Fitness Together Georgia

Thankfully, we are not all the same person. We don’t look the same or act the same. Some of us are short (like me) and others are tall. Some of us are broad and some us are narrow. To get to the point, you have a particular body type.

During the 1940’s a doctor by the name of William Sheldon created the use of somatotyping. Somatotyping explains what your body type is, in particular as it relates to your genetic make-up. In other words, your somatotype is your special body type. Your particular body type can determine your ability to perform certain tasks, dictate the rate of your metabolism, and ability to either gain or lose weight easily. Certain nutrition and exercise programs have to be matched to your body type in order to optimally reach your goals.

There were three somatotypes that Sheldon came up with. Bellow is a chart and an explanation of the three types.

Somatotype Body Types: Taken from FitBuff.com

Ectomorph

A stereotypical ectommorph is a tall basketball player who is lean. They often find it difficult to gain lean muscle mass. At a young age, they can usually eat lots of food without gaining a pound of fat either. (Think of the teenage high school basketball player that can clean the fridge out and not gain a pound.) Most often, a person with this body type is trying to find ways to gain weight for optimal athletic performance and strength. They also have the God given ability to be active for long periods of time, without getting out of breath.


If you are an ectomorph, it is important that you eat enough and not over-train. When you train with the weights, you have to eventually train heavy and the sessions shouldn’t last more than 45 minutes. Most of your movements should be compound movements e.g. bench press, leg press, dumbbell row, etc.). Your non-sport aerobic conditioning should be kept moderate in intensity, frequency, and duration, as you may over train. Therefore, you are more likely to breakdown muscle for fuel. With that in mind, adequate protein is necessary to build muscle. You also need adequate amounts of carbs and fat to insure you support your energy and muscle building efforts.

Endomorph

Endomorphic body types are usually rounder, as they tend to store body fat easily. The fat stores tend to go into the hips and thighs for women, and in the abdominal area for men. An extreme example of a endomorph is a Sumo wrestler or football lineman.

If you are an endomorph, you may find it difficult to lose weight. Unfortunately, you might attack your weight loss efforts through diet alone, but it doesn’t work as you tend to gain it back. Sometimes you might not eat at all, but this is not good because you have to eat regularly to keep you calorie burning engines running. Eating smaller, lower density meals throughout the day will work the best.


In regards to exercise, you should weight train at least three days a week and do cardiovascular exercise 4-5 times per week not only to burn more calories, but for cardiovascular health. Unfortunately, you are more likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease. Low fat consumption and frequent aerobic activity is necessary.

Mesomorph

A person who is mesomorphic is usually muscular in build and are quite athletic. Most ectomorphs and endomorphs are either envious or despise mesomorphs. A perfect mesomorph is like one of those guys you see in one of those late night exercise product infomercials.

If you are a mesomorph, you can have more “bad” eating days without it catching up to you. However, you can increase body fat if you don’t exercise regularly. Plus, in order to be really lean, you have to have good eating habits.

Your weight-lifting efforts should be combined with heavy lifting days with lower reps, and light weight lifting days with higher reps. Variety is essential to your exercise efforts. Your ability to do cardiovascular activity and your lifestyle usually dictates whether you should do moderate or intense cardiovascular activity. Usually, a combination of moderate and high intensity staggered 3-4 times a week is sufficient.

We Are All Types

Before I let you go, I want you to understand that most of us are a combination of all three body types. In fact, Sheldon (remember the doc who created the term somatotype) created a 7-point scale where ectomorph was one side of the continuum and endomorph was on the opposite.

What I want you to understand more than anything, is even when genetics play out what your God-given genetic make-up might be, there are advantages and disadvantages in all somatotypes. An aesthecian I know who owns her own business is always saying- “be comfortable in the skin you are in!” Of course, she is literally talking about your skin. What I am getting at is, “be happy with who you are!”

You have the ability to determine what physical condition you want to be in. I will never grow 6 inches taller, no matter how hard I try. But I know I will also feel and look my best, when I am trying to look and feel my best.




Kelly Huggins
Exercise Science, B.S.
Owner, Fitness Together