Do Girls Like Muscles? The Truth Revealed

What is your motivation for training? Is it to increase strength? Is it to perform better in your sport?

What about financial benefits? Research has shown that people in good physical shape earn more than people who aren’t. Of course not, training is designed to get members of the opposite sex (or the same sex) to notice you.

That statement is probably not very PC these days, and to be perfectly frank, it definitely isn’t universally true.

People don’t always train to get noticed for having a good body. But many, many, people do, even if they don’t admit it (even to themselves). There is absolutely nothing wrong with this by the way, even though improving your looks is sometimes portrayed as being vain.

For decades, bodybuilders were always portrayed in pop culture as being excessively vain. Never being able to walk past a reflective surface without checking themselves out in it. If you read certain websites’ comment sections anyone with a six-pack is a shallow person.

But improving how you look to improve your confidence and to attract other people is NOT vain. It’s an evolutionarily sound tactic.

Sadly having a good personality isn’t enough. Well, it can be (this article is really hard to write without generalisation). You’ll see men and women who are definitely with each other because of their personalities etc …. But if you have an A+ personality and a potential rival also has an A+ personality … AND an A+ body who’s getting the girl/guy? Not you!

In this article, we will be answering the question “Do Girls like muscles?”. This is not a very inclusive title. It is aimed primarily at heterosexual men. It is going to involve some generalisations, it has to.

Every single woman on this planet has a unique personality, a unique set of likes and dislikes? Don’t believe me, go and ask ten women what their favourite book is and ask them to explain why. Literally, all ten women will have a different opinion. Try this with any group.

So if you want a super-quick response to the question which doesn’t generalise it’s this:

• There are some women who will like men with muscles, some women will like men without muscles.
• Some women will like women with muscles, some women will like women without muscles.
• Sometimes, women will like both men and women, and their opinion on muscles will differ for each gender.
• Some women will like muscles on one guy and not on the other.
• Certain women will like muscles up to a certain extent, but past a certain threshold, they will be turned off by them.
• Some women couldn’t care less what a man/woman looks like, provided that this person enjoys the works of JRR Tolkien.

As you can see, this is the issue at hand! So this article is going to talk about whether women like muscles in a generalised way. It can’t be helped.

Hopefully, the article will help answer this very broad question, and challenge you to assess whether you need to build more muscle, stop concentrating so much on muscle, or whether your horrific personality makes the whole point moot (just kidding tiger).[toc]

Defining Muscle

Everyone has muscles, every single person. Without muscle we could not wave at an attractive person, nor could we smile at them.

We couldn’t pick up some flowers, nor could we kiss, hug, or do anything else to them (use your imagination – we’re not writing that kind of article).

So in its broadest sense, yes women like muscles.

But when we talk about muscles in this article, we are talking about having a physique defined by muscles.

Big biceps, pecs, quads, traps, all the muscles that fitness magazines tell you that you NEED to build.

There are different scales of muscled. From Brad Pitt in Fight Club to the Rock in Jumanji (or whichever film you last saw him in) to powerlifters such as Eddie Hall, to Bodybuilders.

There will be at least a few women who like each type, and many who like all of them. But those are the distinctions we have. Lean and fit like Brad, athletic like The Rock, powerful and sometimes slightly chunky like those big strong powerlifters, and finally we have the heavily muscled dudes such as Phil Heath.

What having muscles says about you

Most men think that having a well-defined body attracts girls because it makes you look sexy. This is partly true. But never the whole story.

Having a well-defined body says more about you than that. It says that you are affluent (whether this is true or not), it says that you can commit. It says that you are disciplined, it can hint at power and control. Think of all of the people we mentioned as examples of each body type. They are all seen as powerful, successful men.

Even if a woman was not attracted to Eddie Hall, in person they may be drawn to his personality. His strength and calm power. Eddie is successful and driven, this can be attractive to many people.

The Rock and Brad Pitt are both popular with the ladies, they are both also go-to examples of successful and charming men. Would they have been so successful without excellent physiques? Obviously not. Particularly in the Rock’s case!

If you think that building a great body is all about what you look like naked or in a ridiculously tight t-shirt then you are not thinking clearly.

Firstly, most women will not find that attractive. Some will, but many won’t. First impressions will be that you are arrogant. Dressing well (and appropriately) will attract more women then walking around with no shirt will (unless you literally ARE the Rock).

How much is too much?

At the beginning of this article, I said that the most common reason why men train is to attract sexual partners.

This isn’t entirely true (but I’m not deleting it), some guys genuinely do train for the simple love of getting bigger and bigger.

I also said that different women will like different sizes of men and that many won’t care about what you look like. This is definitely true.

But if you are a single guy right now (and let’s face it, if you’re reading this article you absolutely are) then you’re probably more interested in what amount of muscle is ideal for attracting the most women.

Which physique will attract the maximum amount of women?

I think that we can all agree that the top end of the muscle scale: Your powerlifters, your Sumo wrestlers, and professional bodybuilders, are probably liked by a relatively small niche.

On the other end of the scale, men with almost no muscle (who would need two hands to pass you a 5kg dumbbell) probably also have quite a small fan club.

Again, not saying that these men can’t get hundreds and thousands of women due to their personalities, just saying that no woman has a poster up of a topless Andrew Garfield (after using Andrew as an example I immediately typed “Andrew Garfield topless” into Google – I owe him an apology, dude looks good).

So far, I probably haven’t lost too many of you with my opinions. A step up from skinny dudes with no muscle, you have skinny but well-defined guys. “Brad Pitt in Fight Club” is an image that everyone can immediately recall. He was lean as hell and well defined.

This physique is very popular with women (it also helps if you have Brad Pitt’s face).

However, if you are wearing a hoodie or even a well-tailored suit, it can be quite hard for a woman to tell whether you have a good physique or not!

Next up from the Brad Pitt look would be the Christian Bale in Batman look, okay there are many physiques in between, but give me a break here!

Anyway, this type of physique is a little less lean, you can get away with a bit more body fat, but overall your muscles are bigger, and people can see that. This is probably the most universally popular physique.

After that, you’ve got the Channing Tatum in Magic Mike look (wow my Google history is going to be tough to explain to my partner after this article). More muscled, probably just as popular as Bale, however slowly pushing the boundaries of musculature to good looks ratio.

After that, we have the Rock, who is insanely popular with some women, but also not every woman’s cup of tea. “His muscles are too big” is a phrase that will start popping up at this point.

Anything bigger than the Rock is going to be less and less popular with most women.

Sorry but that’s a fact. If you are pretty overweight and instead of bothering to get leaner you think you’ll build yourself up to Eddie Hall standards … well, firstly that’s not going to happen. He’s a professional sportsman. Secondly, while you will find some women who love that body shape, they will be about one-tenth in the number of women who prefer leaner blokes.

Train for You

This next part may appear to contradict the previous slightly. In the last paragraph, I claimed that you should look to get leaner if you want to appeal to more women. However, if you are naturally a stocky, overweight bloke, then trying to get a six pack may not be realistic.

Your entire training program should be about finding what is right for you.

If you are overweight, then you should be looking to lose weight to improve your heart health, to reduce your risk of diabetes, and to stop shopping at big and tall shops. The fact that more women will find you physically attractive should be a bonus.

As a rule, women like men who are in good health. They like men who know how to take care of themselves, and they like men who are self-confident.

If you are currently overweight, losing some body fat and getting some definition will help improve all of those factors at the same time. You’ll lose fat, which will improve your health, which will demonstrate that you can take care of yourself, and you’ll also be more confident.

Build Muscle and Build Personality

Again, I am assuming that if you are reading an article titled “Do Girls Like Muscles?” then you are probably a single man. You may also be in need of a small pep-talk. Maybe not, maybe you are completely confident and self-assured and are currently reading this while surrounded by the entire Swedish female beach volleyball squad.

But if you’re not, then this last section is the most important part of the article, and could potentially be the most effective.

At the beginning of the article, you KNEW the answer. Yes, women will often enjoy the site of a well-muscled man. In the same way that most men will like a toned, sun-kissed, woman wearing a bikini. Human sexuality is broad, and there is someone for everyone. But most people like lean, muscled people.

You have a certain degree of control over how you look. You can exercise regularly, eat healthily, and dress to compliment your new body.

But if you’re looking to attract women or men then you need to understand that it’s not just about how muscled you are, it’s not about how much you can bench, or how amazing you look on Instagram.

Having the confidence to talk to women, to listen to them, to be charming, and funny. To be patient and kind. This is what really matters, and many guys take way too long to understand this.

Go to the gym, please. It will help you immensely. But understand that spending time improving your communication skills will be just as effective as curling barbells. Learning how to make people laugh will be better than squatting 200.

Lift weights, read books, learn to listen, eat healthy, download Tinder, consume sufficient protein, get a haircut, find a great chat up line, do some crunches, make good eye contact, take creatine, treat every girl like she’s the most important person in the world, buy a shakeweight (okay maybe not that last one).