Bodytypes

by Luca Zandona’

Metabolism, this is what fat loss is all about; doesn’t really matter how much time you spend on the treadmill, how good you were avoiding alcohol or how strong you are, metabolism is the key to long term fat loss results. Of course, metabolism is affected by these and other factors but we need to focus on the impact of ALL of our actions and we need to take a look at the overall picture, not just single details.

But what are the main factors that make our metabolism- the overall energy that our body uses through the day- faster or slower? In my point of view these 3 are the main areas that we need to focus on:

-          Body type

-          Physical activity

-          Body Composition

I know that there are many variables including; number of meals, quality of diet, alcohol intake, water intake, quantity and quality of sleep, etc. But all of these are subcategories of the 3 main factors. The purpose of this post is to explain the different body types and how to take advantage of yours to achieve maximum results.

The most popular method of categorizing body types recognizes three fundamentally different physical types, called somatotypes: ectomorph, mesomorph and endomorph. Of course, no one is entirely one type but rather a combination of all three types, in fact this system of classification recognizes a total of eighty-eight  subcategories, which are derived from examining the level of dominance of each basic category.

Unfortunately body type is the only one of the main three factors that can’t be changed; you were born with one particular body type. Although the fundamentals of training and diet apply to all of them, individuals with different body types respond in a very different way so people that share the same long-term goal sometimes find it necessary to adopt a different approach.

Ectomorph

The extreme ectomorph individual is characterized by a short upper body, long arms and legs, long and narrow feet and hands, and very little fat storage; narrowness in the chest and shoulders, with generally long, tiny muscles.

Usually these somatotypes are not really looking for a way to lose fat but opposite, for a way to build up lean and solid muscle mass.

Therefore I recommend:

-          Weight training; of course your priority is build up muscles so resistance training is the answer. Make sure that you use big compound exercises such as squats, lunges, deadlifts, leg presses, rows, presses and chin ups. Compound exercises are what you need to build general strength and mass; once you have the size you need you can start to focus more on details with isolation exercises, always maintain the fundamentals.

-          Train intensely; with this I mean medium-low repetitions and medium-long rest. Especially if you are looking for maximum strength and size you need to use very heavy weight, stay between six and ten repetitions (or 70%-90% of your best single repetition) and 90 seconds of rest between each set AT LEAST. Remember, if you don’t have enough recovery between each set that means that you’re not going to use a very heavy weight resistance.

-          Pay careful attention to nutrition; take in more calories than you really feel like. Remember that to build up weight and muscles you need to have more calories from your food than what your fast metabolism is going to burn. Most of these calories should be from proteins, good fats and low GI carbohydrates.

-          Maximize your recovery; remember that you’re trying to turn food energy into mass, so make sure you don’t burn up too much energy in other activities such as aerobic activity or other sports that can affect your weight training recovery. Remember also to make your workouts no more than 1 hour and sleep no less than 7-8 hours; it’s actually when you relax and sleep that you build up mass!

Mesomorph

The mesomorph individual is characterized by a large chest, long torso, solid muscle structure, and great strength. This type of somatotype find it very easy to build up muscle and keep body fat storage low-moderate. Therefore I recommend:

-          Variety in the weight training approach; these individuals seem to respond very well to different workout approaches so I suggest you alternate a cycle of high volume-low intensity training to build up quality and definition with cycles of low volume-high intensity training to focus more on strength. You can use both compound or isolation exercises and different rests between sets.

-          Additional aerobic or sports activity to build up aerobic fitness and keep body fat percent low.

-          You can change the quantity and frequency of training for your fitness goals as they don’t seem to affect the quantity and size of muscle.

-          A balanced diet with plenty of protein and good fat, moderate quantity of carbohydrates.

Endomorph

The extreme endomorph individual is characterized by soft musculature, round face, short neck, wide hips, and heavy fat storage. Generally they don’t have too much difficulty in building up muscle but have to be concerned with losing fat. Therefore I recommend:

-          High set-High repetitions/ Low-moderate intensity training with very short rest between each sets. Resistance training is very important just because the endomorph individual needs to maintain, or even increase, their muscle mass to make their metabolism faster; the combination of high volume-short rest, especially when combined with compound exercises that require more energy than isolation ones, ensure that we spend more energy through the whole workout.

-          Additional aerobic exercise to burn off extra calories; it is especially effective if done in the morning before breakfast or just after the weight session.

-          A low calorie diet with a good amount of protein, to maintain muscle mass, and good fat; decrease calories from carbohydrates.