How Figure Competitors Build a V-Cone
The appearance of the V-tapered look is one of the most important goals a figure competitor seeks to achieve through training. It’s what gives it that aesthetically pleasing look that sets it apart from the competition.
Tea ‘type v’ It is characterized by a wide back and narrow waist. This is the figure that competitors must develop in order to improve symmetry and get a higher score in the competition. The wider your back, the narrower your waist will look. This is the v-cone illusion. This look is also enhanced by the size of the shoulders. In this article I will focus on building back width.
Exercises that build the back fall into 2 categories
1) Exercises where your arms are parallel to your body (pull-ups and pull-ups)
2) Exercises where your arms are perpendicular to your body (all rowing exercises)
Both types of exercise must be performed to fully develop the back.
Today I’m going to focus on the best exercise to widen your back: close grip pulldowns.
Most women are under the impression that wide-grip pulldowns will make your back widen… not really!
The reason close-grip pulldowns are more effective is because the lats are stretched more at the beginning of the movement (the arms are extended above the head), which means you get a fuller range of motion (the fuller the range of motion, the more muscle fibers are involved). The more the arms are opened to the sides, the shorter the movement becomes (The same as wide grip pulldowns). So my suggestion for someone looking for size is to start your back workouts with close grip pulldowns because you’re strongest at the beginning of your workout.
Both the wide grip and the supine grip have advantages:
Wide-grip pulldowns hit the muscle from a slightly different angle, meaning different muscle fibers are affected, you can also lean back slightly when pulling down to help squeeze in some extra reps.
The Underhand grip is great because the biceps are more involved, which means you can squeeze in a few more reps. BUT… The best way to use the underhand grip is right after you fail with the overhand grip, this will help get you a few more reps, let me explain:
a) perform OVERHEAD pulldowns until you can’t do another rep
b) immediately switch to the underhand position and continue the series
c) because your biceps are more involved with the supine grip, you should be able to pump out a few more reps and really exhaust those lats (this is intense)
bail: always maintain a slight bend in your elbows (when your arms are above your head) while performing the pulldowns. This ensures that the muscles are bearing the weight. If you fully extend your arms above your head, you put all the stress on your shoulder and elbow joints…ouch!
Back posing is the hardest thing for a tricks competitor to learn. Many women compete in show after show without learning how to flex their back properly. This will cost you points and will leave you looking narrow and lopsided. Not only do you need to build your back muscles, but you also need to practice the push-up every day, so you can show off that V-taper.