Pec Flex - Television Tropes & Idioms

Armstrong's physique has been passed down the Armstrong line for generations! Would you doubt a man with muscles this large? FEEL!*

LaBarbara: You just can't argue with those pecs!
Hermes: No I can't. But I can ask you to stop wiggling them like that!
Barbados Slim: I'm not wigglin' dem. Dey do dat by demselves.

—Bender's Big Score

Similar to Gainaxing, where a male character's pectoral muscles jiggle and bounce. However, generally it is used not so much for Fanservice as it is used as a demonstration of "manliness".

Another variant is the "Ab Wave", where a character with a well defined six pack will flex their abdominal (stomach muscles) like a wave. Generally, this isn't so much saying "look how strong I am" as it is "aren't I sexy?"

Compare Coy Girlish Flirt Pose (a less direct female version).

Examples:

A Super Robot Wars 4koma parodying Ibis Douglas having the least bouncy chest in the series gets epically ridiculous when Sanger Zonvolt shows up barechested and does this trope after having already shown one of the bustiest characters in the series and a loli outdoing her.
The Fairly Odd Parents has two characters that do this. Juandissimo Magnifico, Wanda's ex-boyfriend, does this along with his constant magic shirt ripping. Also, in the Made-for-TV Movie Abra-Catastrophe, Cosmo gains massive pecs from a workout video, and he Pec Flexes to absorb Crocker's magic.
Crocker: Those are some massive pecs.
Super Macho Man from Punch-Out!! introduces himself before a fight with a Pec Flex.
- He also does it when Mac is knocked down. And when he wins...
- When Mac hits the mat, it's difficult to get him back up: one would be too busy cracking up at S. M. M.'s little routine.
  - He steps it up a notch in the Wii version by doing just this before the match, and turning around and flexing his ass at the screen too.
Slaking's Diamond/Pearl animation in Pokémon has it Pec Flex. Of course, they don't necessarily have to be male....
- Machoke in Crystal, too. And Machamp in Black/White. Once again, one out of four is female...
- The only time anyone's chest shakes in the anime is when the obese Gligarman does it in surprise. Homina homina--NO.
Alex Louis Armstrong of Fullmetal Alchemist. It has been ♥♥♥ PASSED DOWN THE ARMSTRONG LINE FOR GENERATIONS! ♥♥♥
- He befriended Sig Curtis, Izumi's husband, through a flex-off. It was bloody hilarious. And it was followed by BLOODY AWESOME!
  "Valor a hundredfold~! Muscle a thousandfold~!"
  - Speaking of Curtis, his Pec Flex was so epic his shirt exploded.
Supernatural. Sam Winchester◊, season one, episode seventeen. You're welcome.
- ... It looks like... it's winking.
Jack Rakan of Mahou Sensei Negima!. At one point, he even uses it to completely shatter a pocket dimension.
Zangief did it in several iterations of Street Fighter, even the chibi-Zangief in Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix (or Pocket Fighter, depending on locale).
A Charles Atlas parody in Monty Python's Flying Circus.
On Scrubs, the Janitor claims that running into J.D. encouraging a muscular guy to do this is what made him suspect he was gay. Being a consummate liar, the Imagine Spot story is complete fiction.
"The Slayers''
''I wanna do that! But I can't!"
- It is worth mentioning that this line appears when Lina Inverse sees the "Dragon Blood Macho Battlers". A gang of bandits whose STANDARD GREETING apparently is to flex and twitch their pecs.
Johnny Bravo can juggle with his pecs as a party trick.
Buck did bounced his pecks in a cartoon cartoon Friday crossover with Johnny Bravo.
Done often in Professional Wrestling, usually right before a match begins or right after executing a really awesome move.
- Lex Luger was one of the most frequent practitioners.
- Brock Lesnar, Scott Steiner, and Batista also did this. Chris Masters can also do it... to the tune of "Crazy Train".
- Wade Barrett does it in the Season 1 finale of NXT.
- Ron Simmons (back when he was Farooq) once intimidated an interviewer by simply looking bored and standing still and doing this.
- Elektra, a valet from the real ECW, used to do this. Yeah, it was Fanservice. Ostensibly it was to intimidate the other valets, though, since she always claimed she was more woman than they were.
- See a few of these wrestlers' pec flexing abilities here.
Comes up in Spice World during a video shoot involving a lot of buff men.
Homer Simpson imagined himself doing this once while under the influence of Duff. Flexing them in time to the Can Can, too.
Leisure Suit Larry can do this after hitting the gym (A lot) in Leisure Suit Larry 3 . The Subtitle of the game is called Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorials after all.
Futurama has Barbados Slim, and his luscious pecs. They apparently wiggle by themselves.
Being one of the manliest characters in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha at the time, Fan Web Comic StrikerS Nano had this as part◊ of the Running Gag character trait of Zest.
Approximately 30 seconds into the music video for Rammstein's Mann gegen Mann.
Happens precisely once in the movie Meet the Robinsons, and yet manages to be one of the funniest moments.
Used as an intimidation move by one of the contestants in Balls of Fury.
An episode of WWE Monday Night Raw featured The Osbournes as guest hosts, with a parody of America's Got Talent. Chris Masters' talent? Flexing his pecs to "Crazy Train". Hilarity ensued, though Your Mileage May Vary.
- Chris Masters also did that to the tune of Boom Boom Pow in a different episode.
Drunken Master, Jackie Chan's 1978 film in which Jackie played a young troublemaker. At that point on the run from a promised brutal disciplining at the hands of an uncle he's never met, he scams a local restaurant. Jackie's character attempts a dine and dash, but the restaurant has a bouncer who easily blocks the way. The bouncer takes his title seriously, by bouncing his pecs to intimidate customers he intends to throw out.
- 'I am Iron Gorilla. See me jump.'
Terry Crews in his Old Spice commercials.
- Pretty much Terry Crews does this in general.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson also does this a few times,like in The Game Plan. Skip to 1:20 to see it.
In one scene from the very very early Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Hercules in New York, the titular Herc manages to alternate flexing each pectoral muscle. It can be seen in this video at the 0:17 mark.
- Similarly, Hercules Returns (a comedy dub of Samson and the Mighty Challenge) contains the legendary line: "I'll fight you on one condition... that you lower your nipples." The opponent... does.
In 100 Girls the main bad guy does that in a very intimidating and unsexy way.
Gateau Mocha in Sorcerer Hunters, constantly. Especially in the manga.
Mark Dalton and Zeb Atlas can do some excellent pec-bouncing.
Many muscular people do this(mostly men).
- This includes many muscular men that have a YouTube account.
Any pro-Bodybuilding contests will have this.
Gaia Online's Halloween 2007 vampire attack event had the Von Helson Twins ordered to kill Liam. Liam seduced the twins by flexing and spouting hilariously bad come-ons, which saved his life (and scored him a threesome) but left him a couple of stalkers.