I gotta a kind of a personal question for you? Um, Are you an ectomorph? Or an endomorph? Or, perhaps, you’re a lucky mesomorph? Nah, I’m not implying you’re an space alien or something! It’s just that every single person has a specific body type, and knowing yours can be of great help if you want to build the body of your dreams. Adjust your workout to your body type, and you’ll achieve the best results! Let’s start with exploring the body types first. There are three of them, as proposed by Dr. William Sheldon, an American psychologist, back in the 1940s. Let’s see if you recognize yourself in one of them! First, there’s ectomorph. People with this body type are slim, usually tall and with longer limbs. Look at Usain Bolt if you want a good example. They are those lucky types who can eat whatever they want and never get love handles or too much of a bottom. On the flipside, ectomorphs also have difficulty gaining muscle mass, so however hard they work out, they stay lean and can’t ever bulk up even if they want to. Well, at least they can drown their sorrows in a piece of cake. Or two. Then there are endomorphs. These are the exact opposite of the previous type: short, stocky, and with a tendency to gain weight from every single crumb eaten after lunch. Look no further than Danny De Vito for a vivid example of an endomorph. These guys struggle to slim down, and their prominent gut and wide hips might be killing them if they decide to walk the athletic path. There’s always a bright side, though, so endomorphs are naturally more powerful than ectomorphs, and they make excellent bodybuilders or weightlifters. And finally, the fortunate mesomorphs. Why fortunate? Well, because they have this perfect balance of muscle and fat, along with a natural ability to change their body to their liking, and fast. Christian Bale is the perfect mesomorph: just one look at his roles in The Machinist and American Hustle is enough to see why. Mesomorphs can rather easily gain muscle mass and become fit in no time. On the other hand, they lose their bulk as easily too, so it’s not like they take a walk in the park and come home with shredded legs. Uh-uh, life’s easy for them, but not that easy! Of course, these three body types are not categorical, and you can find yourself somewhere in-between. Still, they do cover most aspects, and chances are high that what you’ve just heard describes you well enough, doesn’t it? Share with me in the comment section below! Now that we’ve dealt with the theory, let’s get down to practice at last. You’ve clicked on this video because you wanted to find out what kind of workout you need, right? So here are some tips to follow and exercises to perform according to your body type. They’ll help you make the most out of your constitution and achieve the best results possible. 1. Ectomorph regimen With this body type, you have no trouble losing weight, but when you try to gain muscle mass, you only end up with lean muscle, becoming thin and wiry. If you want to bulk up a bit, here’s what you should do. First and foremost, start packing on proteins. Proteins are basically building blocks for your muscles, and combined with carbs, they will help you gain mass in the end. Not your end, in THE end. The trouble here is that you should be prepared to eat a lot more than you’ve probably eaten before, because your metabolism is generally faster than that of other people, and you need more nutrients to feed your sinews. So help yourself and start munching on protein and carbohydrate-rich foods. Be careful, though, not to overeat fatty stuff because, despite fat being good for you too, having too much of it may slow down your muscle-building process. Secondly, concentrate on strength training and heavy lifting. Compound moves are your best friends as well: basic exercises like deadlift, squats, crunches, and push-ups engage large muscle groups, helping you build your physique faster and easier. Isolation exercises, on the other hand, will only slow down your progress as they only see one or two muscles working. And thirdly, don’t overdo the cardio. Running, swimming, or cycling is nice and all, but cardio workout makes you lose weight, not gain it. And why would you want to lose any more of your weight when you’re already as slim as a branch? Still, “don’t overdo it” doesn’t mean you don’t have to do it at all. Low-intensity cardio helps you get your blood pumping, delivering nutrients to your muscle tissues. That is, even if you’re packing it with proteins and carbs, they’ll have better effect on your body if it’s warmed up correctly. All in all, if you’re an ectomorph, concentrate on eating a lot, doing a lot of strength exercises, and go easy on cardio. This way, you’ll see good results very soon. 2. Endomorph regimen For this type, it’s typical to be heavy around the waist with smaller shoulders. You have genetic factors to blame for that, in fact: there are fat-storing mechanisms at work inside you that prepare you for hungry times. Luckily, the times when food was a rare commodity have long since passed, so now it’s better to focus on how to shift your weight from the waist to the upper body and make your overall shape balanced. I won’t be hiding bad news from you: endomorphs have the hardest time losing weight. On the bright side, though, -- and that’s where we are -- you don’t really have to run for hours on end, drowning the treadmill in your sweat. Certified trainer Will Purdue says long and steady cardio workout doesn’t really help burn fat. Interval training is much more effective and takes much less time than simple running or cycling. For example, sprinting is a great burst technique that you can adopt to lose weight faster. Oh, and forget about crunches. They work for other body types, but not yours. Crunches are good for shaping the muscles but they don’t burn any fat at all, so you might already have a six-pack and not even know about it! In order to bulk up your upper body and make your looks less pear-like, you should concentrate on getting rid of that belly of yours first, and then do some intense weight-lifting. Heavy weights and cardio will work wonders for you in the long run. Just be prepared for this run to be, well, long — endomorph’s training routine isn’t exactly a piece of cake. Speaking about cakes, unfortunately, it’s time to say goodbye to pastry. If you want to lose weight and become fit, you should cut your daily calorie intake to about 1,750 kcal. In fact, the lower your calorie intake, the faster you should be shedding pounds, but overdoing it isn’t a good thing. If you go below 1,500 calories per day while cheerfully sweating away at the gym, you just might get knocked off from exhaustion at some point. Being a little hungry all the time is okay, but don’t forget to keep your energy levels high enough. Summarizing all the stuff I just told you: go for intense interval training, ditch long running sessions, bulk up your shoulders with weights, and cut your calorie intake to less than you use every day. And of course, there should be very few carbs in your diet and more proteins. 3. Mesomorph regimen Well, mesomorphs are the easiest to train by far. If you belong to this type, you probably already have balanced looks, and you might’ve noticed how simple it is for you to grow muscle mass or lose fat. You should also consider yourself lucky that you don’t see the look of jealousy on my face right now. Anyway, even though mesomorphs have won the genetic jackpot, you can still better yourself. In terms of training, you should first of all stop procrastinating and start actually working out. Your body type allows you to cut yourself a lot of slack without much harm, and most mesomorphs abuse this otherwise cool feature of their body. So in order to make the most of your awesome build, train to achieve. That means you should concentrate on doing everything in moderation, but setting certain goals for yourself. Moderately intense cardio workouts are good for you, and you can easily maintain long running sessions if you want to. Strength training is also all about moderate to heavy weights with the number of reps from low to relatively high. That is, if you take heavy weights, then 4-6 reps should suffice. If you choose to lift lighter ones, feel free to go up to 15-18 reps. You should be able to do that quite easily, what with your inborn stamina and strength. Intense workouts with clearly set goals will bring about the best you can get from your golden body type so that you can boast it even more. Yes, I’m still jealous. As for the diet plan, it can be rather relaxed since you don’t tend to gain weight as fast as endomorphs and don’t need to munch on carbs and proteins like ectomorphs do. Basically, you can just watch your energy intake to stay within 2,500 kcal, cut down on excess fats and carbs, and be generally happy you belong to mesomorphs because, otherwise, you can eat whatever you want. So, a quick recap: set yourself some goals to achieve, indulge in a moderate training regimen, and eat to your heart’s content without being too keen on fats and carbs. Have you found yourself in any of the three body types? Let me know down in the comments! If you learned something new today, then share it with a friend. But – hey! – don’t go morphing into new shapes just yet! We have Many cool posts for you check out.
