Fitness

Your Body Type – What You Need to Know!

By Gule Sheikh

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When it comes to working out and your health, your genes, on average, can either benefit you or hold you back by 20%. But if we take this a step further, if we effectively categorize our body types, then we can target the right type of training suited for our goals as well.

Studies say, majority of us fall into one of 3 body types. The Mesomorph, Ectomorph and Endomorph. Lets take a look at all traits specifically.

Typical traits on a Mesomorph:

Athletic
Generally hard body
Well defined muscles
Rectangular shaped body
Strong
Gains muscle easily
Gains fat more easily than ectomorphs

A mesomorph has a larger bone structure, and is usually naturally athletic. They find it easy to gain and lose weight. They are naturally strong which is the perfect platform for building muscle.

Typical traits of an Endomorph:

Soft and round body
Gains muscle and fat very easily
Is generally short
“Stocky” build
Round physique
Finds it hard to lose fat
Slow metabolism
Muscles not so well defined

The endomorph body type is solid and generally soft. They gain fat very easily. Usually shorter build with thick arms and legs. Muscles are strong, especially the upper legs.

Typical traits of an ectomorph:

Small “delicate” frame and bone structure
Classic “hardgainer”
Flat chest
Small shoulders
Thin
Lean muscle mass
Finds it hard to gain weight
Fast metabolism

Typically tall and skinny. They are usually light build with small joints and thinner physique. Shoulders tend to be thin with little width.

Best Training Styles

Mesomorph

The mesomorph body type responds the best to weight training as they gain muscle fast. The downside to mesomorphs is they gain fat more easily than ectomorphs as well. A combination of weight training and cardio works best for mesomorphs with a moderate calorie intake to manage muscle gain and fat loss.

Endomorph

When it comes to training endomorphs find it very easy to gain weight. However, the downside is, the weight gain is usually fat, so endomorphs must always do cardio as well as weights. A high protein consumption is generally a good idea to build and maintain muscle.

Ectomorph

Since Ectomorphs find it very hard to gain weight due to their fast metabolism,ecto’s need a huge amount of calories in order to gain lean solid muscle weight.

Workouts should be short and intense, with morefocus on larger muscle groups. Ectomorphs should eat before bed to prevent muscle catabolism during the night. Generally, ectomorphs can lose fat very easily which makes cutting back to lean muscle easier for them.

Bonus – There is a 4^th type! The Endo-Meso!

This body type is a combination of Endomorph and Mesomorph, which means these people usually have the best and worst of both world. Generally, they can adapt to any training style and have to keep track of progress more intimately, as they may need to cycle calories and weight training to achieve their goals.