Bodybuilding by Body-Type
Body-Type
We've likely all heard about the three different body-types out there at some point in our education:
3 Basic Body-Types:
Endomorph - heavy set body-type (possibly obese); easy gainer/ hard loser
Mesomorph - athletic, ideal body-type, evenly proportioned. Easy gainer/ hard loser (muscle); Hard gainer/ easy loser (fat). This is the type everyone wants to be.
Ectomorph - difficulty putting on either muscle or fat; Easy loser (fat)/ hard gainer (muscle).
These are the three basic body-types. Each of us can find ourselves, with a few exceptions, within these three types. There are possibly 2 other subgroups, including Endo/Meso and Ecto/Meso - people who skirt the outer edges of two body-types and become a combination of two - that also merit mentioning:
Combination Sub-Group Body-Types
Endo/Meso -These are people who are not obese, and probably haven't had a weight problem for a lifetime, but have gained weight and changed their chemical make-up as a result. Still, they can shed body fat with diligence and consistency, whereas a true endomorph may struggle for years trying to maintain a lower scale weight.
Ecto/Meso -These are people who are not unable to put weight on, but find it slightly more difficult. Or, they may just have a hard time putting muscle on and remain very lean effortlessly.
Whether you talk about endo-, meso-, or ecto- body-types, or whether you discuss what to eat and how to move based on the machinations of your individual metabolic type, all theories agree and the message is clear:
Not everyone responds to a particular approach to diet and exercise in exactly the same way!
And believe us, that's true! But rather than making things complex and confusing for no good reason, we believe that the best way to look at body and metabolic types is to focus on the three types listed at first: Endomorphic, Mesomorphic, and Ectomorphic. Within each of these three types lies a lot of wisdom and direction about how to train and diet to achieve your goals.
Probably the saddest thing anyone can see in a gym is someone beating their head against a brick wall, doing what they've always done, and getting no results at all. This is someone who hasn't yet figured out that continuing to do what they've always done means that they will continue to keep getting what they've always gotten! Or, as a wise old sage once told me, "That kind of person is always going to the hardware store looking for an elusive loaf of bread that just doesn't exist in the nuts and bolts aisle!"
Sad, yes, but does it merit sympathy? No way! When you continue on a path and you never arrive at your desired destination, you only have yourself to blame for not getting there. If you keep traveling down dead end roads, you'll never get there. Time to change.
To assess your body-type, you must first find some common ground in the earlier descriptions of Endomorph, Mesomorph and Ectomorph. If you find that you are a combinative type, always go with the extreme end of the spectrum when looking at how to work out or diet. Endo/Meso combinations most often respond well to Endomorphic diets and training regimes, with slight alterations.
Training and Dieting by Body-Type
Training and dieting your body based on body-type requires a little insight into the various types and how each burns energy for fuel. One might assume that a thinner person would have a better shot at getting into shape, but the truth is, they have the hardest time. Remember, a person who is an Endomorph or a combination Endo/Meso type is an easy gainer of both fat and muscle! That means that while they may have a disadvantage in the diet department and their struggles will be many more than the other two types, they kick ass in the gym!
A Mesomorph obviously has the best chance of achieving that classic muscular, sporty, well-proportioned physique, no matter what they do, because they will add muscle appropriately and remain lean. With both diet and training in the gym, the results are achieved easily and are maintained almost effortlessly, whereas the Ectomorph struggles to add even 2 pounds in a 4-6 month period.
The best types of exercises, routines, and training methods are listed below by body-type. Find your type, and you'll find the best kind of training for your body structure and make up.
Endomorph -
An endomorph is the kind of physique that will pack on the most muscular size over the course of a year. Muscle bellies are full in the endomorph because this type holds glycogen in greater quantities within the muscle, along with water, which lends a full appearance. Round muscular shapes earmark this type, and especially developed attachments come from constantly carrying around excess weight. Ever seen a guy with huge, deeply attached calf muscles? Chances are, he's probably been heavier at one point in his life (or he may be a Mesomorph).
Diet
Losing body fat is a different story for these folks, and that bears a great deal on the way an Endomorph must train and diet. First and foremost, an endomorph must accept that he or she is just not like other people and will likely not turn into a Mesomorph in this lifetime. That means that consistency with diet is really crucial to this group. Food is less forgiving to their metabolic rate and needs to be of a certain type. That's not to say that these folks cannot repair their metabolic rate and recover from the ravages of going up and down in weight - they can! However, it does mean that they cannot eat like other people even when it appears that they are out of danger and have achieved a normal weight. Rebel against this basic tenet of Endomorphs and it's back on the rollercoaster.
ENDO DIET
Proteins: Red meat, chicken, fish, turkey, salmon, shellfish, cottage cheese, eggs, whey protein
Carbohydrates: Low glycemic carbs, such as oatmeal, all green vegetables, salad lettuce, cabbage, berries, low carb products
Fats: Flax oil, olive oil, canola oil, walnuts, peanuts, almonds, nut butters (no sugar added), cheese, whole cream
Endomorphs also need to eat more often than ectomorphs and mesomorphs. Because their metabolic rate is inferior to the other body-types, continually stoking the body's furnace is important in order to get it working optimally. However, these meals must be smaller and more nutrient dense meals that contain at least:
Women: 25 grams of protein (4 oz of chicken or tuna), 15 grams of carbohydrates (like a vegetable) and about 5 grams of fat (flax oil, nuts).
Men: 30 grams of protein, 20 grams of carbohydrates (low glycemic, mostly vegetable and non-starchy foods such as oatmeal and squash), and 10-12 grams of fat daily.
In case you're thrown by the addition of fat to the diet of an endomorph, don't be! Endos can't eat a lot of starch or a lot of carbohydrates period, so it's essential to replace with energy that is more efficient for their type. Fat fits the bill here. (Try to make sure it's pretty clean mono-unsaturated fat most of the time). This is why Atkins' diet is so popular among Endomorphs - it works for them. However, modifying it to incorporate some carbs (starchy vegetables, rather than pasta, rice, bread, etc) after the metabolic rate has improved, is important. This is how they will find balance and something that will carry them through the years.
Note: Remaining totally low carb after 6 months of hard work just sets them up for future spills and a life of packing on new fat each time they gain weight back. It's better to lose a little ground, incorporating carbs back into the diet after the initial period of restriction, in order to stay sane and feel human, than to fall off the wagon and spiral back out of control.
Incidentally, the endomorphic physique needs to eat at least 6-7 mini meals daily. That may seem like a lot of eating, and it is, but it's necessary in order to stimulate the metabolism and burn body fat.
ENDO TRAINING
Endomorphic training is a little more demanding than some of the other body-types as well, but not because muscular rewards fail to come quickly - they actually come more quickly for the endomorph than for any of the other types. This is gratifying, as it's always great to see hard work turn into palpable results; particularly when you've gotten the short end of the metabolic stick for so long.
Training must be intense, however, because of the proclivity of the endomorph to hold on to glycogen and water. This means that what would be considered overtraining to a Mesomorph or, certainly, an Ectomorph, is just status quo for the Endomorph. Sets should number much higher with this type - particularly in the larger muscle group workouts, such as back, legs and chest - and repetitions can be higher as well.
This is the workhorse type body, the one that can withstand the pain and the suffering better than all others because the Endomorphic body doesn't really ever run out of gas with strength training. Training through lactic acid burns, pushing past failure and using super sets and giant sets on a regular basis are all possible with this body-type more than any other. This type should be pushing themselves into a kind of aerobic weight training zone at least 1-2 times weekly, in addition to their aerobic work on the treadmill or stepper.
Whereas the Ectomorph should stop after a few productive, heavy sets, the Endomorph should just be getting going with those sets. 25 sets for back workouts and 30+ sets for legs are not out of the ordinary for this body-type if they're training correctly and honoring their physique type.
Important: Variety, Intensity, Multiple sets, Brief rest times, Complex sets (super sets), and high rep/ moderate to heavy weight
MESO DIET
This is a pretty forgiving body-type and, therefore, needs to include a wide variety of foods representing all three macronutient groups. This group has such a strong metabolism that they don't need to worry about packing on fat with insulin producing foods like the endomorph might.
Proteins: Beef (lean and fatty), poultry (chicken, turkey/ light and dark meat), tuna, salmon, eggs (yolks and whites), whey protein (with or without carbs), cottage cheese (2-4% milk fat)
Carbohydrates: Brown rice, yams, Russet potatoes, pasta (occasionally), vegetables (starchy and non-starchy)
Fats: Flax seed oil, olive oil, egg yolk, nuts, nut butters, cheese
A good Mesomorphic diet contains things from all food groups and in good balance. These are the true 40-30-30 people, but can also succeed being 33-33-33, or anything in between. The point is, this group needs to get a lot of protein, and enough carbohydrates and fats to ensure that their energy levels remain constant and that they are kept in perfect balance throughout the day.
This group also benefits from at least 5 meals daily so that they can continue to get the calories they need to keep all the muscle they have. The more muscle a frame carries, the more fuel it needs just to maintain it. Whereas an Endomorph may only take in 1300 to 1600 calories daily, this body-type needs at least 1800 to 2000 calories as a baseline. It goes up from there, based on how much mass the person carries in muscle.
In each meal, the Mesomorph should consume the following as a guideline:
40 grams of protein (8 oz chicken or turkey, or 6 oz beef), 25 grams of starchy carbohydrates (3/4 cup of brown rice), plus a non-starch carbohydrate of about 10 grams, and a fat addition of approximately 15 grams of fat.
MESO TRAINING
Training for the Meso should be just as moderate and balanced as their diet. The following is a good guideline for the Meso training regime, by size of body part:
Large Body parts (Back/ Legs):
2-4 warm up sets (on first exercise), gradually increasing the weight in the warm up. Then, doing at least 4-5 different exercises consisting of 4-5 sets each, with a moderate rep scheme of about 8-10 repetitions. Weight used should gradually increase over the course of each successive set within each exercise. The object is to get at least one 90% max heavy set per exercise.
Medium Body parts (Chest/ Shoulders):
2 warm up sets (on first exercise), 4 exercises consisting of 4 sets per exercise using, again, a moderate rep scheme of about 8-10 repetitions. Weight is important for the chest, but not as important for shoulders. Workouts for medium body parts should begin to incorporate refinements for size and shape.
Small Body parts (Arms, Calves):
No warm up sets, just working into feeling the muscle. The connection between mind and muscle is never underrated in the smaller body parts. This is where the Mesomorph can really refine what is easily put on in the way of size.
ECTO DIET
Ectomorphic body-types need to eat much differently than the other two types. In fact, an abundance of meals may work well for the Endomorphic type, and even the Mesomorph, but is detrimental to the Ectomorph's progress.
Ever watch sumo wrestling? If you have, you know that they're the largest men on the face of the earth. And while they're heavy and thick with body fat, they're also thick with muscle. Did they start out with a genetic predisposition to obesity? Not likely. As a race, the Japanese are typically not fat. In order to pack on that size, one way those normally slight framed Japanese sumo candidates get big is by skipping meals. When they do eat, they take in a tremendous amount of calories at one sitting. Grazing would just make their metabolic rate much more rapid.
Ectomorphs should eat a maximum of 3-4 times daily, with an emphasis on afternoon and evening meals. A final weight gainer shake can be taken in as an extra meal in the evening, just before bed. The caloric count within one meal should be at least 700-900 calories in order to pack on any appreciable size. Since they aren't predisposed to storing fat, that weight will be solid if they are working out.
In each meal, an Ectomorph should take in the following number of grams per macronutrient group:
10-12 oz of meat protein, which could include poultry (dark and white) as well as steak (ribeye or fattier cut), sauces are okay for the Ectomorph to get in some extra calories during a meal. Approximately 100-125 grams of carbohydrates per meal is essential for the Ectomorph. And he should also include about 30-40 grams of fat per meal.
You can still do that healthfully, but it's likely that the Ectomorph should focus more on fat calories than total health of fat calories. Cream, some fast food, desserts a few days per week, are all okay for the Ectomorph. In fact, I once knew an Ectomorph who used to fill a blender with vanilla ice cream, protein powder and a can of very rinsed tunafish and blend it up for protein shakes. It worked well for him, though the palatability of a concoction such as that is rather questionable.
ECTO DIET
An Ectomorph needs to watch burning up too many calories. Powerlifting, is therefore the best kind of workout for a true Ectomorph, provided he does it safely, with initial instruction and a watchful spotter. Conserving energy by sticking with the most basic of movements is essential to this person's development. Go heavy and go for just a few reps. This will be very taxing on this kind of physique at first, because the strength pool of an Ectomorphic physique is fairly dry to begin with. This will change, provided there is diligence with diet and NO overtraining.
The Ectomorph should also get a great deal of rest in between workouts and lots of sleep. Sleep = Recovery and that is essential for the growth potential of this body-type. Supplements are also more important to this group than to any other body-type. That's because the metabolic rate that burns food, calories, fat, etc., also utilizes nutrients much more rapidly as well.
Extra stress vitamins, B and C are essential, as well as appropriate doses of A and E. If you're this body-type, choose a good quality protein powder packed with carbohydrates, fats and Glutamine. It is a great tool for the Ectomorph to get more bang for the buck with protein supplementation and get the caliber of calories and nutrition he needs.
A typical Ectomorphic workout should focus first on a powerlifting type of workout, doing just bench press, squat, dead lift, within the first few months. When strength and size become more abundant (keep eating!) then a few more compound movements can be added, such as an incline bench press, a hack squat and some good mornings or 45 degree back rowing. Keep it simple for this body-type, and don't overdo sets and reps.
The average leg workout should initially include 4-6 sets of squats for legs, going for as much weight as possible with good form, each time. For chest, a session of bench press (supervised) employing impeccable powerlifting form to get the maximum number of pounds overhead. Focusing just on back, legs and chest, there should be 2 days between each body part workout. That's a full 7 day cycle, and gives enough rest in between so that recovery and growth can occur.
Cardiovascular training is important for everyone, because it is crucial to heart health. But remember, most people say 'cardio' and do 'aerobic' work. Ideally, you should incorporate both, depending upon your type.
Endomorph - Should do mostly aerobic type movement, for a minimum of 30 minutes per session, at least 4-5 days per week in the beginning. Don't drop calories and increase aerobic work, as that will only shut down your metabolic rate. Keep increasing cardio as you lose weight, but keep calories steady. Then, whenever you want to back off the cardio, adjust your calories accordingly.
As you lose body fat, you'll be able to eat more while doing the same cardio. Resign yourself to having to do cardio on a regular basis for maintenance. Also include one day per week of actual cardio training. Do sprints, treadmill exercises, or anything that gets your heart rate up between 180 and 200. Make sure you're fit enough to do this, by checking with a doctor first!
Ratio of aerobic/ cardio work: 80% aerobic/ 20% cardio
Mesomorph - This is the type that should do an equal balance of both aerobic and cardiovascular training. 2 days per week, this could mean sprints, and 2 days on the treadmill or elliptical trainer. Four days per week is about the maximum a Mesomorph needs to do to remain fit. Much more than that (unless he's preparing for a competition at that moment) and he could eat into his muscle stores.
Ratio of aerobic/ cardio work: 50% aerobic/ 50% cardio
Ectomorph - This type should focus mostly on cardio, not aerobic work. It's crucial to put yourself into a heart training zone, as rapidly as possible, in order to avoid burning up weight. This type only needs to do cardio work about 2-3 days per week, maximum, to get benefit. A strong heart also helps aid you in strength training/ powerlifting sessions.
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