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Now chiggity check your form, before you wreck your back,

Now chiggity check your form, before you wreck your…. back….

– Ice Cube (probably)

If you wish, you can grab the N.W.A. Newsletter Playlist on Spotify here, all of the songs that have been featured in the newsletter are on the playlist.

Happy Friday, Coach J here from Anyman Fitness – and welcome to the latest edition of The N.W.A. Newsletter.

Each week with the N.W.A. Newsletter, I give you the best Nutrition, Weightlifting, and/or Attitude advice for you to start to use in your life today.

Tens of thousands of people have used this exact newsletter to gain muscle, lose fat, and become a better version of themselves…

Without any further ado, let’s get started..

N.W.A. Tip Of The Week

Most of the time with my newsletter, I’m talking about the super-important aspects of fitness.

General health.

Strength training for longevity.

Maintaining a high quality of life.

Fitness as a force multiplier, helping you form the proper mental framework.

Today, I’m going to talk about something a bit different – training to look good.

Aesthetics are often overlooked; it’s seen as vain or narcissistic to train just to look good.

This is bullocks; looking good means feeling good.

Feeling good means having confidence.

And confidence goes a long way in life; it’s something we all should have – self-belief in what we can accomplish.

Plus, we all want to look good naked.

When it’s time to disrobe, we don’t want to be embarrassed or ashamed of our bodies.

It’s a natural and normal thing to want to be as attractive as possible; and fitness helps make that a reality.

Having a “v-taper” for men is a desirable trait.

Frank Zane is well known for having one of the best v-tapers ever – here’s a picture of him:

Notice his attributes.

Wide shoulders.

A thick chest.

And a lean midsection.

His musculature looks like a tight “V” from top to bottom, giving an appealing, aesthetic look.

If this is the type of look you’re going after, it’s going to take plenty of work.

Years and years of strength training, using progressive overload, getting lean (under 15% body fat), and playing the long game is paramount here.

If having an aesthetic like this is a goal of yours, first, you need to drop as much weight as possible; once you do this, you need to add muscle and work towards having a “10 inch drop”.

A 10 inch drop means your chest measurement is 10 inches bigger than your waist measurement.

Getting to this number will do wonders for your aesthetics.

Let me give you an example – here are 2 pictures of me, roughly 12 years apart (yes, I know, that’s a long time – I told you this will take awhile):

The picture on the left was taken after I first achieved under 10% body fat (I’m roughly 8% in that picture).

But I had never bulked before; I didn’t have much muscle on my frame.

In the picture on the left, I have a 7 inch “drop”.

My chest measurement is 41 inches, and my waist measurement is 34 inches.

I’m lean, but my shoulders and chest don’t look much bigger than my waist.

This makes me just look “skinny” and not very muscular.

In the picture on the right, I have a 10.5 inch “drop”.

After many bulking and cutting cycles, my chest is now 44.5 inches, and my waist is still 34 inches.

This gives me a “drop” of 10.5 inches.

Notice how much better of an aesthetic it is.

Having thick, meaty delts (shoulders) will help to round out the aesthetic, making your v-taper much more obvious.

Let me give you a solid client example – this is Richard’s before and after picture (he was a 1:1 client I worked with for 3 months):

When Richard and I started working together, he was the guy on the right.

Healthy? Yes, absolutely.

But he wanted to look more muscular and aesthetic.

In 12 weeks, Richard grew like a weed.

His arms gained an inch, and his chest gained 2.2 inches.

He has substantial improvements and vascularity in his lats and triceps as well.

He grew like this while leaning out 1.7 inches on his waist.

In the 1st picture, Richard’s “drop” is 6.1 inches – he had a 37.4 inch chest and a 31.3 inch waist.

In the 2nd picture, after working with me for 3 months, Richard’s “drop” is 10 inches – he now has a 39.6 inch chest and a 29.6 inch waist.

Getting rid of the extra fluff while fueling his body properly and utilizing a personalized training program has given him the “beach body” look at 50 years old.

How do you go about improving your “drop”?

The path is quite simple.

You need to get lean and get rid of the extra body fat around your midsection.

Admittedly, this is the “easy” part – eat high protein and in a proper calorie deficit (nothing too aggressive, though, you want to be fueled for your training sessions).

Then, you need to work on building your chest, shoulders, and lats.

Incline presses (lots of them).

Shoulder presses.

Lateral raises.

Those are the Big 3 moves in my book.

Aim for about 10 sets, minimum, for your shoulders, and 10 sets per week, minimum for your chest.

Utilize progressive overload; use perfect form and get stronger at every session.

As with anything fitness related, the path is simple.

But that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

You have to stay focused and take care of business week in and week out.

If you need help in that regard, see the next section for information.

———-

I currently have a few spots open on my personal, 1:1 roster for coaching.

I team up closely with my 1:1 clients and we work together on an individualized approach for success.

To learn more about this unique, “All In” experience, tap here and fill out this quick form – it will go directly to my email inbox.

Looking forward to speaking with you.

April-4-2025

N.W.A. Tip Of The Week

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