IntroAs you advance further along the path towards physical fitness, you’ll start to notice certain things about your body; shape, fat storage areas, the way your body responds to certain nutrients, and more. All these observations can help you tailor your fitness program to your individual needs.
Somatypes
What’s a somatype? Sounds like something from a sci-fi movie. Actually, your somatype is a scientific classification of your body’s natural tendencies towards shape, strength, metabolism and more. There are three basic types; ectomorph, endomorph and mesomorph. An ectomorph (ecto) is someone who tends to be naturally tall and skinny, has long bones and muscles, can eat unhealthy all the time and still look “good” even though they have higher natural bodyfat levels. Imagine your classic runway model and you’ll have a picture of an ecto. An endomorph (endo) is the other end of the spectrum; they tend to have a large, strong body (regardless of height) with broad shoulders and a thick waist, excel in strength sports due to their natural strength but store fat very easily. Most NFL linemen are good examples of endos. Then there are a few in the middle that get the best of both worlds, the mesomorphs (mesos). Mesos have much of the size and strength advantages of the endos including big shoulders and natural strength combined with the fast metabolism and narrow waist of the ectos. In other words, they have the potential to attain the ideal physique with less work than the other groups. Eating fairly well and doing moderate strength training exercises is enough. Odds are if you’re reading this article, you’re not a meso!
Well that stinks, I want to be a meso!
Don’t we all! Unfortunately, your somatype is one of the many gifts that your parents gave you. Take a look at pictures of your parents when they were younger; that will tell you where it came from. It seems unfair, but you should remember most people aren’t strictly one type or the other…most people have a mixture of meso and another type. For example, you may know someone who has always been strong even though they looked skinny and weak. This person (just like you) has a lot of potential as long as they tailor their fitness regimen for their specific body type.
Fitness for ectosAs an ecto, your greatest asset is also your biggest disadvantage; your metabolism. You can sit down, put away a large pizza and not have gained a pound when you weigh yourself in the morning. That’s great if you just want to remain skinny-fat, but not so great if you want to start carving out those muscles. If you want to put on muscle and trim away the fat, you have to make your metabolism work for you. You should aim to eat at least 5 meals per day. Make sure that each meal contains a good amount of protein. Because your metabolism is already supercharged, you won’t need to overdo the cardio. You want to get rid of that layer of fat as quickly as possible, but extra cardio will not help you get rid of it any faster because you probably don’t have much muscle to feed with those extra calories yet. If you put a lot of effort into your strength training and make sure you eat enough quality food to support all that extra work your body is doing, you’ll start to see changes.
Fitness for endos
Endos have the advantage of being naturally strong with a powerful shape, but along with that strength comes the tendency to store fat. Unfortunately, endos need to pay even more attention to their nutrition than the other types. You will have a tendency to be insulin sensitive, meaning that too many carbs (especially processed carbs) can have a negative effect on your body composition. To combat this, you need to make sure you understand what kind of carbs you should and shouldn’t be putting in your body (see “The Glycemic Index - fact and fiction” for a review). Endos are also naturally strong, meaning that you can move an equal amount of weight with more ease than an ecto or a meso. This also means that you have to lift more weight for more reps to truly fatigue the muscles and initiate a growth response. So if you work hard on your strength training regimen and keep a close eye on the quality of the food you eat, you’ll start to reach your goals.
Summary
Everyone’s body is a little bit different; but that’s no excuse to give up! Once you learn about your individual characteristics, you can tailor your fitness regimen to suit it.
Copyright ©2009 AskJoeFitness.com