Knowing your
body type is essential in order to know how you should proceed in building
muscle. There are 3 main types of body types namely:
- Ectomorph
- Mesomorph
- Endomorph
First, let
us concentrate on the ectomorph body type.
Ectomorph
As an
ectomorph you will surely know that it’s hard to gain weight , most people
would have told you all your life that you are lucky to not gain weight when
you eat like crazy and nothing happens to your weight, however if you want to
build muscle then that is not so lucky , now is it ?
The good
news is that is it VERY possible to gain lots and lots of muscle even though
you are an ectomorph.
You are only
going to have to train harder, master your self-discipline and EAT, EAT, EAT a
lot more than you are used to. I myself lean a lot towards the ectomorph body
type and I managed to put on quite a few pounds in a very short time.
As an
ectomorph you do have a few benefits which the other body types do not have.
-You have a
very fast metabolism, which means you can burn fat fast, just be careful not to
burn the protein too. But what this means is that you can enjoy food and a lot
of it too.
You do not
have to go through hunger pains and you can get away with cheating now and then.
Remember an ectomorph needs huge amounts of calories to grow. You might need as
much as 200-300 grams of protein a day to gain muscle.
- As an
ectomorph you don’t have to spend so much time in the gym, workouts should be
short and HEAVY and you should focus mainly of the main muscle groups. It’s all
about the eating and as long as your muscles is stimulated they will grow ,
don’t spend endless hours in the gym as you will waste your energy and actually
your body will start to burn calories from your muscles ! Go home and eat!
-As
ectomorphs age, they actually turn more into mesomorphs as your metabolism
slows down which is great news isn’t it? This means you can slow down on eating
but still have the other benefits.
-Ectomorphs
are lucky where they find it easier to do dead lifts because of their longs
arms, and as it happens to be dead lifts is one of the best muscle building
exercises.
Supplements
are highly recommended if you are an ectomorph. It will be pretty hard
especially in the beginning to eat so much and get in all those vitamins and
protein; this is where supplements make it easier.
You should
also try and eat something before going to bed as your fast metabolism will
deplete your nutrients before you wake up.
So now that
you know more about your body type, you can focus more on the areas that
matter. Remember being an ectomorph is not such a disadvantage, you can and
will put on huge amounts of muscle if you make the effort.
Mesomorph
If you have
a mesomorph body type, consider yourself very lucky indeed. You can gain muscle
very fast with relatively minimum effort and you can easily lose fat too!
A male
mesomorph’s body is typically a V shape or rectangular in shape where a female
mesomorph has a hourglass shape body. You typically have a very nice
proportional body and doing exercise and having a strict diet can make you look
good quickly.
As a
mesomorph your body has a fast metabolism which means you can get away with
cheating a bit on your diet and your body has a low body fat percentage as the
rest is usually lean muscle.
However,
because you lose fat so easily you tend to over indulge and bad habits can lead
to weight and fat gain, but this can be fixed quickly by following a strict
diet and doing some exercise.
You should
try and eat breakfast within an hour of waking up and you do not necessarily
need to cut down on calories in your evening meals as your metabolism will take
care of not gaining weight as you sleep.
Mesomorphs
can typically train harder and for longer in the gym and should do both cardio
and weights to maintain their weight. You should not overdo weight training as
you need your rest just like any other type to grow and keep the cardio in
balance as mesomorphs burn calories faster than any other body type.
Endomorph
As an endomorph
you gain fat very fast if you follow the wrong diet like eating junk food,
however to lose the fat you need more than a diet change.
Your diet
should consist of high amounts of water and fiber intake to flush out all the
waste out of your body, you should keep your fat and carbohydrate intake low
and eat more protein to keep your strength up and build muscle.
The number
one mistake most endomorphs make is trying to do a crash diet or starving
themselves and do binge eating at night. This is horrible for your metabolism
as your deprive your body of food and then pig out at night with anything you
can lay your hands on.
What happens
here is that your body becomes selfish, you starve it 90% of the day so it
learns to KEEP holding onto the fat and your metabolism slows down even more
than normal. So instead of releasing fat it won’t let go of it at all. What you
should be doing is actually eat 7-8 small meals per day.
This will
let your body know that you are not starving it and your metabolism will be
active all day and increase in speed letting go of the fat. These meals should
contain low amounts of slow releasing carbohydrates which can be found in brown
rice, fruits, vegetables, whole wheat bread and oatmeal.
As I
mentioned above a diet alone won’t help you lose the weight. As an endomorph
you need lots and lots of cardio workouts which will burn the fat off. You need
at least 3-4 cardio sessions per week.
You should
try and keep your heart rate in the optimal range for your age to maximize your
workout. Most machines in the gym have a chart next to it to monitor your heart
rate; otherwise you can get yourself a heart rate monitor watch.
You should
be doing strength exercises as well and should do higher reps that other body
types. You should do about 8-12 reps per set as this will give you that burn
feeling which is good to burn off the fat.
As long as
you stick to your diet and exercise routine and build your discipline you will
have no problem to keep the weight off and have a great body.
