If you pay attention to the “femosphere” at all, which I force myself to do on occasion for decidedly Von Clausewitz-esque reasons, you’ve probably noticed  that one masculine physical feature in particular seems to be driving the women mad with desire in recent years. And ironically, that feature is something that is not actually a muscle at all, but rather the intersection of the hips and legs.

That feature is what is properly known as the “illiac furrow” but is colloquially known as the “Apollo’s Belt”, “Adonis Belt” or the V-Taper. Indeed, looking at the works of Polykleitos or Praxiteles—such as the famous Doryphoros statue will show that an appreciation for this anatomical feature is hardly a new phenomenon—and for that matter, the collection of multicolored thots I bedded in college who all adored my own v-taper shows that there’s always, at the very least, a faction of women that like to ogle this facet of the masculine anatomy

Undoubtedly noticing this resurgence in its appeal, millions of men have been running to the gym to do millions of crunches and broomstick twists and other isolation “glamour exercises” in the hopes of being able to get this physical aphrodisiac and attract women with the power of their iliac furrows. Needless to say, the vast majority of men do not, in fact, have this, despite all of their best efforts.

All talks of aesthetics aside, you all know that I myself will always argue that one should work out for function over form, the increased attention a well-shaped physique will get you from women (or men, if you swing that way) is very nice indeed. With that said, those guys doing isolation exercises are going about it all wrong. Beyond the obvious—namely, don’t do crunches ever—what are these men doing wrong?

Common Mistakes

First of all, let us remember that the V-Taper is NOT a muscle at all. Therefore, anybody who tells you that it can be trained directly is a liar, and probably trying to sell you something. The V-Taper is the product of multiple muscle groups and junctions of bones interacting together in an aesthetically pleasing fashion. In other words, it is almost entirely a matter of definition, with a secondary aspect of actually having muscle size in the area surrounding the iliac furrow.

Like all problems of definition, this is a problem that is solved in the kitchen rather than the gym. More than anything else, if you want to have a visibly defined and lean Apollo Belt, you have to get slim and trim—Apollo was the god of “beardless youth”, after all. Or to put it another way, it’s not called the belt of Milo of Kroton, now is it?

But, merely losing weight can only take you so far—you have to build the muscle components that comprise the iliac furrow as well.

How to Train

Looking at a picture, we can see that this anatomical feature is comprised of the junction of the pubis, ilium, and the quadricep. Thus, it would follow that you would have to strengthen and enlarge the muscles in and around this area.

Squats and deadlifts will of course suffice for working out the legs, and as for the muscles of the torso, I would recommend exercises that deign to work both the muscles of the abdomen and the hip flexors: exercises such as hanging leg raises, the inverted sit-up, and for those all-important oblique muscles directly above the iliac furrow, try exercises such as the human flag (either in the clutch or extended versions, the former of which has been previously discussed.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t have that fabled v-taper, no matter how strong (or not-so-strong) you are. While the iliac furrow is entirely an aesthetic feature, it does signify a fair amount of function in terms of being in “fighting trim” and having sufficiently defined muscles to have it be visible—which would perhaps be an explanation as for why it’s considered to be such an attractive physical feature.

If it does corroborate with function to some extent, and it gets you laid, why not  build yourself a v-taper?