Knowing your body type can help you get fit faster. There are three different body types but it doesn’t mean you are “stuck” with your dominate body type.

Know Your Body Type To Get Fit Faster

If you look around at other people, you will (I hope) notice that none of us look exactly the same.  We all have a different body type. There are three types of body classifications that we generally fall into.

Type I Body Type

The Ectomorph Body Type
These are the people we love to hate. This is the friend who can eat pretty much whatever and however much they want and never seem to gain weight. The typical characteristic are long and lean muscles with naturally slender arms and legs. They tend to have a very fast metabolism.  The ectomorphs make for great endurance athletes, marathon runners, ballet dancers and runway models.  An “out-of-shape” ectomorph tends to hold their body fat in their abdominal region and top of hips.

For the ectomorph looking to get in better shape, you’ll want to make sure you are eating enough healthy foods and hitting the weights. You can tolerate more carbohydrates so ditch the low-carb diet and focus on getting those macronutrients just right. You will not need a ton (if any cardio). Weight training is going to be key so make sure you have the right program designed for you. It will take you longer to build muscle and hold onto it because of your high metabolism but stay on course it will happen.

Type II Body Type

The Mesomorph Body Type

This body type is ideal for getting lean quick. Mesomorphs are naturally muscular and athletic. Mesomorph physicality are typically what people are looking for when they say they want to be “lean and toned”. Mesomorphs make great gymnasts, fitness models and sprinters.

Again, this doesn’t mean you may not have some body fat to lose. Mesomorphs generally hold body fat all over which is good because that’s how it will come off…all over. The mesomorph generally does well with a muscle building program and a moderate cardio program.  The goal here is to take advantage of that quick muscle building response and doing moderate cardio will help keep body fat in check. Mesomorph have a moderate tolerance to carbohydrates and to preserve their lean muscle mass they will need to keep their protein up.

 

Type III Body Type

The Endomorph Body Type

The endomorph is naturally broad and thicker in stature. This body type does well with power lifting and crew. Endomorphs tend to have a slower metabolism and do not tolerate carbohydrates well. (They will need to keep a watchful eye on carbs).  Endomorphs will carry extra body fat in the chest, waist and hips. This type of person would do well with a structured weight training program and a balanced cardiovascular program to help them gain lean muscle while decreasing their body fat.

Is it possible to be all three body types?

When we are born, we fall into one of the body type categories.  Think of this as a sliding scale, you can start at one end and move towards the middle but you can’t go from end to end.

Ectomorphs ——–Mesomorphs ———–Endomorphs

If you are born an endomorph and you eat healthy and workout you CAN change from endomorph into a mesomorph and then you become a “endo-mesomorph”.  Or you may transition in to an “ecto-mesompoph”.  Though you can not go from an endomorph to an ectomorph because that is due to genetic structure a larger boned individual (endomorph) will never become a smaller boned (ectomorph). So when you hear someone (or yourself)  complaining because they are overweight because it’s “genetics” that is only partially correct. Get yourself a fitness program that is designed and tailored to you and you will never have to blame it on genetics again!