11 Muscles to Work to Make Yourself Look Big Menu Verywell Fit Nutrition Weight Management Nutrition Facts Nutrition Basics Diets Meal Plans Meal Delivery Services View All News Fitness and Nutrition What to Buy How We Test Products Fitness Gear Nutrition Products Tools Recipe Nutrition Calculator Weight Loss Calorie Goal BMI Calculator Body Fat Percentage Calculator Calories Burned by Activity Daily Calories Burned Pace Calculator About Us Editorial Process Meet Our Review Board Search Strength Beginners 11 Muscles to Work to Make Yourself Look Big By Paul Rogers Paul Rogers Paul Rogers is a personal trainer with experience in a wide range of sports, including track, triathlon, marathon, hockey, tennis, and baseball. Learn about our editorial process Updated on February 13, 2020 Reviewed Verywell Fit articles are reviewed by nutrition and exercise professionals. Reviewers confirm the content is thorough and accurate, reflecting the latest evidence-based research. Content is reviewed before publication and upon substantial updates. Learn more. by Tara Laferrara, CPT Reviewed by Tara Laferrara, CPT Tara Laferrara is a certified NASM personal trainer, yoga teacher, and fitness coach. She also created her own online training program, the TL Method. Learn about our Review Board Print RichLegg / Getty Images Great muscular definition is the goal of many non-competitive weightlifters, bodybuilders, and professional, competitive bodybuilders. But you can't just get big by simply bulking up all your muscles in a random fashion. You should take a more scientific approach and make sure to target individual muscles and muscle groups that are responsible for that highly-defined look. Overview A comprehensive program of diet and exercise is key to getting a muscular look. You have to reduce any body fat that covers your muscles to make them shine through. In addition to a healthy diet, target these areas during your workouts Pectoral Muscles Chest The "pecs" are the muscles of the chest. These are the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor muscles. The bench press is a good exercise for developing the pecs. Well-defined pecs with low body fat—under 10%—and a small waist are important components of that good-looking upper body. Bench press Decline press 10 Exercises to Build Your Chest Lats Back The "lats" are the latissimus dorsi, the somewhat large muscles of the upper back on the outside below the armpit. When well-developed, as they are in some elite swimmers, they tend to bulge outward. Build the lats with lat pulldowns. Lat pulldowns Seated Cable Row Exercises to Work Your Lats Trapezius Muscles Back Your "traps" are the fan-like muscles that spread around back and sides of the neck. In bodybuilders, you can see that they protrude significantly. You may not wish to build your traps to such epic proportions, but enhancing the traps, along with the shoulder muscles, can provide that meaner, leaner look. The bent-over row, shrugs, and the farmers carry are all good exercises for the traps. Dumbbell Bent Over Row Upright Row Glutes The "glutes" are the muscles of your butt—gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus. Everyone wants a nice, rounded, firm butt like an Olympic sprinter. To get them, you'll need to achieve low body fat levels and develop those muscles with deadlifts, bridges, hip extensions, hip thrusts, and leg presses. Leg Press 7 Best Glute Exercises Quads The "quads" are the muscles at the front of the upper leg (thigh). These include the rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, and vastus intermedius. Bulk out those quads with squats of any type. Squats Squat Variations Many young, casual weight trainers are obsessed with the upper body, especially the arms For that fantastic, balanced look, you need to work on the upper and lower body, and that means legs. Hamstrings The hamstrings are made of or several muscles including the biceps femoris, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus. Improve the shape of the hamstrings with leg curls, deadlifts, and "good mornings." Good Mornings Leg Curls Calves The calves include the gastrocnemius and the soleus muscles—the gastrocnemius being the large muscle that mostly gives a nice definition to the lower leg. Build up this muscle with any exercise with which you push against weight with the front of the foot, heels raised. Standing heel raises with or without dumbbells is an example. Stretches and Exercises for Calf Muscles Why Lifting Heavy Is the Key to Weight Loss Biceps The biceps muscles (biceps brachii) of the upper arm are important working muscles and also provide a fine sense of width and bulk in conjunction with solid chest and shoulders. Dumbbell or barbell arm curls are popular exercises, but cable curls are also useful for variety and a slightly different engagement of muscle in the whole arm. Arm Curls Cable Curls Triceps The triceps muscles are at the back of the upper arm. Big triceps make your arms look better, even with adequate biceps muscle. Don't neglect them. Use pushdowns, overhead extensions, and dips. Triceps Extensions 8 Effective Triceps Exercises Delts Shoulders The "delts" are the big, compound shoulder muscles that include the front, middle and rear deltoids. They go nicely with the chest, arm and back muscles to give that powerful upper-body look. Bulk them out with overhead presses, front raises, upright rows, or an incline press. That's what they're there for. Side Lateral Raise 20 Exercises to Work Your Shoulders Abs And for a bonus—of course, the one and only abdominal muscles, which seems to be a firm favorite muscle group of many. Trouble is, those rippling, exposed abs are probably not possible for everyone. Genetics determines the best lookers in this department. Even so, you can get solid-looking abs by working hard on the main muscle, the rectus abdominis, while shedding fat—under 8% body fat for men and 12% for women. Use crunches, rollouts, bicycles, and captain's chair. Crunches Captain's Chair 10 Exercises to Get Your Abs in Shape 1 Source Verywell Fit uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Schoenfeld B. Science and Development of Muscle Hypertrophy. Human Kinetics; 2016. By Paul Rogers Paul Rogers is a personal trainer with experience in a wide range of sports, including track, triathlon, marathon, hockey, tennis, and baseball. See Our Editorial Process Meet Our Review Board Share Feedback Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! What is your feedback? 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