Being and looking masculine is all about the level of responsibility you take for your own appearance and actions. Learning how to be more masculine involves taking a long and hard look at yourself and reevaluating your life. And then taking action to improve your masculine traits.
Looking more masculine, on the other hand, isn’t just about getting a nice suit or beard; it’s a result of taking basic care of yourself. It’s a natural expression of who you are and your level of self-respect.
This guide will tackle the subjects of both looking and being masculine. I’ll also explain how you can transform yourself from a wimpy boy into a man who women, and people in general, respect.
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How To Be Masculine
First things first, the concept of masculinity is incredibly complex and far from concrete. Also, what certain people consider as masculine traits vary wildly from culture to culture.
Besides that, many psychologists and social researchers believe masculinity is more of a spectrum, rather than something you either have or don’t. That’s why talking about masculinity is a difficult thing to do in general. But I’ll try to explain it so it’s easy to understand.
Second, being masculine is not just something you do; it’s also something you are. In other words, it’s both your behavior, your attributes and the character and social traits you embody.
That’s exactly why certain men who are considered very masculine or even “Alpha” can also display some feminine traits from time to time. And that’s perfectly fine.
So let that be the most important lesson of this guide: You can be a very masculine man but still have room for some feminine traits as well. And it won’t make you any less of a man at all. In fact, it’ll make you more rounded and grounded.
So how can you be masculine in this day and age? Well, if you’re not a very masculine man at this point, you have to change your behavior at its core. And incorporate certain traits of masculinity into your being.
According to Wikipedia, traits traditionally viewed as masculine in Western society include strength, courage, independence, leadership, and assertiveness. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
To become more masculine, you have to take more risks in life, become self-reliant, challenge yourself, get in touch with your emotions and learn to control them. Also develop your passion and presence and learn how to deal with difficulties and be able to handle social pressure, among other things.
How to become the ultimate man: Live like there’s no tomorrow
This may sound incredibly cliche, but it’s one of the most important things you need to figure out if you want to become a more masculine man.
Basically, and I hope this isn’t very shocking news to you, you’re going to die one day. And that’s a fact of life you must accept and learn to live with, pardon the pun.
What this means, in effect, is that death gives life meaning.
The fact that you can be hit by a truck tomorrow while crossing the road or a random bird may drop a brick on your head while you’re walking in the park should not make you fearful. Instead, it should give you the motivation to do everything you want to do in your life, to achieve your best life and the goals you set for yourself. Because one day your life will end and you won’t be able to do those things anymore.
Think about this and think about what it means for your life specifically. Because this is one of the most groundbreaking lessons any man can internalize.
So what does this mumbo-jumbo have to do with masculinity? Simple -- it provides you with the drive to make things happen. And making things happen in life is the core of masculinity.
The core of masculinity is initiation, and the core of femininity is responsiveness, receptivity.
Men make the world go round. Women keep it together and prevent it from crumbling. Both are essential.
That said, when I answer “How to become the ultimate man?” by saying you should live like there’s no tomorrow. It doesn’t mean you should throw caution to the wind, give in to your primal urges and go do crazy shit that’ll get you arrested at best, or killed at worst. It means setting your mind on something and getting it done!
How To Act More Masculine
This is a bit of an oxymoron because you don’t actually act masculine. You are being masculine.
What’s worse, if you try to “act” masculine, most people will see through it and label you as a faker. Someone who’s trying too hard for people to like them or someone who’s trying to impress others to score some brownie points.
Instead, you need to forget about acting masculine and just let it flow naturally through your behavior and personality.
That’s why I’ll show you how to incorporate certain aspects of masculinity into your being. As well as explain the colossal importance of body language.
To appear more masculine, be at ease with yourself
In order to appear more masculine to the people you meet, you have to be at ease with yourself. It's one of things women find charming in men.
It means you should avoid fast or jerky movements. Especially with your arms, head and even your eyes. It also means you need to slow down your gestures, speech and mannerisms.
If you act like you don’t have a care in the world and that no matter what happens, things are going to be okay, people will notice. It’s part of being confident, and confidence is a core masculine trait.
In other words, you need to seem calm, cool and collected at all times. You need to learn how to deal with your emotions and not panic or get anxious when things start happening around you. Instead of looking like a lost little boy whose eyes are darting all over the place, afraid of everything.
Besides that, your speech has to have a certain tone and inflection to it to be masculine.
A high-pitched voice is feminine and an upper inflection will give the impression you’re very unsure of yourself, always asking questions.
A low-pitched voice is masculine and a low or neutral inflection at the end of your sentences will command attention and sound like you know what you’re doing. Even if you don’t.
So make sure to practice your speech and to get your tonality, inflection and pitch in order. It’s all a part of how to develop masculine energy.
The next step in how to act more masculine is body language.
How to be masculine? Master your body language
Every guy wants to know how to be more macho but not every guy realizes what it means.
Machismo means strong and aggressive masculine pride. But the vast majority of guys display it the wrong way and look like utter tools. Masculine body language is the answer to this issue.
You may have impeccable taste and dress well, you may stand proud and look masculine. But unfortunately, if your behavior can’t back it up, it’s an image that’s going to quickly come undone.
The easiest way to understand how to appear more masculine is to not only have the image of masculinity but to also have the behavior of a man. This is what is commonly known as having good body language. While it’s simple to learn, it can be hard to pull off.
Over the course of your life, you will have adopted various body language habits. Some will be good, some will be bad. Bringing awareness to these habits is going to help you round out your body language and learn how to appear more masculine. Here’s what you want to pay attention to:
- You look people in the eye when you speak to them.
- Your behavior is calm and consistent instead of erratic.
- Your tone of voice is assertive when it needs to be.
- You’re OK with touching people affectionately.
- In other words, you’re comfortable with your intentions, you’re comfortable with interactions and you’re comfortable showing it.
These are simple actions that can be difficult if you’re anxious. When you have an intention you want to hide, whether that’s aggression or attraction, your basic body language such as eye contact or tonality will begin to fall apart.
That’s why it’s very important to practice masculine body language until you incorporate it naturally into your being.
How to Look More Manly
The first step in learning how to look more masculine is treating yourself like a man. Taking care of yourself and your appearance while nurturing your self-respect.
You do this by embracing your natural masculine appearance; fixing your posture and movement; developing your body and appearance; and lastly, mastering what your body is communicating to others.
This isn’t something that will happen overnight, it will take time. As you’ll learn by the end of this article, it cannot be faked. Luckily, it’s a pretty simple process. You just have to put in the effort and be consistent.
And when you’re done, you will be much more attractive to women than before.
Here are the easiest ways to get started on this today:
Embrace your masculine characteristics
There’s a simple idea I want you to understand right off the bat. It’s called sexual dimorphism. And if you want to learn how to look more masculine, it’s pretty key.
Sexual dimorphism is where the differences between genders are clear outside of just their sexual organs. What this means practically is that all your male characteristics are accentuated. You have facial hair. You have above-average muscle mass. And you generally dress in a masculine way.
If you take nothing else away from this article, let it be that. It’s quite literally (and scientifically) the easiest way to look more masculine.
This doesn’t mean you have to have an enormous beard, huge muscles and dress like Indiana Jones. You can get a girlfriend without all that! All it means is you should move in the direction of your own natural masculine aesthetic. Whatever your starting point may be.
How to feel more manly? Stand and move like a man
The first thing you need to fix in order to look more masculine is your posture. How you stand creates an impression in someone else’s mind of what kind of man you are. It also helps display to the outside world what your opinion of yourself is.
Good posture can be boiled down to one simple bit of advice: stand as if someone has a piece of string attached to the back of your head and is constantly pulling upwards. This will straighten your neck and back, aligning your spine and immediately make your look more masculine.
But the benefits don’t stop there. Studies show improving your posture has a significant effect on your psychology. Just as when you feel bad, your posture alters to mirror that (think: hunched over). When your body adopts a strong and confident posture, it starts to have a strong, confident effect on your feelings. Win-win.
The next thing you need to fix is your movement. This, alongside posture, are what I consider fundamental to looking more masculine. When you make small and fidgety movements and never move your arms, it paints a certain picture of someone who’s nervous and unsure of himself.
Think of an actor playing a stereotypically masculine character. Their movements are usually quite large and purposeful and they have a calmness about their movements (unless they’re, y’know, enraged). And look, I get it, taking actors as examples sucks. I almost always try to avoid it. But when it comes to movement, they’re literally professionals at it. They know what they’re doing. So in learning how to look more masculine, it’s worthwhile seeing what they do and trying it out for yourself.
Develop a masculine physique
With those two fundamentals locked down, you want to develop a physique that accentuates your natural masculine characteristics. This is sexual dimorphism in action.
A huge part of how to be masculine involves having a great physique. The more your body has a natural V-taper from the shoulders to hips, the less feminine you look. The more your masculine facial features (i.e. cheekbones, jaw, brow) are apparent, the less feminine you look. This doesn’t mean you have to be a bodybuilder, it just means you have to have a certain weight and proportion to your frame and a face that accentuates your masculine characteristics.
But how is this done?
80 if not 90 percent of this is achieved in the kitchen. Yes, all those Instagram videos you’ve seen of guys lifting weights like they’re about to enter Mr. Olympia are a little misleading. The vast majority of your results are going to come from eating clean, natural foods (meat and vegetables) and as little (almost zero) sugar as possible.
And if you’re trying to gain muscle mass, you have to do all of this about six times a day, whilst exercising at least three times a week. Sure, it’s hard, but if you want to look more masculine this is just the reality. Do it or don’t.
The rest of your results, especially when it comes to building muscle, are going to come from consistently exercising. Ideally lifting heavy weights in compound movements for high repetitions.
You want to be doing deadlifts, bench presses, squats, and overhead presses. No skipping leg day.
Most importantly, consistency is key. If you eat right and exercise consistently, your body’s going to change and you’re going to capitalize on your natural male sexual dimorphism.
As an added bonus, it’ll also improve your confidence.
Groom and style yourself in the right way
Now for some final touches. These are as simple as getting decent facial hair and a decent haircut that suits your face shape. Simply pay a high-quality barber to help with this. Sorting both of these out is as close to a magic pill as you’ll get in attractiveness. And it’ll help with getting pretty much any girl to like you.
You sit in a barber’s chair for 30 minutes and come out looking far, far better than when you first sat down. So if you skip this step you’re doing yourself a massive disservice.
You’re going to have to experiment here, but my advice is to keep it simple. There’s enough guys rocking undercuts in the world. Though if you're looking to rock the bald look, making sure you have the right clippers to do the job is critical.
I’d also err on the side of a bit of stubble on your face as opposed to being perfectly slick. Why? It distinguishes you far more as a man, even among other men.
The last thing you need to do is sort out your clothing. As the saying goes, clothes maketh the man. Find a style that works for you, ideally an archetypical one (i.e. biker, businessman, preppy guy), and get a wardrobe within said style to fit your frame. This’ll help you avoid dressing like a kid out of laziness.
Don’t discount the importance of color. An easy way to do this is to go to online clothing stores and find the models who have a similar complexion and hair color to yours. Check out what they’re wearing. As far as fit goes, you want a fit that hugs your body frame just a bit. Everyone’s different so you’re going to have to experiment here though.
If you want to learn how to be more masculine and appear more manly, you have to accept that this is done by embracing your intentions, whatever they are, and expressing them directly. All the habits of good body language sit on that foundation.
