The Most Attractive Male Physique According to Women

What is the most attractive male physique, according to women?

As men, we want to be the pinnacle of attractiveness.

We want to know how to increase our desirability and sex appeal, so that we can win with women, succeed on the sexual marketplace, and take control of our own sexual/relational destinies.

But a lot of men struggle with body image!

So in this post, we are going to blow the roof off this question, once and for all.

What do women really want in a man? What type of man is the most attractive, according to science?

And perhaps most importantly… How much does the male physique play into it?

These questions are more complicated than you might realize! So let’s dig in and get to the answers.

What Kind of Physique Is Most Attractive?

I’m not going to sugar-coat it, men. This is a complex issue. If you look at the straight numbers, you’ll see that the majority of women, at least on paper, prefer a lean, muscular, tall man.

So tall, dark, handsome… got it. The rest of us can just go live a lonely life on our own, right?

Well, that is actually not true! Because while it might seem like women prefer Brad Pitt and Jason Momoa when they pick men out of a photo-lineup, the actual dating landscape presents women with a much more complex array of challenges to face and overcome.

And so, the task of choosing the ‘highest value man,’ whether it be for a lifetime partner, or for a one-night stand, becomes a multi-faceted decision that takes many, many things into account – not just a man’s BMI, muscle-mass, or body fat percentage.

For starters, let’s break it down by body type, and explain the different types of male bodies for reference.

What Are the Male Body Types?

If you want to get really simple and succinct with it, male human bodies can pretty much be classified in three different categories:

• Ectomorphic
• Endomorphic
• Mesomorphic

Ectomorph body types are long and lean, and they tend to have trouble putting on muscle.

Endomorph body types tend to store higher percentages of body fat. These are the men who seem to have trouble losing their ‘beer gut,’ and include men with pear-shaped bodies.

Mesomorph body types are muscular men who seem to have very little trouble building muscle mass. So, those big guys you see at the gym, and guys like Dwayne Johnson… they would be considered mesomorphs.

But… this isn’t an altogether foolproof classification system, either, as the vast majority of men fall somewhere in between two, or even all three, different types.

There is even a classification system to show where a particular body type falls within all of these three different categories. It is called ‘Somatotyping.’

For Example…

I am a very tall guy with broad shoulders. Putting on muscle in my shoulders and arms is easy enough. Those are mesomorphic traits.

I also struggle with a bit of belly fat! That is an endomorphic trait.

And finally, my legs tend to be a bit on the skinny side. It’s a bit more difficult for me to build muscle on my calves or thighs. It takes about twice as much effort to build muscle in my legs as it does to build it in my arms.

This would be an ectomorphic trait.

Alright… Why Does This Matter to the Question of Which Male Physique Is More Attractive to Women?

When determining how to be more attractive to women, we need to understand one vital truth that cannot be denied.

To a certain point, your DNA, and evolution, play a role in how your body is shaped, and how you look.

For example – Your DNA dictates whether you are more likely to store fat in your buttocks, stomach, thighs, etc.

So as men, we need to be aware of the fact that, while we can control the shape of our body to a certain point, there are some things that cannot be altered.

Some of us are tall, some are not.

Some of us are more prone to belly fat, some are not.

What Is the Average Male Body Type?

The average male body type, as it turns out, has a BMI of 29, a waist of 39 inches, and a height of 5’9”.

So, that is the baseline. For the rest of us, measuring against this average can tell us where we fall on the average scale, but not necessarily how attractive we are going to be to women.

That is really a more complicated discussion.

What Is the Perfect Male Physique?

To understand the ‘perfect male physique’ in terms of what women are looking for, it is important to look at how humans have evolved to solve different adaptive problems over the course of the last several hundred thousand years.

And this is a complicated science when you get into the ‘deep stuff’… though it is actually pretty simple to understand in a more ‘basic’ sense. .

Humans, all throughout evolutionary history, have basically evolved to do two things well.

They evolved to reproduce successfully, and survive.

Humans needed to reproduce to keep the species alive, and they needed to survive so that they wouldn’t die-out before they successfully reproduced.

So as men and women evolved, and as our species adapted to the harsh elements and dangers of our environment, certain characteristics emerged simply because people who tended to display those characteristics tended to live longer.

And the longer people lived, the greater their odds of reproducing successfully… and the better the odds would be that their children would also reach adulthood successfully.

Evolution and Adaptation Played a Big Role in Mate Selection Strategies Over Time

For example… a man with no muscle mass in his legs would not have been able to chase after food, kill it, and bring it home to the tribe. And so, that man’s survivability might be low when compared to the man with powerful leg muscles.

And so, the man with weak leg muscles may not live long enough to successfully reproduce, while the man with larger leg muscles is more likely to live long enough to reproduce.

And when he does reproduce, his DNA will carry his ‘large leg muscle’ trait and give it to his children. His descendents are more likely to have that trait now that his DNA is in the mix.

And so, because of his DNA, his descendents are more likely to survive.

So as time went on, humans began to look for traits in their mates that would contribute to not only their own survival, but also to the survival of their tribe and children.

In one sense, a woman had a lot more to gain from reproducing with a man with powerful leg muscles than she would have from reproducing with a man with weak leg muscles.

And so, this very basic example forms the basis for how women evolved and adapted to help solve the problems of successful reproduction and survival through the tool of mate-selection.

And this, in turn, formed a basis for what women are attracted to in a man’s body.

You could say that women are attracted the most to the traits that, 200,000 years ago, would have contributed to greater survivability and success in reproduction.

This is obviously a bit of an oversimplification… but it is nonetheless true in its basic premise.

An Example of the Perfect Male Physique

When you look at Chris Hemsworth, playing the role of ‘Thor’ in the Marvel Movies, you will quickly see an example of a human male who looks to be in ‘prime’ physical condition.

He is young. He is agile. He is full of energy. He’s strong. You can see his cut muscles, his broad shoulders, and his chiseled abs. He has the distinctive ‘V’ shaped torso that is so common among ‘sexy’ men in our modern culture.

It isn’t surprising that Chris Hemsworth is seen as one of the sexiest men alive… and his role as Thor was arguably one of the most attractive roles he has ever played.

But, let’s break down these features and look at them from an evolutionary perspective.

Any Woman Would Have Done Well to Mate With Such a Powerful Specimen of a Man in Ancient Human Times, Because Such a Specimen Would Have Contributed Greatly to Her Own Potential For Survival

The strong muscles, the athleticism, the V-shaped torso, the impeccable good health and powerful body… all of these traits would have contributed greatly to a man’s ability to succeed and survive in the wild world of our ancestors.

Why?

Because such physical power would have given him a great advantage over not only natural predators, but also over his enemies… and even over other dangers, such as illness, the elements, and the environment itself.

Since a powerful man was more likely to survive than a weakened, sickly man, more powerful men survived than weak men.

And so, the women who mated with these men passed that genetic information down to their daughters… who were slightly more likely to favor the same type of man their mother chose, and so on.

Perpetuate this over hundreds of thousands of years, and you end up with a very powerful core sexual programming… one that is literally trying to get women to mate with this exact type of man, because it knows, from years of evolutionary adaptation, that this kind of man will give her and her offspring the greatest chance of survival.

Based on This Data Alone, We Can See That a Body Like Thor’s Is Pretty Much the ‘Pinnacle’ of Male Attraction

But… Physical build is not the only indicator of high survivability in men. There are many other markers that women look at when determining whether or not a particular man might make a suitable mate.

To contrast this, let’s take a look at some of Thor’s other desirable traits.

Thor Has a Lot More Going For Him Than Just His Good Looks…

You will notice that he is charismatic. He has kind, piercing blue eyes, and a quick, contagious smile.

He’s diplomatic. He’s a capable leader. He is confident. He’s fearless, bold, and never backs down from a fight.

He is so confident in the early movies that his behavior almost borders on being reckless.

He is also intelligent, and displays a strong sense of humor – which is another powerful indicator of high intelligence.

He is also a man of high status. He is literally the son of a god, and is a ‘demigod’ in his own right. He has royal power, prestige, political sway (i.e. strong tribal connections), and turns heads everywhere he goes. He commands respect in all situations, and rightfully so.

He is a formidable, dangerous, powerful man… but, he is also a man of strong moral and ethical character. He fights for the ‘good guys,’ and defends those who are too weak to defend themselves.

In doing so, he is effectively ‘sharing his resources.’ So, he is as generous as he is powerful!

With All of This Being Said, This Is Perhaps the Most Important Thing to Understand About Thor…

Thor brings a wealth of resources to the table, almost too many to mention, BEYOND his good looks… although his good looks are, without a doubt, a resource as well. But – it is his good looks that earn him that initial attention from women who don’t know him yet.

With so many resources on the table to offer those he cares about, it is easy to see how profitable it would be for someone to have Thor as a close friend or ally.

And of course, any woman would do very well to bring him on as a sexual partner, because she would get to inherit all of those awesome benefits, and become the primary beneficiary of all of the incredible traits, attributes, and resources he brings to the table.

This Is Called Resource-Potential – and Thor Has It in Spades!

Resource Potential – This is what women are primarily interested in when they are tasked with choosing a sexual partner.

And while good looks play into this, there are also a lot of other factors to consider.

For example – If a woman chooses a physically perfect man as her partner, but that man ends up abusing her… well, that actually works against her, and reduces her odds of survival.

In such a circumstance, she may opt, instead, for a man who is less physically attractive, but more attractive in other ways. For example – she may prefer a man who is kind to her and her children to a man who is physically beautiful, but unkind or dangerous.

A man with great wealth can often attract women who would otherwise not pay attention to him. This is why you see so many famous, successful, older, arguably ‘less attractive’ men with supermodels on their arms!

They may not have the youthful look of Thor, or his physical muscles… but they do have the status, the tribal connections, the monetary wealth, and the ability to offer her a lifestyle that is on-par with royalty.

What woman wouldn’t choose such things if given the chance? Any woman would at least give serious consideration to such resources… and all of them would play a role in helping her to decide on the best potential partner.

So, What Exactly Do Women Care About the Most When It Comes to the Male Physique?

This is actually a really good question, because a lot of men tend to overemphasize the importance of certain physical characteristics when it comes to female attraction.

For example, according to this study, 89% of women said that men who ‘keep themselves in good shape,’ are attractive. 75% of women want their man to be stronger than they are, and 59% of women said that it was important to them that their men ‘have bigger arms’ than them.

But… Coming in as what is likely a BIG surprise for men, only 3% of women polled said that being ‘ripped’ and ‘muscular’ were important!

Yes, as it turns out, for the most part, women are attracted to healthy male bodies.

Obviously, different women prefer different things. But in the vast majority of cases, women are attracted to men who are proportionate, who seem healthy, who seem to have ‘normal’ looking bodies, and who seem to be in good physical condition.

In other words – you don’t need to be a bodybuilder to get a girlfriend. You don’t even need to be in better shape than most men.

You just need to be in ‘reasonably healthy shape’ to start to appear attractive to women. And even then, we have all seen ‘chubby’ men with beautiful women on their arms. So at the end of the day, it is really important to remember that physical attractiveness is only one part of the equation.

My Own Personal Experiences With the Male Physique, and Tips For Men

Here at Male Ambition, we want to give you real, actionable advice that you can use to make your life better, succeed as a man, and become the true alpha male you’ve always wanted to be.

And so, I’m going to share my own personal story with you.

When I Was in High School, I Had an Awesome Body

I had washboard abs. I lifted weights. I played sports. I had what many would consider an awesome male body.

But I still struggled, in a lot of ways, to get women to pay attention to me.

But this is the first thing you must understand – I did not have trouble with women because of my body!

In fact, a lot of women tended to notice me. Then, I would ruin my chances with how I acted!

Why?

Because I didn’t understand women, and didn’t understand how to act around them.

For the most part, I ruined my chances because…

• I was clingy
• I acted desperate
• I was a ‘sad boy’
• I wasn’t an alpha male, by any stretch of the imagination
• Even though I had a great body, I still had super low confidence
• I was a pretty negative and pessimistic person

Now, don’t get me wrong. I still had girlfriends. I even got married by the time I was 20!

But after my divorce, 10 years later, I learned a lot of lessons about ‘the most attractive male physique’ that I never realized before.

After My Divorce, I Was Overweight – and It Was Much More Difficult For Me to Get Attention From Attractive Women

During my marriage, I got lazy and complacent with my looks. I stopped taking care of myself. I worked out a little bit, but not as much as I should have.

My haircut was bad, my beard was badly styled, I didn’t dress well, and I really had no sense of personal identity or style.

Why?

Because my entire life was lived trying to please other people. I wanted to be validated by my wife and other people around me, and this plunged me into a pure beta-male mindset!

But after my marriage ended, I knew that I needed to change if I wanted to succeed on the dating landscape again.

I Started Hitting the Gym and Watching My Calorie Intake – and Dropped a Bunch of Weight

I immediately noticed that women paid a lot more attention to me with this new body-type. I had slimmed down and built some muscle. And that made me a lot more physically attractive.

Once again, I learned from experience that women are much more into men with a healthy body-type. They don’t, as a general rule, initially notice men who are overweight based on appearances alone. If it is left up to just appearances, they are far more likely to notice the guy with the great body.

But once again, that isn’t the only factor. You see, once I slimmed down and built some muscle, I also started gaining confidence. And so, I started walking up to women and engaging them.

And this confidence really helped me to get numbers, schedule dates, and kick my relationship/sex life into a higher gear.

It had a little bit to do with my weight and physique. But at the end of the day, it had a lot more to do with my personality, my confidence, my social skills, and my outgoingness.

I was also quickly learning to be a more positive person, and starting pursuing my purpose in life instead of just ‘surviving.’

I started to validate myself. And this played a massive role in my ability to attract women and schedule dates.

6 Things Every Man Needs to Understand About the Question “What Is the Most Attractive Male Physique, According to Women?”

Alright. Let’s break all of this down to deliver the top 6 pieces of advice you need to understand about body types, attraction, and what women actually prefer!

#1 – Height Is a Really Important Factor

The taller you are (to a certain point) the better off you will be. 73% of women quizzed in one particular questionnaire stated that they prefer a man 5’9” or taller.

As a general rule, women seem to like men who are at least a few inches taller than they are!

Does this mean that shorter men are doomed?

No, it doesn’t.

And here is why… because looks alone do matter, but not as much as you think they would.

Let me explain.

#2 – Looks Do Matter, But Maybe Not as Much as You Would Think

This is a tricky one to understand – but it is really important!

Yes, looks matter to women. This is obvious!

So the big question, then, is how much do they matter?

One study, which presented 80 daughters and 61 mothers with color photographs of men, along with personality profiles that outlined where each of the men ranked in terms of personality traits such as respect, trustworthiness, and honesty, asked the women to rank the men in terms of how desirable they might be as a potential dating partner.

And the results, quite interestingly, pointed out that as long as the women found the men attractive to some degree, they would tend to pay attention to the quality character traits.

But this wasn’t quite as clear with men who were considered unattractive. It would seem that, in order to have your positive qualities taken into account by women, you need to register as at least somewhat sexually attractive first.

And this leads us to number three…

#3 – Taking Care of Yourself Is One of the Best Things You Can Do to Appear Attractive to Potential Partners

I’m going to be real with you, men.

This isn’t necessarily a pleasant thing to hear. But it is vitally important for all of us to understand.

If you don’t take care of your outward appearance, your odds of getting the attention of high-value women are going to diminish drastically.

You can be the kindest man in the world. You can be super intelligent. You can be really, really good at what you do, make a lot of money, and/or display a lot of very favorable, positive personality traits.

But if you aren’t also at least somewhat attractive, your dating pool is going to shrink considerably!

So take care of yourself. It actually doesn’t take very much to make a big difference!

• Buy some new clothes that complement your body type
• Work out for 20 minutes a day
• Start limiting your calorie intake to a healthy level
• Eat more fruits and vegetables, and fewer candies, sweets, and fried foods
• Cut out soda
• Start moving around, rather than sitting in one place
• Style your beard and hair
• Keep doing research and learning to understand how you can improve your attractiveness over time

#4 – It Is VERY Important NOT to Get Depressed Over Your Looks or Weight

Almost every man has insecurities. And some men can get really depressed about this!

But please understand that staying positive is going to be so much better for you in the long run.

Just take small steps, every day, to level up your attractiveness.

Go to the gym for 20 minutes.

Cut out that extra cookie after dinner.

Take a walk in the evening.

Buy a new shirt that looks good on you.

Watch a YouTube video on how to style your beard better.

These are all little things that you can do… and while they may seem inconsequential in the short-term, you would be amazed by how much progress you can make over time if you keep this up!

Remember – We are alpha men! We take pride in ourselves, we cultivate true confidence, we validate ourselves, and we don’t need to match a certain standard to be a ‘real man.’

But we do want to be better today than we were yesterday. That is the most powerful metric to pay attention to!

So instead of being depressed, attack the problem and gain that confidence! That is honestly one of the best things a man can do to upgrade his attractiveness!

#5 – Based on Looks Alone, Women Prefer Strong, Fit Men

According to this study, researchers asked female students in their early twenties to rate photos of men on a scale from one to seven, based on how attractive they thought the men were.

The photos only showed bodies… not faces. And no other information was given.

Nearly 200 photos of men were shown, and all of them were either shirtless, or were shown wearing a tank top.

60 of the men recruited for the photo shoot were recruited from the school gym, while 130 of the men were recruited from psych classes.

The result?

All 160 of the women preferred the fittest, strongest looking bodies!

Is this surprising? Actually, according to evolution, it isn’t!

Person to person, women take many things into account when selecting a mate (intelligence, sense of humor, kindness, etc.).

But let’s be real with ourselves. If given the choice, most of us would choose an objectively beautiful woman with a perfect body as a mate, and women are not really any different!

All the more reason to hit the gym instead of playing video games if you really want to catch a lady’s eye!

And remember – you don’t have to become a ripped bodybuilder to look attractive! Even a few minor improvements will make a huge difference!

Right now, I work out for about 30 minutes a day at the gym. I do three different exercises on the weight machines, 3 sets of 10 reps each at the appropriate weight for my strength level.

I also take one or two walks every day.

It isn’t much. But I’m still getting gains and making progress… that’s what matters!

#6 – You Can Still Get Hot Women, Even If You Aren’t in Great Shape

Still want to date girls, hookup, and maybe even score a girlfriend… all without having an athletic body?

That is perfectly fine! And it is also absolutely possible!

Here are some tips to make it work.

1. Wear clothing that flatters your body
2. Rock your style with confidence!
3. Work on body language so that you can walk into a room, and give off a powerful, confident vibe
4. Develop yourself in other areas – learn to flirt, escalate, and interact with women
5. Find ways to interact person-to-person with the women you are interested in – this gives you the chance to build connection and chemistry, which are actually far more powerful for attraction than physical looks anyway
6. Don’t be self-conscious about your body! Your body may not be ‘athletic,’ but that doesn’t mean that women won’t find it sexy!

Every single day, hot women are dating men of all body types and sizes!

All you have to do is own it, be confident, be happy, chase your purpose, and live a meaningful life.

When she sees you having the time of your life on your own, it will make her want to jump on-board with you!

That confidence and self-validation is incredibly sexy to women!

They don’t want to be the mission – they want to join you as you pursue the mission and win!

In Conclusion

Here at Male Ambition, our goal is to help men win in life… in all of the areas of life they care about.

As alpha men, many of us want to have incredible, engaging interactions with beautiful women.

But body image issues can plague even those of us who have a ton to offer!

So here is a final piece of advice.

Don’t worry so much about what the most attractive male physique is.

Instead, work on leveling up every day, to be 1% better than the person you were yesterday.

Do this, and you will undoubtedly find hot, beautiful, amazing women to date and spend time with!