How to build an aesthetic body in 2025 (no bs guide)

Summary

In this video, Wanhee shares a straightforward guide to building an aesthetic body by 2025, emphasizing consistency and simplicity over trendy fitness advice. He introduces nine practical tips focusing on the importance of consistent training, V-tapered upper body development, and creating a sustainable diet plan through methods like fasting and minimizing decision fatigue. He also discusses the crucial aspect of mindset in maintaining long-term success.

Highlights

• Consistency beats searching for 'best' exercises - it's about sticking to a routine!📅
• Starting with upper body helps build momentum before adding complex leg workouts.🏋️‍♂️
• Focuses on compound exercises like bench presses, chin-ups, and deadlifts.🚀
• Diet is crucial - being lean shows off the muscles you've worked hard for.🥗
• Minimizing decision fatigue aids in sticking to a calorie deficit for the long haul.⏱️
• Utilizes fasting techniques like intermittent fasting or one meal a day for simplicity.🍽️
• Emphasizes importance of tracking progress to adjust and reach goals effectively.📊
• Mindset shapes success; visualize goals and practice gratitude.🌟
• Letting go of past selves aids in forming a new, healthier identity.🔄

Key Takeaways

• Consistency is key to building an aesthetic body.🏋️
• Avoid complex gym bro advice and stick to sustainable routines.🤔
• Focus on core compound movements for a V-tapered upper body.💪
• Proportional leg strength is essential for an overall aesthetic.🦵
• Eating in a calorie deficit is essential for showcasing muscle gains.🥗
• Minimize decision fatigue with simple, repeatable meals.🍴
• Fasting (intermittent or one meal a day) aids in staying in calorie deficit.⏰
• Creating feedback loops helps monitor diet and training progress consistently.🔍
• A positive mindset, visualization, and gratitude enhance long-term success.🧠

Overview

Wanhee emphasizes that building an aesthetic body in 2025 requires focusing on consistency over seeking the 'best' or quickest results. He argues against following typical 'gym bro' advice that focuses on rapid gains and instead stresses the significance of finding a workout routine that can be maintained over the long term.

In terms of workout specifics, Wanhee advises beginners to prioritize developing a V-tapered upper body with compound movements such as chin-ups and bench presses, before introducing complex leg workouts. This strategy not only builds a balanced physique but also helps in maintaining mental stamina, eventually incorporating leg exercises as consistency builds up.

Equally important as training is diet. Wanhee recommends minimizing decision fatigue by sticking to simple meal plans and considering fasting methods to maintain a calorie deficit. Furthermore, he highlights the importance of setting feedback loops to adjust one's dietary intake and maintaining a positive mindset to ensure sustained success.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction to Building an Aesthetic Body This chapter focuses on the idea of building an aesthetic body and introduces a guide on how to achieve this in 2025. It emphasizes the importance of achieving a look that is impressive both in and out of clothing. The chapter critiques traditional gym advice, often given by 'gym bros', highlighting their narrow focus on quick and substantial gains. The author promises to provide nine straightforward, effective tips for constructing an appealing physique, particularly for someone starting from scratch.
• 01:00 - 03:00: Consistency Over 'Gym Bro' Advice This chapter discusses the common obsession with seeking out the best exercise techniques or the fastest ways to grow muscles, often influenced by fitness influencers and YouTubers. However, the chapter emphasizes that the true key to achieving the desired body is not found in these tips but in maintaining consistency. It highlights that those who achieve aesthetic bodies, such as those seen on Instagram or YouTube, often owe their success to being consistent, rather than discovering magical workout secrets.
• 03:00 - 06:00: Importance of Upper Body Focus The chapter emphasizes the significance of maintaining consistency in training and diet to achieve a well-developed physique, rather than seeking the best exercise for quick results. It points out the importance of finding a sustainable routine rather than chasing after the fastest methods. The narrative also warns against blindly following popular advice without considering one's ability to consistently adhere to the routine.
• 06:00 - 09:00: V-Tapered Upper Body and Compound Movements The chapter emphasizes prioritizing the development of a V-tapered upper body using minimalist workout routines. It warns about blindly following advice from gym enthusiasts who might not have well-rounded fitness aspirations. While there's a focus on upper body initially, the chapter assures that legs should not be neglected and will be addressed in the workout plans.
• 09:00 - 13:00: Diet and Minimizing Decision Fatigue This chapter discusses the importance of having strong, powerful legs as part of an aesthetically pleasing body. It emphasizes the significance of training with the right intensity and weight to build muscle effectively, which is considered crucial after achieving consistency. The focus is particularly on men who often struggle to train properly in the gym, highlighting the need for intense and properly weighted exercises to ensure muscle growth. The chapter notes that the last repetition of an exercise should appear challenging, indicating the effectiveness of the workout.
• 13:00 - 16:00: Fasting Methods for Aesthetic Body This chapter explores the nuances of fasting methods for achieving an aesthetic body, emphasizing the importance of mastering the basics of gym workouts. It highlights the common mistake of performing exercises with mediocrity and underscores the significance of completing those difficult final reps that truly contribute to gains. The text suggests that initial reps are merely a setup for those challenging final reps, which are crucial for making substantial progress. Additionally, it discusses the importance of getting a grasp on basic gym principles before moving on to complex and technical leg workouts such as squats.
• 16:00 - 21:00: Feedback Loops and Tracking Progress The chapter discusses the challenge of incorporating leg exercises such as deadlifts, good mornings, and Romanian deadlifts into a workout routine without becoming overwhelmed. It emphasizes the confusion and mental fatigue that can result from improperly executing these exercises and suggests that focusing on building consistency and momentum with upper body exercises first can help manage mental energy. By doing so, individuals can eventually integrate leg training more effectively once they have developed the necessary mental resilience and training intensity.
• 21:00 - 27:00: Mindset and Visualization The chapter titled 'Mindset and Visualization' focuses on the initial steps towards building an aesthetic body, specifically a V-tapered upper body before focusing on the legs. The author explains that focusing on key compound movements and increasing strength in them is essential, rather than relying solely on machines and isolation exercises, which are often highlighted in fitness content. The chapter is part of a coaching program called Minimalist Training Club.
• 27:00 - 30:00: Letting Go of Past Identity The chapter discusses the importance of choosing the right exercises at the gym for effective muscle development and fitness. It critiques the common attraction to using machines, which often give the illusion of proper workout through an immediate 'pump' or because they simply look impressive. Instead, the emphasis is recommended on performing compound exercises such as bench presses, incline bench presses, overhead presses, and other pressing movements that actually contribute to muscle growth and strength. The chapter advises focusing on these foundational exercises, including variations with dumbbells and body-weight exercises like dips, chin-ups, and rows, to achieve genuine fitness progress.

How to build an aesthetic body in 2025 (no bs guide) Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 this doesn't look that great This is okay But this is what we're after We want an aesthetic body that looks good in and out of clothes And if you want to build that body in 2025 you're going to follow the nine nonBS tips I'm about to share with you Let's get into how I would build an aesthetic body in 2025 if I had to start off from scratch Don't listen to the gym bros That's the first thing you got to realize You see gym bros have one thing and one thing only in their mind how to make more gains faster gains better gains So they're
• 00:30 - 01:00 looking for the scientifically the best exercise for the chest the fastest way to grow your biceps how to maximize muscle gains and protein You start listening to this advice all these fitness influencers and YouTubers what starts to happen is that you think that's the missing link between me and the body that I want Whereas what I'm telling you to focus on is something that is actually the gap between you and that body and that is consistency The people that look good on Instagram on YouTube your friends the people that you see that actually have aesthetic
• 01:00 - 01:30 physiques I guarantee you they've been consistent with their training for a long period of time They found a way to be consistent They didn't find a way to hit the biceps the best way No they found a way to stay consistent with their training and with their diet Whenever you come across a fitness routine a diet plan whatever you're thinking don't ask yourself "What's the best fastest way?" Ask yourself "What is the training schedule that I can stay consistent with what is the training routine that I can stay consistent with and do that Focus on that And be very wary of gym bro advice You know these
• 01:30 - 02:00 meattheads in the gym these dudes who only care about the gym and have only that going on in their life Be very careful of their advice Now if you actually wanted to use my routines cuz you trust me then I do have free minimalist workout routines that are designed for exactly that for consistency You can check them out below Next focus first on building the vtapered upper body rather than doing complex leg workouts Now hear me out before you say "Oh you don't do legs You got skinny legs." All that Whoa chill out We're going to get to the legs And I
• 02:00 - 02:30 believe proportionate strong powerful legs are a huge part of an aesthetic body In fact for women you do want to train legs straight away because you want the butt action right but for most guys starting out your biggest struggle after consistency is you don't know how to train properly in the gym You don't know how to use the right weight You're not training with the right intensity This is the next most important thing for a guy that wants to build muscle You got to train with the right intensity with the right weight so you're actually struggling Your last rep should look
• 02:30 - 03:00 like this Should look like this Your face should be like this And that's what most people fail to do They're just going through the motions doing mediocre reps that make mediocre gains They don't understand that these last couple of reps mean everything And it's almost like the first five to six reps were there only so that you can get to these disgusting looking reps So your main problem is learning the basics of gym Now when you start with complex leg workouts technical movements like squats
• 03:00 - 03:30 deadlifts good mornings Romanian deadlifts all these kind of things what starts to happen is that you get confused You start to do these things wrong And most of all you burn a lot of mental energy cuz legs take a lot out of your mental psyche Once you've been training for a bit with the upper body exercises learning about how to tighten the core learning some key exercises that are less tiring on your mind you're going to build consistency you're going to build momentum you're going to build training intensity and then you're going to have enough mental ram to add the leg training into it This is why for most
• 03:30 - 04:00 guys who want to build an aesthetic body that are starting out focus first on building a vtapered upper body and then we'll go onto your legs This is exactly the process I take you through in my coaching community Minimalist Training Club Check it out below if you're interested in getting coached by me So how do you build the Vtapered upper body you got to focus on key compound movements and getting stronger in them This is like what every guy that has a great body knows but everything we seem to see in fitness is just these machines these isolation exercises these bicep
• 04:00 - 04:30 curls these tricep extensions these lateral raises And that's what you see a lot of when you go to these gyms cuz the machines look cool the machines give you the pump the machines make you think like you're doing something proper But actually what you want is to focus on bench presses incline bench presses overhead presses big compound pressing movements like that dumbbell bench presses dumbbells shoulder presses You can do unilateral versions dips weighted dips chin-ups weighted chin-ups pull-ups chest supported rows barbell rows These
• 04:30 - 05:00 are the kind of compound heavy duty exercises that are going to be 80% of all the results you get in the upper body And that's essentially what's going to build a vtaper unlike all these other random assistance exercises that people seem to focus on So follow the 80/20 rule 80% of your workout big compound movements that I just mentioned 20% you can do your lateral raises you can do your rear delts you can do your bicep curls and all this kind of stuff The next thing is you got to actually get strong on them You you you can't just be doing these compound movements doing 10 reps coming back next week doing 10 reps
• 05:00 - 05:30 again with the same weight and just like "Oh that was quite quite nice." That's just like a like a guy who does like some stretching every morning He's not growing his muscle Why would your muscle grow it's not getting stronger Think of it this way If you want to build muscle you got to get stronger So you got to be increasing the reps increasing the weight increasing the time under tension increasing the range of motion These are the four variables of progressive overload that you can focus on as a beginner/ intermediate/advanced Next we're going to have to get onto the diet cuz even if your training's good you're going to still look like this guy
• 05:30 - 06:00 if you don't get the diet down And of course I like to use the tripod analogy from the girl next door We're a [ __ ] tripod That means that if you kick out one of our legs then we all fall The first leg of the tripod is the training The next leg is the diet And then we're going to get onto the mindset So let's get on to the diet side You got to get lean enough to show the vtaper to show all the good work that you've been doing And the number one thing you need to focus on in the diet is to minimize decision fatigue I've seen so many
• 06:00 - 06:30 people that know so much about diet about calorie deficit about the best way to fast about this protein and that protein Yet why can't they just stick to a goddamn plan and get leaner every day it's because they have too many things going on in life and also in around the diet When you're trying to construct a diet to get lean of course you're staying in a calorie deficit Of course you want to eat less than you use You know that is the basic rule But how do you actually do that you got to minimize all these micro decisions you're making
• 06:30 - 07:00 in order to achieve it I'm going to eat this I'm going to eat this I'm going to eat this Like a robot I eat these five meals I rotate these things I literally have three to five restaurants that I just rotate I don't even consider the other ones I don't even just look at the menu of the other ones I'm just going there all the time The restaurant owners are starting to look at me strange like I fancy them or something Okay i even go to the same cafes I even eat the same salad with the same menu but just in rotation You want to minimize decision fatigue because that's what's going to allow you to stick to a calorie deficit
• 07:00 - 07:30 realistically over a long enough period of time to actually get lean which is what shows the muscle we built in the first part Next so how do you minimize decision fatigue while actually staying in a calorie deficit the best method I found is to use some form of fasting There are basically two kinds of fasting that work for an aesthetic body It's intermittent fasting or one meal a day I've tried both and they're both super effective If you do intermittent fasting you're basically having 1.5 meals a day
• 07:30 - 08:00 whether it's a small lunch and a big dinner or a big lunch and a small dinner And of course if you eat less times in a day what does that do minimize decision fatigue about what to eat What should I have for breakfast what should I have for lunch all that stuff is minimized cuz you eat less times You can eat bigger portions so you feel better less stressed because you're more satiated Do you see why fasting works and that's not even mentioning all the other health benefits of fasting like increased growth hormone mental clarity saved time increased energy no more brain fog less
• 08:00 - 08:30 joint problems less inflammation Oh my days I mean I could keep going So use fasting One meal a day even does more of that It minimizes decision fatigue even more cuz all you're eating is that one time in the day Plus maybe you have some snacks before and after but your real main meal is just that one time Now the benefit of intermittent fasting is that you can control the hunger spikes better because you do have two meals and you can spread the protein out quite nicely over two meals Whereas when you do one
• 08:30 - 09:00 meal a day you have to have a lot of protein and you're kind of bound by that in that final meal But the times that I've done one meal a day it's been the easiest to stay in a calorie deficit cuz you can eat a whole lot and you just got to be really smart by using some maybe some proteinbased snacks maybe coffee to reduce your hunger spikes or to ride over those hunger spikes when they come Now a quick word for those guys those skinny guys watching this that are asking me "Yo you always talk about how you went from fat to lean but what about
• 09:00 - 09:30 us skinny guys that have skinny arms skinny legs what do we do?" In this field you follow the same tips in the training consistency intensity and strength But in the diet you use reverse fasting What is reverse fasting i came up with that term It basically means instead of eating 1.5 times or one times a day you eat more than normal So three four five times a day I'm not going to go into that right now but this has been the most effective way for me to stay in a caloric surplus is to eat three or more times a day Four five Next create
• 09:30 - 10:00 feedback loops What do I mean by this most people go about their diet without any feedback They just kind of look at the mirror and they're like "I think I'm kind of leaner." And then they go on about another week Oh They check their weight once a week twice a week They look at the mirror once a week twice a week How are you supposed to know that you're heading in the right direction how are you supposed to know that you're actually staying in a caloric deficit like you said you are when you're not checking your weight each morning when you're not tracking your workouts tracking your steps tracking your
• 10:00 - 10:30 calories to some extent Those are the four things you need to track so you can have the feedback that you need by yourself to know that you're heading in the right direction Let's say you are measuring your calories a little bit and you're in a calorie deficit by your measurement but the weight's starting to creep up over like many days in a row What's that going to do to you that's a feedback loop The alarm bell should be ringing Wait maybe my calculations were wrong because if I was truly in a deficit my weight wouldn't be going up Some people hit me up yo I've been in a deficit like you said Wy but my weight's
• 10:30 - 11:00 going up Well you haven't been in a deficit bro If that's happening over a longer period like a week plus if it's just happening in one or two days anything can happen in one or two days by the way This is again a reason why you should measure your weight consistently so you freak out less by that one day snapshot I talk about that in this video so go check that out if you want to know more about it These feedback loops allow you to course correct They allow you to stay calm And this is the difference between a newbie and the guy that can stay levelheaded for the long run Because one of the biggest reasons people fall off in their
• 11:00 - 11:30 diet is a lack of progress and b they freak out when something is just not going right They freak oh it doesn't work And then they self-sabotage and then they eat something more Oh the damage is done [ __ ] it Let me have another brownie I did that so many times in my life It's just crystal clear to me Being level-headed and calm is one of the most important skills in getting lean Next the final leg of the tripod is of course the mindset This is the part that most people neglect Yet it becomes the most important part of the tripod Because if you don't have this down the
• 11:30 - 12:00 other stuff is only temporary It's never a lasting thing You're never going to be able to stay lean You're always going to be that fat drunk man who says "Oh that one time I was super lean Check out this photo." Who wants to be that guy you want to be just effortlessly lean and aesthetic your whole life as much as you want That's what the mindset gives you So let's get into the mindset So the first thing you can do is to set a deadline for your goal and visualize as often as possible Visualize your ideal physique daily I remember when I was in
• 12:00 - 12:30 this phase of first building my aesthetic body I had my phone screen my lock screen things on my laptop that had my aesthetic physique I had a whole vision board going so that every time I'd wake up I'd see the thing Every time I'd open my phone I'd see the thing and I'd be reminded of where I was going And that would align me subconsciously to this new body Which meant when I went out into the street and saw a McDonald's I had just been looking at this So when I see the McDonald's the McDonald's pulls me less It genuinely pulls me less
• 12:30 - 13:00 This is why visualization works in a practical sense and it's not just a woohoo thing because once you start to visualize and align yourself to this new vision of yourself these other temptations grab at you less And if you can make that even more powerful with a deadline like for instance but this summer I'm going to Morocco to a friend's wedding and I want to be lean when I get there So I'm not going to just eat craploads I'm visualizing that beach It has a concrete deadline It feels more real And that's how you create this kind of driven mindset which
• 13:00 - 13:30 is what a lot of people lack cuz they lose focus Something else happens in life and they lose the sense of direction Next you got to stay grateful and celebrate the small wins Maybe you had a day that was a calorie deficit Maybe you successfully fasted Maybe you successfully said no to the mother the friend the grandma who's offering you this that and the other Celebrate those small wins Take those wins and say "Yeah that's great." If you can stay grateful in those little moments and stay grateful for your body instead of hating
• 13:30 - 14:00 it Oh [ __ ] Why do I have these man boobs why do I have these freaking rolls why do I look so [ __ ] why can't I get rid of this do you think this kind of guilt and self-shaming is going to lead to corrective behavior you think "Oh my god if I do this to myself then I'm going to hate it and then tomorrow I'm going to be better." Cuz that's how you were taught growing up We were taught in school and by our parents don't do this Why did you do this and by doing this you correct behavior That's what you think Except when it comes to your diet that's not what happens You start to feel stressed You start to feel guilty And you say "Oh no I don't like this
• 14:00 - 14:30 brownie." How many times have you done that you think that tomorrow you're going to correct your behavior maybe it does Maybe it lasts one day maybe it lasts 2 days but you always eventually bounce back because the stress compounds and then you explode out the other end So don't go for guilt and shame When you see guilt and shame arising in yourself say no Oh my god alarm bells ringing Juan he said guilt and shame are the two worst emotions to feel on a diet Don't feel that Instead feel grateful for the body that I have Refresh this mind Forget that thing and it's all good I'm still going to follow the tips It's all
• 14:30 - 15:00 good This is what's going to get you closer to your result Next is to let go of your past So many people are bound by their previous identity Whether it's what their parents expect of them their high school friends expect of them or what they expect of themselves You have this image of who you are right you're the unpopular kid the fat kid the skinny kid the unhealthy person You've always had this whatever identity this story this narrative that you've held on to since you were young And this narrative controls how you think It creates your
• 15:00 - 15:30 beliefs Oh that's something that's going to be really hard for me That's a belief Oh I've failed before Diets are so hard Oh I'm not really a gym bro I'm not really that athletic I'm not going to be that strong I can't really get there These freaking beliefs that you have are there because of the life history that you've had because of your identity And you have to at some level let those things go so that you can create room for a new identity where you say you know what I'm not weak I can do this Yeah I can do this Screw what anybody else thinks Like that's the new me This
• 15:30 - 16:00 is totally doable In fact this is quite easy I do this with ease Let me prove it to you The guy that doesn't smoke has never smoked and is a healthy guy it's so easy for him to not smoke But the guy who thinks he's a bohemian cool like DJ who like smoking's like kind of cool like whatever man It's all good in it He would have to use so much effort to quit smoking it's so much harder for him because of his identity and his beliefs So you got to be able to let go of that smoker identity to become a new identity and make this entire process we've
• 16:00 - 16:30 talked about easier Now how do you do that you're not going to just do that over this video are you cuz it's a mindset It's a belief It's an identity that has been created over years and years of your life This is why you got to first focus on bringing awareness to what is my past self what is my identity what are my beliefs and this is the kind of thing we call coaching It happens in dialogue It happens when you surround yourself with the right kind of environment and start to move in the right direction And by asking the right questions by having a coach who's prompting you these things so that you can actually change from the inside out
• 16:30 - 17:00 rather than just focusing on bicep tactics and diet hacks If you want me to be the guy that helps you get the three legs of the tripod down the training the diet the mindset so you can effortlessly transform into an aesthetic version of yourself check out the link below I'll see you inside Ciao Bye-bye