Dad Bods: Weird new Instagram trend

College Dad Bods looks to celebrate the men who don't spend all day at the gym. Photo / CollegeDadBods

Love a buff, muscular guy with bulging biceps, toned pecs and a hard six-pack? Then this Instagram account is not for you.

College Dad Bods is the latest "it" Instagram sensation, which rounds up photos of college-aged men with "dad bods" - those a special breed of male physique that is not quite muscular but not quite all beer gut, either.

These men may hit the gym sometimes, but they also won't hesitate to throw back six beers at a frat party and wash them down with a burrito - and a lot of women love them for it.

Clemson University sophomore Mackenzie Pearson, who BuzzFeed credits with starting the current dad bod trend when she wrote an essay about them for The Odyssey, said one reason some women are 'crazy about' this body type is that it's not intimidating.

"We don't want a guy that makes us feel insecure about our body," the 19-year-old wrote.

"We are insecure enough as it is. We don't need a perfectly sculpted guy standing next to us to make us feel worse."

She also added that "no one wants to cuddle with a rock", making toned bodies less desirable to snuggle up to than flabbier ones.

"Girls tend to picture their future together with their guys early on," Mackenzie went on to write. "Therefore, if he already has the dad bod going on, we can get used to it before we date him, marry him, have three kids. We know what we are getting into when he's got the same exact body type at the age of 22 that he's going to have at 45."

College Dad Bod's over 8,000 Instagram followers seem to agree.

While the account captions the photos with quotes that sometimes lightly poke fun at the guys pictured, most of the comments are good-natured.

Nearly all of the photos that appear on the account were taken of young men at the beach and at house parties who are drinking beer.

What they all have in common is that these men are shirtless, unconcernedly displaying mini guts, soft arms, and hairy chests.

Mackenzie explained: "There is just something about the dad bod that makes boys seem more human, natural, and attractive."

- Daily Mail