How To Get A V-Taper Body
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10 v-taper exercises for men & women
On today’s episode of Live Lean TV, a viewer asked how to get a v-taper body, what are the benefits, and the best exercises to get a v-taper.
This is another episode from our #WayBackWednesday series, where we highlight the best questions from previous episodes of our #AskLiveLeanTV Q&A show.
This question is from #AskLiveLeanTV Ep. 006.
Here’s today’s viewer question:
Tino on Snapchat asks: how to get a v-tapered body and what are the benefits? Also, what muscles should be worked and what are the best exercises to get a v-tapered body? I appreciate the 5-10 minute workouts.
Thank you for sharing your appreciation for our 5-10 minute workouts.
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We need your feedback, so comment below, as this will make a difference on what you will see in the future.
So now let’s talk about the v-taper body.
What is a v-taper body?
This is a great question since we’ve never been asked this before.
A v-taper body is mainly important for a visually aesthetic physique.
Let’s face it, appearances are important because everyone wants to look good naked, and have a shapely figure.
This means a v-taper body applies to both men and women, because when you have better muscle development in your upper body, it makes your waist look smaller.
This is a good thing.
What muscles should be targeted to get a v-taper body?
In general, you want to do exercises that target your upper body muscles, especially your:
- deltoids (shoulders)
- teres minor
- teres major
- lats
These are the muscle groups that are really going to help expand your upper body and build a wider back.
By doing this, it will also make your waist look smaller.
Think about the X shape.
A X shape body is comprised of:
- wide shoulders
- a v-tapered back that makes your waist look tighter
- tight waist
- well proportioned quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves
This X shape body will give you a greek god and goddess look.
So this means you also have to train your legs.
No more skipping leg day.
Exercise to train your waist tighter: abdominal vacuum
A great exercise to train your waist tighter is called an abdominal vacuum.
How to do an abdominal vacuum:
The Abdominal Vacuum is a unique ab exercise that primarily targets the transverse abdominis muscle to help tighten your waist.
To get started:
1. Stand in front of a knee high box, table, or chair.
2. Keeping your legs straight, back flat, and neck neutral, bend over and place your hands on top of the box.
3. Inhale deeply as you think about pulling in your belly button towards your spine and focusing on really contracting and keeping your lower abs tense.
4. Hold for a few seconds, then exhale as your push all the air out of your lungs.
5. Continue this inhaling and exhaling exercise for reps or time.
The other important way to slim your waist is by having a good lean diet that is in a slight calorie deficit to help you burn off the belly fat.
To get a v-taper body focus on hypertrophy training
When you’re training to get a v-taper body you want to be doing hypertrophy style training on your:
- deltoids (shoulders)
- lats (back)
- legs
Best exercises for v-taper include:
Wide grip pull up:
The wide grip pull up is an excellent bodyweight exercise to target the back.
Using a wider grip makes it more challenging and can help build a wider back.
To get started:
1. Grip the handles of pull up bar with a wide grip and hang at arm’s length.
2. Contract your lats and think about pulling your elbows down to pull your chest to the bar.
3. Pause, then under control, lower your body and fully extend your arms back to the starting position.
4. Repeat for reps.
Lean back lat pull down with underhand grip
The lean back lat pulldown with underhand grip is a great exercise to target muscles in the back
By leaning back, you place more emphasis on the middle and upper back.
To get started:
1. At a lat pulldown machine, grab the bar with a shoulder width, underhand grip.
2. Sit down and lean back so your body creates a 30-45 degree angle with the ground.
3. Maintain this angle for the duration of the exercise.
4. Pull the bar to your chest by bending your elbows and contracting your back muscles. Remember there is no movement from your torso. It should remain fixed in the 30-45 degree angle to the floor.
5. Under control, slowly extend your arms to return back to the starting position and repeat.
Wide grip lat pulldown
The wide grip lat pulldown is a great exercise that targets the lat muscles in the back.
To get started:
1. Sit down at a lat pulldown machine with your knees just underneath the pads.
2. Extend your arms into the air to grab the attached bar with a palms facing forward grip that is wide than your shoulders.
3. Keeping your core tight, chest up, and your torso stationary at about 30 degrees, contract your lat muscles and bring your shoulders and upper arms down to pull the bar down towards your upper chest.
4. Think about moving the bar with your back muscles, not your arms.
5. Contract the back muscles for a good squeeze at the bottom of the lift, then under control, reverse the movement back to the starting position with your arms fully extended and lats fully stretched.
6. Repeat.
Single arm cable lat pulldown
The single arm cable lat pulldown is great exercise to target the muscles in the back.
I like to use the single arm variation as an activation set to really isolate and warm up each side of the lats independently, before hitting them with a heavier compound back exercise.
To get started:
1. Attach a single arm handle to a lat pulldown machine.
2. Sit down and grab the handle with one hand using an overhand, palms facing away, grip.
3. Without moving your torso, initiate the movement by first engaging and contracting your lats, then bending your elbow and pulling it toward the ground.
4. Pause to really feel the contraction, then reverse the movement and repeat.
5. After you’ve completed your reps with one arm, switch arms and repeat.
Standing cable face pull with external rotation
The standing cable face pull with external rotation is a fantastic exercise to not only target the upper back muscles, but it also strengthens your rotator cuff muscles, which is key for healthier shoulders.
To get started:
1. Attach a rope handle to a high pulley of a cable machine.
2. Grip each end of the rope with a palms facing each other neutral grip, so the ends of the ropes point to the ceiling.
3. Take a few steps back from the cable machine so you can extend your arms straight in front of you.
4. Pull the rope towards your eyes by squeezing your shoulder blades together and bending and flaring your elbows out to the side.
5. At the end of the movement, your hands should be in alignment with your eyes.
6. Under control, reverse the movement back to the starting position.
7. Repeat.
Dumbbell bent over row
Any type of rows, such as the dumbbell bent over row, is a great exercise to train and add thickness to your upper back.
To get started:
1. With a hip width stance, hold a pair of dumbbells, palms facing you, in front of your thighs.
2. While maintaining a flat back with your arms hanging straight down, lower your torso towards the ground by bending at your hips and knees until you’re almost parallel to the ground.
3. To initiate the row, contract your back muscles, bend your elbows, and pull the dumbbells to the sides of your torso.
4. Squeeze in the contracted position, then slowly lower them and repeat.
Standing one arm dumbbell bent over row
The standing one arm dumbbell bent over row is a modified variation of the traditional one arm dumbbell bent over wow, that does not require a bench to support you.
To get started:
1. While standing up straight, hold a dumbbell in one arm with a palm facing in grip.
2. To get into the bent over position, bend your knees and lean forward from your hips and allow your arm with the dumbbell to hang straight down.
3. To ensure you maintain a flat back, place your free hand on your lower back, palm up.
4. Contract your back muscles by bending your elbow and pulling the dumbbell up to your chest.
5. To ensure your back stays square to the ground and you do not rotate your torso to move the dumbbell, keep your abs contracted.
6. Under control, lower the dumbbell back to the bottom of the movement by fully extending your arm.
7. Repeat the reps with this arm, then switch and repeat the reps with your other arm.
Standing barbell shoulder press
The standing barbell shoulder press, a.k.a. the overhead press and military press, is a great strength and mass building exercise for the shoulders.
To get started:
1. Grab the barbell with a slightly wider than shoulder width grip.
2. Contract your core, squeeze your glutes, and press the weight over your head. By keeping your abs and glutes firing, you’ll protect your lower back.
3. Slowly lower the weight back to the front of your chest.
4. Repeat.
We also have a great shoulder workout called the Top 5 Exercises For Boulder Shoulders.
Standing dumbbell lateral raise
The standing dumbbell lateral raise is a exercise that targets the shoulders, in particular, the outside of the shoulders.
To get started:
1. With a hip width stance, hold a pair of dumbbells by your sides, with a palms facing in grip.
2. Keeping your upper torso stationary and your chest up, raise the dumbbells with extended arms out to your sides until they reach parallel to the floor, with your pinky finger being higher than your thumb.
3. Think about reaching for both sides of the room, then pouring out a glass of water. This will place more emphasis on the outer shoulder.
4. Under control, reverse the movement to lower the weights and repeat.
Don’t forget…
Don’t forget to train your legs as well.
Also, don’t forget to work on your diet if you feel like you’re storing fat in the midsection.
Your diet is really going to get you the most dramatic results in slimming your waist.
Now it’s time to go check out this back workout I did from The Rock when he was filming the movie Hercules.
I hope this post answered your question on how to get a v-taper body.
It’s time to build a stronger v-taper shaped back.
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Brad Gouthro is the founder of Live Lean TV, a media company focused on helping men and women “Live Lean” 365 days a year. Brad’s programs and content have helped millions of people all over the world learn how to get in shape, and more importantly, sustain it for life.