How to get muscle "definition"

I recently had a (very) nerdy conversation with a close friend (and one of my first clients) about gaining muscle ‘definition’ so I thought I’d write down a few facts and some tips based on my own experience.

First up, the basics:

  • Everyone has muscles and therefore, muscle definition. Whether it’s the muscle striations in the chest, the ‘six pack’ in the stomach or the ‘dip’ in the shoulders, everyone has muscle definition

  • The most important factor in being able to ‘see’ muscle definition is your bodyfat - the percentage of your body that is fat versus lean muscle etc. The less bodyfat a person has, the more visible their muscles and thus definition will be

  • Bigger muscles = more definition - the bigger your lean muscle mass is for a particular muscle group, the more visible it is (versus fat)

  • Muscle definition does not equal strength - whilst gymnasts are amazingly strong and have (in my opinion) incredible physiques, they don’t have anywhere near the kind of strength or power that powerlifters have.

So, bearing this in mind, if you’re aim is to develop muscle definition, here are a few quick things to bear in mind:

  • Reduce your bodyfat (%) - the key to seeing muscle definition is to reduce your bodyfat (%). A super-experienced, amazing PT once told me that if I wanted to see my “abs”, I needed a bodyfat % of 15% or lower - and she was spot on

  • Identify your strengths/focus - most people have areas of the body where they find it easier to build lean muscle (and don’t ‘hold’ fat). Unless you’re going for a competition, identify these areas and work on them - whilst training all the other areas

  • Learn your anatomy - if you’re serious about developing specific muscle groups you should learn how the muscles work and how to target specific parts of them (e.g. the long head in the triceps for arm definition, lateral head of the deltoids for shoulder definition or upper portion of the pectoralis major for chest development)

  • Practice bodyweight training - I’m hugely biased but I found that training with gymnastic rings created definition in my shoulders and abs that I’d never managed to achieve before. (I’m going to do a separate post/video series about specific bodyweight exercises that I’ve found help ‘bring out’ muscle definition in areas such as the shoulders, abs and chest)

Some final thoughts on getting muscle definition…

  1. People care too much about muscle definition; your friends, colleagues etc won’t see/don’t care about defined abs, legs or shoulders etc

  2. If you really want to focus on growing muscle group, spend some time looking at how the muscle group works, the muscles involved and how to focus your efforts on specific muscles. I’ve produced a series of documents showing the anatomical structure of key muscle groups and example exercises to target them: here

Nick Shadbolt