skin colours, it would have produced confounding variables. I would hope not, but perhaps women would have been biased by a man’s skin colour instead of just his degree of leanness and muscularity. This survey says absolutely nothing about attractiveness based on skin colour. That’s not something we’re interested in.
There’s some interesting research on body-type and muscularity preferences changing depending on where in the world the study is being conducted. That’s a bit more interesting. The trend seems to be the same, though: being lean and muscular is considered more attractive, but only so long as it looks natural. We didn’t ask the ethnicity or nationality of the survey respondents, but we’re Canadian, and most of our readers are American.
Oh geez, another special sensitive snowflake complaining that something doesn’t cater to her own personal likes or dislikes. No one “means to tell you” that women “only” like white guys, but did it cross your mind that whoever made this study is white and is living in a country where the majority of the population is also white and therefore that’s why they structured it this way?
If it offends you somehow that they only used see white guys for their experiment why don’t you make your own with whatever kind of guys you like instead of making childish snide and silly remarks?
The article fails to acknowledge the fact that not all women are heterosexual; there is a portion of the entire female population that is exclusively attrcated to women (lesbians). It would be appropriate to always mention HETEROSEXUAL women in order to avoid lesbian erasure.
The article doesn’t fail to acknowledge anything, it’s well understood by anyone with half a brain that if you’re going to read an article about female preferences on male bodies that the article is about heterosexual women, why would they even need to mention lesbians at all since it’s not what the article was about? Sounds like you have an agenda of your own.
Hey Sengau, we actually didn’t ask the sexual orientation of the survey participants. It’s possible that some of the women answering the survey were lesbians. Still, given that over 90% of women are heterosexual, and that the questions wouldn’t have made sense to lesbian women, I think it’s safe to assume that the survey is mostly picking up on which male bodies straight women find the most attractive. Still, we just surveyed men and women in general without asking for sexual orientation. Maybe an oversight on our part. (We’ve also gotten a lot of responses from homosexual guys wondering what male physiques are most attractive to other guys—another question we failed to answer.)
I get it, percentages and all don’t account for individuals. But I came across this article trying to find something on coming to terms with body changes. I’ve been with my thin guy for 5 years, and suddenly he started “sprouting muscles”. He doesn’t look bad, but it’s totally freaking me out. I’d been attracted to and fell in love with a skinny man, and it’s like I’m with a different person now. I’m being positive and supportive because it’s clear that it’s making him happy, but it has not increased my attraction to him. I wonder how that 80 something percent would feel if it actually happened. In theory it sounds great, of course you’d like it if the man you love got “better” looking. In practice it’s a lot to take in, and a little confusing.
Shut the F*** up Brianna your just scare that if he turns hotter he will leave you for a better looking girl which happens alot when a guy realizes what he is made of. Instead of complaining start working out or else you will lose him.
Although he could have been a bit nicer I agree with J, Brianna sounds like one of those people that feel threatened when their partner improves him or herself because she knows once he does he will start looking around for someone better.
You do know that ‘Zyzz’ has been dead for 5 years don’t you? He’s not looking too good now I imagine.
Trust me guys, I’m 45 yrs old, you’ll grow out of wanting to impress the ‘chicks’ as you get older. Your physique is pretty much immaterial where relationships are concerned unless your personality is foul & if it is an issue then you’re with the wrong person. The sex thing is something you get over with age. Workout because you enjoy it, not to live up to others expectations, that goes for men & women.
Okay, but am I the only one who finds defined abs kinda creepy? They just don’t look right to me. As a hetero woman, I like a man who’s more like the favourite beach body shown above.
You people are nuts.
This guy is all like, “Wahhh, we’re doing it for ourselves.” But let’s be real, he’s commenting on an article about what WOMEN find attractive, which means he read it hoping to find out what (heterosexual [wink]) women find attractive. Then, it didn’t conform to his preconceptions, surprise! And now he goes on some woman-hating rant because he just got told by science that he isn’t perfect. What a fucking loser. (Personality is key, buddy. Science said that, too, and yours is wack.)
And Brianna has every right (and reason) to be concerned. Studies have shown that men increase everything from acts of heroism to conspicuous consumption when they are most primed for mating. And if they are already in a relationship, it may unconsciously be done in order to attract new, higher status mates.
I’m 42 years old. Been around a while lol. To guys reading. Life is about happiness. If you don’t care… And it doesn’t make you feel better…looking for or muscular. Just be happy with who you are. Be positive. Confident. That’s what makes you more attractive.
Myself…I feel good, when I look good. There’s a body that makes me feel attractive and strong. Which then relays to my personality and well being. There’s the added bonus of women finding my body attractive. But in the end… I do it for me. Does compliments from women feel good? Hell yeh it does 🙂
I adore fit looking and bodybuilding physiques
Because I’m secure enough in myself to not be threatened by a good-looking boyfriend. This is because I take pride in my own physique and expect my other half to do the same. People just want to be with those who have similar goals and outlooks. So don’t listen to the insecure people out there, guys. Trust me, you will not have a shortage of quality women loving what you work so hard for.
We tried to point that out in the article. Guys with exceptional physiques are rarer than the women who find those physiques more attractive, so it won’t really ever be a disadvantage.
Also both males and females at least subconsciously strive to be more attractive to the other sex. You *should* do what you prefer and what you like..however! These pissy, butthurt comments are pretty hilarious. Get over yourselves. You are not above evolution (directed at everyone males and females). You do care at least on some level. You are not only reading this 2011 article, you are angrily typing back comments ?
Can someone pleaseeeeeee list the measurements of beefcake brad?!
Good read! I’ve personally gone from fat (265 lbs) to fit (163 lbs) and now am hovering around 175 because thats about what’s natural for me. My testimony is aligned with this article. Women find men who do something.. lol.. honestly anything, around the house most attractive. Pick up a hammer (curls), vacuum (multiple reps for definition), do laundry (dead lifts, squats), make love to your woman after she’s had a bad day (planks, push ups, core regimen, and listening skills required). Just do the things that make us feel manly and you will be the sexiest man alive to her.
The fact that you are all overlooking is this….
They are surveying random women. ALL women.
Who gives a fuck what ugly fatties think.
I only care about 8+ ladies. Hot girls have different standards than fatties.
We took that into consideration when doing the survey. When we filtered the results by women who exercised and were in good shape, it did shift the preferences towards leaner and more muscular male bodies, but not by as much as we expected. Fit women still found men within a normal range of muscularity more attractive.
Live a healthy life, eat and enjoy in moderation, exercise, sleep. Most people will be fine living like that. When you overeat or don’t exercise or both, it should be no surprise that you get fat and out of shape.
I work out 3x a week, eat in moderation, and don’t drink alcohol. I’m 45 and maintaining around 11% body fat with decent musculature. It’s not that hard, just stop making excuses for why you’re fat and out of shape.
[…] ha comprobado que a las mujeres este tipo de cuerpo les parece visualmente más […]
Thanks for the read and lots of stats. I am also an older guy. Body shaming exists for both sexes apparently! Haha! What I am taking away from this is women dont like unhealthy looking bods, which includes flub or bones. Check! The other thing I took away was women’s expectations (As usual) are way too high! He has to be perfect, but not too perfect… I dont like abs… too muscular… blah blah poodoo! Half these bitches who took the survey are probably cows themselves anyway. If I looked like Frank Zane I could care less what the fairer sex thought of me. Do your best boys! 😉
I think a lot of it comes from the kind of guys the surveyed girls are used to dating/seeing in the real world. People use buffers all the time – that guys too muscular or oh she (female model in magazine) only looks that good because of photo editing/lighting, when in reality the woman looks like a goddess in person – in order to convince themselves that they don’t want/envy something they are not able to have/achieve.
Personally the male choice in the final set of images is the ideal for most I would guess. Ripped but not too muscular. Wide shoulders, solid chest tapering down to a slim waist – the perfect v-taper. Of course very few of the girls surveyed have ever had the chance of dating a guy of this caliber thus they reject it because pretending you don’t want something is easier than admitting to yourself you want what you can’t have. Same as the numerous articles with guys claiming they would prefer the average woman over a VS Model (for ex).
You’re kidding yourself if you think any of the women asked would reject Zyzz’s body because it’s too swollen. Lol.
Most guys we surveyed thought the same thing as you. They thought that Zyzz’s more muscular body would be rated as the most attractive by women. I think it’s normal for when to think that way. It’s just that women don’t think quite the same way. Perhaps if a guy goes outside the normal range of muscularity (as Zyzz did by taking steroids), then it stops looking natural and healthy, and it stops being attractive.
I totally believe the survey. It seems real to me. Women used to like buff dudes in the 80s and 90s because it was a novelty and guys like Zane and Arnie made bodybuilding cool. Especially Arnie being a huge movie star. Of course all the women’s marketing was going to push huge muscles. Especially biceps and abs. Not many men looked like that, so it became something to aspire to.
Fast forward to the new millenium and a lot has changed in society. In the late 90s and early 2000s more people went to the gym and hulk-like bodies became a dime a dozen. The novelty wore off, and on top of that our awareness of the negative side effects began to increase.
People are now mega-paranoid about drugs or any possibly harmful subtances (outside recreational use that is). Add on top of that a society that now values quality time above aesthetics, and you have a picture that illustrates that people prefer experiences over material possessions. Lifestyle over looks.
Women obviously notice that someone who obsesses over their body, has less time and devotion for their partner (unless of course they are both into it). Nobody likes to live with someone who spends 80% of their time worried about their carb intake, sleep hours, and workouts.
That’s not to say that a hot bod won’t turn heads in a crowded room. It surely will. But if there is a guy with naturally good looks and a lean, fit body cut from an active lifestyle rather than hours and hours at the gym, they’ll pick that because that guy not only exudes natural confidence (which is scientifically and unscientifically proven to be the number one quality that females consciously and/or unconsciously seek in males), but it also says to a female:
I don’t need to waste a lot of time to look this good. I get this way by living a full, adventurous, interesting lifestyle. Body builders look fantastic for sure. But the amount of unnatural care they have to give to their bodies makes them disciplinarians and therefore boring. Discipline used to be a noble trait in a person. These days we expect it in moderation, not in excess.
Not to mention a lot of male gym bunnies give you the impression that if their body turned to crap they’d be in crisis because they have not much else to offer the world in the way of intelligence or talent or personality.
Women feel safe around someone who can joke and look at the world light-heartedly. Someone with no hang-ups, but who won’t be a couch potatoe either. Those traits are unattrative. But so many guys are still stuck in the old thinking that washboard abs and 40 inch pythons are what turn a woman on.
I am a gym bunny. But even I have changed my ways. Because I see that body building bodies look gross. Mine was heading that way. One day I took a look in the mirror and felt that I looked like a monster and althought I was as strong as an ox, I was always last in a race with my slimmer, fitter friends, I couldn’t fit into some rides at Disneyworld. In fact there were too many situations where I felt like my size was a hindrance, and that my smaller peers enjoyed life more than me.
So these days I do more cardio and low weight, high reps exercises. My energy levels are higher. My flexibility and balance is improved immensely. I live life more and my confidence is sky high.
Oh and when I was big I seemed to attract a lot of girls who weren’t exactly mentally stimulating. And my relationships lasted less than 3 months on average.
Now, I am happily attached to a partner who challenges me every day and loves life as much as I do.
[…] Ladies, you know you love it. The perfectly defined lines from a man’s shoulders to his trim, waist and ass. It’s not just you – a few sites have highlighted that over 70% of women think Brad’s body in Fight Club is the what ladies want their guy to have. […]
[…] Se ha comprobado que el físico que la mayoría de los hombres quieren tener (como el de un fisicoculturista), no tiene ninguna relación con el tipo de cuerpo que a las mujeres les parece más atractivo. […]
Great article as usual 😉
My advice is to be natural and NEVER work out to please a woman. work out for your own goals. Like sports, performance , or a job like military, construction, police, firefighting. It will make you confident but not cocky and make you more interesting. girls are really turned on by your personality, some like personality more than physique.
I think I’ll agree with David Ricardo. I really don’t think most women (at least in the bedroom) would reject Zyzz’s body. I went to a male strip show once just to get a peak at what went on and the truth is I wasn’t surprised. The men at these shows had ripped muscled physiques that came from weight lifting, not riding a bike or walking on a treadmill. They had extremely hard mid-sections, very broad, muscular shoulders, and none of them were under 6.5″ long. The fucking women were getting so hot the bouncers had to keep them from jumping up on stage. So nobody’s going to tell me what women want, I seen it for myself.
Our findings agree that women prefer guys who are lean and muscular, just not the guys who take it beyond normal limits. Guys like Frank Zane, who take performance-enhancing drugs and dedicate their lives to bodybuilding are going to get too big and too lean for most women. But lifting weights will absolutely make the average man more attractive. All of the top-rated physiques were built by lifting weights. Brad Pitt, Henry Rollins, that old-time bodybuilder—all of them lifted weights.
In fact, so long as you don’t have world-class muscle-building genetics, take steroids, and do multiple workouts per day for a decade straight, I don’t think you’d ever reach a point where women would find you overly muscular.
The results of this study don’t suggest that you shouldn’t lift weights and get strong, they suggest that the most famous bodybuilders and Instagram models have physiques that most women consider overly lean and muscular.
[…] a fantastic article on what women find as the most attractive male body type, click here to read it. Fantastic article in my opinion that dives into it. But here’s the watered down […]
I would take this by the grain because it sounds like this was done by a guy who probably doesn’t have a frank zane body and is trying to shift the attention to more normal looking guys. I simply don’t believe that women would actually find zane’s body dead last in the line up, no way. after all, zane was the one accredited with moving the judgments of bodybuilding away from big to beauty…’nuf said. so why would women not find zane’s body the most attractive? or Zyzz’s body? it’s counter intuitive. human beings are programmed to find certain traits in the opposite sex lustful in order to mate. men for beauty and femininity, women for strength and masculinity. when I read this kind of information I always think about the advice my granddaddy gave me years before the internet, feminism, and gentrification that still holds true as much today as 100 years ago – never take advice about women from women.
Hey Johnnie, what you’re saying is consistent with the men we surveyed. They all incorrectly assumed that women had a preference for guys who looked like professional bodybuilders. Even the guys who knew that Frank Zane was too muscular to be considered attractive thought that Zyzz’s more moderate body would be rated as the most attractive male physique.
That simply wasn’t the case. Women chose the more athletic bodies, not the bodies of the guys on steroids.
This lines up with almost all research looking into muscularity and attractiveness. More muscularity is good… up to a point. By the time a guy gets beyond the normal natural limit of muscularity (or leanness), most women will start to find his body less attractive.
[…] women agree on and this fantastic article, built around solid scientific study, has borne this out: The Ideal Male Physique — What girls want & what guys want to be. It’s good news for men because it is more attainable than some of the ultra-muscular […]
PLEASE DO THIS EXPERIMENT AGAIN WITH THE PREVIOUS BODIES, BODIES LIKE CONNOR MURPHY’S, AND OTHER NEWLY PUBLICIZED PHYSIQUES WHILE HAVING MUCH MORE PARTICIPANTS IN THE TEST. EVEN IF IT TAKES A YEAR OR MONTHS TO FINISH, I BELIEVE IT’S WORTH IT. And thank you for this test.
Hey Armani, 1000 responses is actually quite a lot, even for peer-reviewed studies that use a survey format like this one. Normally around 200 responses seem to be enough for the results to be statistically significant. I don’t think we’d see much change in the results with more responses.
Connor Murphy’s physique is quite lean and muscular. Even more so than Scott Herman, who was rated as being too lean and too muscular in his photos. I don’t think he’s a good representation of which male body type women find the most attractive. Just look at the actors being cast as the sex icons in movies for women. They look strong, lean, and athletic, but they don’t look like bodybuilders or fitness models.
.. And the survey says….
Women have no idea what they want. Just like what they want to eat.
Be a man. Be yourself. Stay Strong!
My wife knows that she wants to eat flan.
Great article ! Keep it up
They definitely took boomers opinions on this
I AGREE!!! BOOMERS SUCK!!!
What is it with all these gay guys and their zyz obsession and what they think women like?
They like fit guys with an alpha behaviour, not caring about others opinions and that would protect them if they need to one day, but also able to be social and show traits of a future good father (i.e. caring about the people they like or love)
I know it is an old article but a breakdown of the women’s participants age would have been very, very useful. A couple of surveys have shown the younger the woman, the more they like more muscular man. I doubt it would compensate for massive bodybuilders but age may have definitely skewed these results if a considerable amount of 30+ year old women participated in the polls. Besides that, excellently made article!
[…] to a survey conducted by Foxhound that year, women were into men who didn’t look like bodybuilders. The […]
[…] survey is the fourth one we’ve done. In the first and Second surveys, ask women what Man bodies that found more attractive. In third surveyWe asked […]
[…] survey is the fourth we’ve done. In the first and second surveys, we asked women which male bodies they found most attractive. In the third […]
hahaha all the meatheads trying to cope. Slim toned physique is the best, stay mad.
[…] a catch, although: another study requested girls to fee the torsos of well-known males, from private trainers to celebrities, and […]
[…] a catch, though: another study asked women to rate the torsos of famous men, from personal trainers to celebrities, and […]
[…] Image courtesy of foxhoundstudio.com via Google Images […]