{"id":505256,"date":"2026-06-18T01:37:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T01:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/505256\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T01:37:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T01:37:06","slug":"how-to-get-a-v-taper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/505256\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Get a V-Taper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ask someone on the street what makes someone look jacked, and they\u2019ll probably rattle off the usual biceps<\/a>, triceps<\/a>, and pecs<\/a>. Ask a jacked person what makes someone jacked, and they\u2019ll tell you the truth: a big back<\/a>. While big arms and a chest you could rest a shelf on are certainly part of the equation, a barn door back is the true sign of a seasoned gym bro and dedicated meathead. Think Superman<\/a> or Broley from Dragon Ball Z.<\/p>\n

Superheroes<\/a> aside, a wide back and V-taper (when your upper back tapers, making your upper body look like an upside-down pyramid) isn\u2019t a pipe dream. To help us help you achieve maximum back girth, we rang up strength coach Paris Butler<\/a>, better known as Bald Omni Man on Instagram<\/a> and YouTube<\/a>, who\u2014with his immense catalog of educational videos and free lifting programs\u2014has helped a ton of people (myself included) get closer to their fitness goals. He also has a preposterously wide back<\/a> himself. So, ready the preworkout<\/a> and queue up a hype playlist\u2014it\u2019s time to get wide.<\/p>\n

Train with intensity, but be smart<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving a V-taper is largely due to the size of your waist and just your overall development, which is the result of your training as a whole,\u201d Butler says. \u201cFor most people, the best place to start is to restructure your training into an upper\/lower type of program so that you can fully focus on your upper body muscles without having to worry about your lower body muscles getting worked on the same day.\u201d He recommends having a large section of your program dedicated specifically to your pulling exercises\u2014things like pull-ups, rows, pull-downs, and pull-overs\u2014to grow your back muscles. But your lats and upper back aren\u2019t the only things that contribute to the barn door back look, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cPut a big emphasis on your triceps and rear delts, too,\u201d Butler says, adding that those muscle groups significantly contribute to the creation of a V-taper. \u201cWhen you think about a V-taper, obviously the first thing that sticks out to you are the lats, because that\u2019s what makes up most of it,\u201d Butler says. \u201cBut when you look at the overall width of your physique from the back, [these other muscles], if they have meat to them, also add width to your V-taper, especially during your lat spread poses.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you didn’t have developed rear delts or triceps and then you brought those up, he explains, your V-taper would look better\u2014even if your lats stayed the same in size. As far as training intensity, it\u2019s not just about the pump, he says. Getting stronger at the exercises that target these muscles (and putting them as early in your training day as possible so you can really hit them hard) is key.<\/p>\n

There is no secret to a big back and V-taper<\/p>\n

While we\u2019d love to tell you there\u2019s a magical exercise we found in a dusty Soviet training manual that\u2019ll guarantee a freakishly wide back in no time, we can\u2019t. For most people, Butler says, it\u2019s chin-ups and pull-ups<\/a>. But that doesn\u2019t mean just jumping on a bar and flailing around\u2014form is key. Butler looks to the advice of the late bodybuilder and coach, John Meadows<\/a>. \u201cHe would always talk about<\/a> angles and elbows,\u201d Butler says. \u201cBasically where your elbows point is going to dictate (preferentially) what muscle on your back is getting worked. If your elbows go down toward your hips, as opposed to going out and away from your body, you’re working more lats. So in that regard, I really like chin-ups more than pull-ups, because you’re automatically pulling in and keeping your elbows tucked.\u201d<\/p>\n