Looking Impressive in Casual Clothes
Successful bodybuilding has the potential to greatly improve the musculature of your body, which often affects how clothes fit your frame.
Some bodybuilders aspire for a larger appearance in their arms, chest, or back but find their wardrobe is lacking the proper clothes that accentuate their appearance.
The hard work that goes into a committed workout and nutrition program can be concealed by wearing clothes that are too loose or baggy. Contrarily, if an individual hasn’t become savvy to a productive workout or diet program, the best choices in clothing will showcase all the weak points in their physique.
Picking the right clothes that will suit a muscular frame is only half the task to accentuate gains from the gym. Fully developing those appropriate muscle groups in the upper body with tailored clothing is what takes your appearance to another level.
How to Fill Out Shirts With a Muscular Frame
It doesn’t seem like it’s complicated to dress appropriately for males when wearing something as common as a shirt. As long as a shirt is clean, pressed with no tears to be seen it can be worn without any concern.
These guidelines seem pretty obvious to follow for many, but there are a few more you should follow if you want to take advantage of your muscularity and style up a notch.
These tips will start with the most casually worn shirts, from t-shirts and long sleeves to formally worn collared dress shirts.
T-Shirts:
Plain or logo designed t-shirts can do the most to expose upper body musculature, without being too forthright, such as with tank tops or stringer shirts. The best t-shirts for musculature are V-necks since they can highlight upper chest definition around the clavicle and sternum areas. They also emphasize your V-Taper from the shape of the neck hole to the size of your frame (see How to Get a Wide V-Taper).
The sleeves should be only cover the 1/3 area of the upper arm, about 1” below the insertions of the deltoid muscle at most. It should also be tight around the chest and arm. The t-shirt should be snug at the waist without giving the appearance of looking ‘baggy’. If you’re new to building muscle, you can get all of these qualities in your shirt by ordering one size down before your newfound growth (instead of large wearing medium, etc).
Long Sleeve Shirts:
Long sleeve shirts are similar to tees, except you can wear undershirts to change your appearance as well. Tank tops as undershirts add size to the traps. Henley shirts give the appearance of the v-neck shirts by slightly exposing the chest for a larger appearance. Rolling up long sleeves below the elbows exposes the forearms and make the upper arms appear larger as well.
Polo/Dress Shirts:
Similar to t-shirts and long sleeves, collared shirts should be slim or tailored to the waist. The chest and arms areas should be snug as well to accentuate strong shoulders and pectorals. Luckily, you can order these shirts customized to fit your exact measurements. The collar size also has an impact on the appearance on the muscular frame. Small, narrow collars work best to achieve this.
Exercises to Develop Musculature
Every muscle is important to develop a well-balanced physique, however certain muscle groups are important to accentuate the wide upper body silhouette from proper training.
A great upper body would have well capped shoulders that will look great from the posterior or anterior view. You would also want to have some additional mass from around the neck. The upper arm should have the largest muscle group targeted to obtain true size from the side view of the sleeves.
These groups would be the shoulders (deltoids), upper traps, and the tricep (long head) muscles. Performing these exercises in a hypertrophy rep range (8-12) under progressive overload should get the results you need to make your wardrobe stand out better.
Delts:
Upper Traps:
Triceps:
The Wrap Up:
Clothing choices make a big difference to shape the appearance of your physique, regardless of your level of training. Slimmer, tighter fitting clothes obvious make silhouette muscles of the upper body stand out, however this should be custom to your exact frame to get the best results. Experimenting with your personal style while adjusting your body measurements can make a lasting impact to your confidence and to your overall appearance.
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