The researchers point to "ancestral cues," an evolutionary relic of ancient human mating rituals. Ancient women would instinctually have chosen men who were better able to provide for and protect them and their families. It's only natural to assume bigger and stronger men would do this more adequately.
In this interpretation, a strong man has value as a potential protector of women and children and is desired by other men as an ally. Some evolutionary psychologists suggest there is an optimal peak for male strength, beyond which hulkish, muscle-bound men cease to be attractive.
Researchers at Griffith University in Queensland examined what factors most influenced female attraction to males and found that physical strength reigned supreme.
160 women were shown photographs of mens' torsos and then asked to rate them on their attractiveness. The men photographed were all administered strength tests. The strength of a man was the biggest of his attractiveness, affecting 70 percent of the overall scores.
A strong upper body, wide shoulders, being physically fit and having greater hand-grip strength makes men attractive to women, according to a study.
Both women and men take greater notice of men who look strong. Researchers have found that, with all else equal, people spend more time looking at individuals who look more formidable (strong, able to impose physical costs).
Winner: Torso
According to a 2017 study performed by an online health provider, Dr. Felix, 24 percent of women said that chests were the most attractive part of mens' bodies. Another 13 percent of women stated that the stomach area was the sexiest part of a man's body.
A Strong Man Is Action-Oriented
A strong man will solve problems and get things done. He'll lead the way for you and is solution-oriented. He will do things that are hard. He won't expect you to do all the work for him, and he definitely won't complain about doing things!
Their study, published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, suggests muscles in men are akin to elaborate tail feathers in male peacocks: They attract females looking for a virile mate. “Women are predisposed to prefer muscularity in men,” said study author David Frederick of UCLA.
"No one will be surprised by the idea that strong men are more attractive," Aaron Lukaszewski, an evolutionary psychologist at California State University at Fullerton and an author of the study, told The Washington Post. "It's no secret that women like strong, muscular guys."
The Most Attractive Degree of Leanness
When we asked women what body-fat percentage they found most attractive, 58% chose the body with a flat stomach, and 39% chose the body with abs. The average man is overweight, but only 3% of women chose that body-fat percentage. 0% chose the obese body.
Research shows most women are attracted to men who are more muscular, stronger, and leaner than men who are smaller, weaker, and fatter. Research also shows that to maximize your attractiveness to women, guys only need to gain about 20 to 30 pounds of muscle and reduce their body fat percentage to 8 to 12%.
Bigger muscles might not be highly attractive to women, but they're certainly intimidating to male sexual competitors. 4. Muscles attract attention. Both women and men take greater notice of men who look strong.
4. Discussion. The results show that most male bodily attractiveness stems from cues of formidability and physical strength, and that strength increases attractiveness in a linear fashion.
Men also tend to be larger in size in general than women. Having longer limbs means you have a longer lever to exert force, having larger muscle mass (controlled by testosterone) means there is more pushing force at the end of the lever. Having more bone mass also helps them produce more force.
Male-specific factors. Women, on average, tend to be more attracted to men who have a relatively narrow waist, a V-shaped torso, and broad shoulders. Women also tend to be more attracted to men who are taller than they are, and display a high degree of facial symmetry, as well as relatively masculine facial dimorphism.
In a (not-so-surprising) study conducted by Western Illinois University, women rated abs as the sexiest muscle on a man's body, ThePostGame.com reports.
Muscularity is sexy.
Tests of the Fitness Indicator Hypothesis,” researchers Martie Haselton and David Frederick asked 141 women to rate different male body types. In a separate study, women reported that their short-term sexual partners were more muscular than their other partners.
Men are the strongest between 26 and 35 years of age.
But of course there are individual differences between athletes and some people peak before or after that age window.
Typically, muscle mass and strength increase steadily from birth and reach their peak at around 30 to 35 years of age. After that, muscle power and performance decline slowly and linearly at first, and then faster after age 65 for women and 70 for men.
According to a 2017 study by online health provider Dr Felix, 24 percent of women found the chest to be the most attractive part of a man, and 13 percent opted for the stomach area, meaning that combined, the torso had more pulling power than any other appendage.
The theory was that women like athletes because women want to be involved with healthy men. Athletes also show motivation, strength, determination, and teamwork. Also, because of the “halo effect,” men who prove themselves in sports are assumed to be more competent and have better qualities in other areas as well.
Nevertheless, Lean Pockets do claim, at least by name alone, to be somewhat easy on the waistline. Which is a good thing, because, according to a new trending study, heterosexual women may be more attracted to men who are thin. Not surprisingly, 9 out of 10 belts agree.