Understanding Body Types

We have a saying around The Complete Bear, “A Saint Bernard is never going to be a Greyhound.” Certain people are predisposed to a certain body type or fat level. Your genetics influence how easy or difficult you find it is to lose weight or gain muscle. But genetics are just that — an influence. That doesn’t mean that you are stuck with Mother Nature’s choices. While you can’t change your bone structure, you can modify what is on those bones through exercise and proper nutrition to bring out the best in your body type.

Desire for a new look is only half the battle, the other half is reality. The kind of changes you make and the way you need to go about them all depend the body type you are working with. There are three basic shapes: Endomorph, Mesomorph and Ectomorph. Those three broad categories of body types, or "somatypes," were created in the early 1940s--not by a physician or exercise specialist, but by American psychologist William H. Sheldon.

Knowing your somatype is useful in developing an effective fitness prescription.

• An ectomorph can strength train very aggressively and not necessarily gain a lot of muscle mass. This is often desirable for women, but not for men.
• A 'meso' may gain muscle mass easily but not want big legs, so the focus would be on staying away from lifting heavy weights for 8 to 12 repetitions and work more with lighter weights in the 15- to 20-rep range.
• The endomorph has a thicker body type and tends to carry more fat weight, so a program that is heavy on aerobic exercise to burn more calories would be warranted.

No matter what you do, it is difficult, if not impossible; to change the body type you inherited from your parents. You can, however, move toward a more desirable body type--if you are willing to put in the time. So, let’s look at each type and what works best considering the body type:

• Endomorph – Weight gain is your biggest challenge. Typically, you have a slower metabolic rate. In addition, you’re also likely to have a thicker layer of body fat. The best activities for this type focus on burning off calories with moderate intensity aerobic exercise: walking, cycling, swimming and rowing.
• Mesomorph – You have the best of both worlds. This type doesn’t have to work to hard to keep in shape and can build muscle fast. We hate them. Mesomorphs should do longer-duration, higher-intensity cardio work if the goal is to lose weight. Building muscle is easy, but if the goal is not to gain size then moderately heavier weights and higher reps will be the way to go during weight-training sessions. The best activity plan for this type includes a balance between cardio and weight training: cycling, skiing and weight training.
• Ectomorph - An ectomorph possesses a low body fat percentage level, small bone size, a high metabolism, and a small amount of muscle mass and muscle size. Ectomorphs should concentrate on gaining weight in the form of good lean muscle tissue. Weight training should be done but not too often or for too long each session. Weight should be fairly heavy and workout pace slower.

Most people are a combination of 2 somatypes. Classic combination somatotypes include pear-shaped ecto-endomorphs with thin, delicate upper bodies and high fat storage in the hips and thighs, and apple-shaped endo-ectomorphs, with high fat storage in the mid-section and thin lower bodies.

When you know which type you are (or which mixture) and diet and exercise correctly for that type, you will make much better progress. By simply understanding your body type, and working with rather than against it, could make all the difference.

You can’t change your body type, but you can learn to eat and exercise in a way that emphasizes and develops your best features, while downplaying those you'd love to change if only you could.