What’s the one thing commonly associated with thirst-trap Instagram-worthy images of men? Washboard abs. So often the defining feature of a man’s attractiveness – although often coupled with a chiselled jawline, perfect curly hair and a dazzling smile – men bust blood, sweat and tears in pursuit of amazing abdominals.
But are we wasting our time? Do women actually care whether you have a six-pack or not, or are they genuinely more interested in who you are as a person? Would they settle for a not-so shredded physique? These are questions the second-coming of Schwarzenegger, Jo Lindner, has aimed to answer with his latest YouTube video. Fresh from asking women of the gym what they believe to be the most important muscle for men to train (TL;DR, it’s legs) the German muscle mountain proceeded to ask women if they want their partner to have a six-pack, or no six-pack.
Approaching the weightlifting women with caution (“do not interrupt women when they’re training”) Jo’s questioning soon turned up surprising (if not somewhat relieving) results.
“He doesn’t have to have a six-pack, I think he should just be fit,” says the first responder. And as for whether the ideal man should be “bulky or just aesthetic” – i.e. someone with huge muscles or someone who just has good definition – the same woman said aesthetic was the way to go.
His second victim went down the opposite path, “Of course, six-pack”. However, she also agreed that an aesthetic appearance was more attractive than someone with “120kg of muscle”.
“What matters is inside”, claimed another woman, although, given she looked directly down the camera lens when answering, we’re not sure how sincere she was being. She also “looks for personality” but also said “if I had to choose [bulky or aesthetic] then you know, something a bit trained, whatever.”
“Not too big, not like him [the host, Jo]”.
Other responses included:
“Just ok, it doesn’t matter”
“I don’t care about six-packs, he just has to have legs.”
“I don’t give a sh*t about that [bulky or aesthetic], he just has to be nice. Inside is more important than outside, actually, except if legs count.”
“Six-pack isn’t important, but I like big guys, not the fitness guys with the abs and everything.”
“[Six-pack] isn’t necessary. For me, what is important is a balance between upper body and lower body.”
We hope this resounding news brings with it a huge sigh of relief (we can practically hear it now). While women may indeed prefer a guy who trains and looks aesthetically pleasing, that doesn’t necessarily mean you need to have a six-pack in order to muscle out the competition.
Just be nice (and not a wanker), dress well, look after your body (and work on those confidence levels) and you’ll soon be racking up dates left, right and centre.