my ideal?

this morph, by the artist known alternately as "matt" and "hsmuslboy", comes closest, i think, to capturing what my ideal fantasy man might be built like...at least from the waist up. if his quads were ballooning out, stretching that denim thin, then he'd be perfect!

this image is a good representation, too. those quads really do look like tree trunks. the calves could be bigger, but who's gonna quibble?

numbers

now that's a chest! it looks like it tapes 49 inches. i suspect, however, if the tape were repositioned so that it was level with the nipples, it might measure about 50 inches.

i've written about my interest in bodybuilder statistics before. but lets look at the chest number.

in my data base, by no means exhaustive, but with over 120 entries, the biggest chest size i have recorded is 70 inches. that's 5'-10" to you and me. who's chest could possibly by that large? sean allen's chest. he's 6'-4" and tips the scales off-season at over 350 pounds. i think that this chest size must also be off-season. an interesting statistic here: his chest measures 92% of his height!

the next biggest chest size i have recorded is bruce patterson: 58 inches. that is 4'-10" around. he's 5'-10" tall and weighs 270 pounds. again, i think these are off-season sizes. his waist is 32 inches. comparing his chest size to his height: his chest is 83% of his height.

the third largest chest in my data base belongs to the man, whose name escapes me at the moment, who has the biggest biceps in the world [27 inches around!]. his chest measures 56 inches and he tips the scales at 235 pounds. however, he is only 5'-6" tall. his waist is only 29 inches around [can you imagine biceps nearly as big as is waist!?]. comparing his chest size to his height: his chest is 85% of his height.

the top ten largest chests in my data base are all greater than 49 inches. the heights of these herculean men vary from 5'-3" at the low end [with a 53 inch chest] to sean allen's 6'-4". the drop, the difference between the chest size and the waist size varies from as small as 16-1/2 inches to sean allen's positively freaky 30 inches. i seem to remember that the average man has about a 6 or 8 inch drop. if your drop is 10 inches or better you are considered "athletic" by the fashion industry. their chest vary from 72% to 92% of their heights.

the second group of ten in my data base have chests that measure between 48 inches and 49 inches at heights varying between 5'-4" and 6'-1". the waists on these men vary between 28 inches and 34 inches and drops between 14 and 21. their chests vary from 63% to 75% of their heights.

if you look at all these numbers: height, chest size, waist size, drop and chest's percent of height, the man with the most impressive body, the most extreme chest is sean allen. i would like to get ronnie coleman's statistics to see how he compares, or ruhl's.

i don't know if it is possible, but i wonder if any bodybuilder has ever managed to build up his chest to equal or even exceed his height? wouldn't that be incredible!? i try to picture what a friend of mine would look like, his 5'-9" height matched by a 69 inch chest. even if his 34 inch waist thickened up to 36 inches, he'd have a 33 inch drop!

the ideal muscle man would, in my mind, have a chest equal to his height, arms aproaching his waist size, thighs bigger than his waist and calves equal to or larger than his arms. i haven't sorted my data base by waist size so i'm not sure how determine the "ideal" waist size. i have calculated the waist to height ratios for all these entries, but haven't sorted by that. The top 20 big chested men all have waists that vary between 38% of their height to 53%. given my preference for a big drop/tiny waist, i'm guessing the waist should be less than 40% of their height.

i like muscle men who are shorter than i am. so my ideal muscle man would be, for arguments sake, 3 inches shorter than me: 5'-6" tall [i'm 5'-9"]. this ideal fantasy man would stack up like this:
height: 5'-6" [66" tall]
chest: 66" [100% of his height]
waist: 26-1/2" [roughly 40% of his height]
thighs: 28" or more
arms: 24" or more
calves: 24" or more

can you imagine him? my guess is that he'd weigh between 250 and 275 pounds.

woof!

unexpected muscle

i like all kinds of muscle:
big, hulking, muscle monsters
lithe, lean and ripped muscle
over developed muscle group muscle
short muscle guys

and one i enjoy a lot: unexpected muscle, muscle on guys on whom you don't expect it. muscle can be unexpected for different reasons: youth, age, build, prior knowledge. there's nothing that'll take my breath away more than unexpected muscle. this kid, above, is a great example of unexpected muscle. you look at his face and figure because of his youth that he won't have muscles like that! his guns are way bigger than his years might suggest. first, is the surprise that a guy that young has muscles like that, then the speculation about just how strong he might be.

then there are guys like this one, who don't look like much with clothes on, but then they take off their shirts and they're built like brick walls; cobbled abs and ripped pecs that look like they belong on a bigger guy. the disjunction between the lack of size associated with muscle men and the defined, well formed and formidable muscle, evidence of strength, dedication and endurance that you just didn't suspect is terrifically hot.

another great example of unexpected muscle are guys whose muscle just seem to explode with size and power when they flex. i suspect that this guy, above, has a nice arm and a decent build when he's relaxed and unflexed. but when he flexes his biceps they explode with size, balling up into an honest to goodness baseball sized mound of hard muscle. it's massive and defined, a spectacular example of muscular form.

then, perhaps the best kind of unexpected muscle, is discovering muscle on people you know in some way but without muscle. i think this is why i enjoy celebrity muscle morphs. i'm familiar with the actor and know his body, or think i do and then, bam! the guy is huge! seeing skinny or even nicely built celebrities pumped up well into the realm of bodybuilder proportions or beyond is so exciting. they're always handsome, but handsome with muscle, is hotter. handsome with big, big muscle is even hotter.

when you have a friend who starts working out, then keeps at it over the months and years, you can constantly have those kind of unexpected muscle moments. in your memory, they will always have the build they had when you first met them. as their bodies lean out and grow with dense, hard muscle, every time you see them, it's like, damn! where'd all that beef come from? it's a momentary surprise, then you remember the training and the dedication and you know where it came from. but that flash of surprise is something you experience every time you see them. the bigger they get over the years, the greater that sense of surprise.

if you haven't seen the person in a long time, then the sense of surprise is heightened and prolonged. when you run into a friend from high school or college years later and find they've discovered the gym in the intervening years, building themselves up into buff and beefy examples of manhood, it's all you can do to keep from asking them to flex for you! and because you haven't seen them in years, you can question them at length about their training, transformation, motivation and ask the question all weight trainers dread: so, how much you bench? all you want to do is talk about how freaking amazing they look now. and you know what? they love it! that's all they want to talk about, too! at least i hope so.

lets hear it for unexpected muscle! i'd love to hear about your encounters with unexpected muscle.