Female physique: ectomorphs, mesomorphs, endomorphs

Author: Elena Degtyar, PhD, coach

One of the theories in the world of healthy lifestyle is that people with different body types - mesomorphs, ectomorphs and endomorphs - lose weight, gain fat and muscle mass differently, and react to the same products. And although there is no scientific basis for dividing people into three somatotypes, this approach can be a fascinating experiment.

Take our test and determine your body type before reading the article.

Determine your body type

Most often, the body is a mixture of all three types with dominance of one of them.

At this point, there is no doubt that different people's bodies respond differently to the overall nutritional value of the diet, its balance, and to different types of training. In reality, of course, each organism is unique, and the three types are only a greatly simplified attempt to empirically systematize these differences.

No amount of exercise will turn short legs into long ones, because the width of the hips, shoulders, and bone sizes are unchanged. If you tend to gain weight, then this tendency will always be with you, but with due attention to nutrition and physical activity, you can completely influence your appearance.

Knowing your characteristics allows you to realistically assess what you can achieve and how much effort you will have to put into it. Making the most of your natural gifts is a more effective path to an ideal body than dreaming of becoming another person.

Try to determine which somatotype you might consider yourself to be and plan your nutrition and training in accordance with the advice. See if the approach works for you - perhaps it will become your comfortable norm or give you the impetus to improve your form.

General characteristics of an ectomorph

The ectomorph type is a fairly common body type. A person who falls under it has thin bones, undeveloped muscle relief, but is very hardy. Other features of the ectomorph include a high metabolic rate, a low percentage of fat content and great difficulty in gaining both total weight and muscle mass.

It would seem that people with an ectomorph figure are doomed to remain almost completely devoid of relief, unable to achieve any significant athletic results. But that's not true. With the proper diet, properly organized training and the use of sports nutrition, they are quite capable of making progress.

It is worth understanding that in its “pure form” people with this body type (as well as others) can not be found very often. But even in this case, an asthenic physique is of great importance for drawing up a training program and the possibility of building a beautiful body.

Endomorphic somatotype

The physique of a typical endomorph is massive; he has both pronounced muscles and a high predisposition to gaining excess weight. When most endomorphs come to the gym, they most often face the question of getting rid of fat deposits, which can be achieved through long-term cardio training and changing their diet.

Endomorphs who want to maintain a “lean” figure need to strictly control their diet, limiting the consumption of fats and fast carbohydrates. Their diet should contain a large amount of protein, dairy products, cereals and cereals. The optimal proportions are proteins (50%), carbohydrates (40%), fats (10%) of the total calorie content.

Training principles:

• frequent training - the 2+1 system is ideal (two days of training - one day of rest), while the body must be divided into splits and different muscle groups must be worked out on separate days;
• accelerating metabolism through aerobic exercise - run for 15-20 minutes on the treadmill to warm up and 30-40 minutes after completing the workout, this will boost metabolism and activate the processes of lipolysis (fat burning);
• using methods to increase intensity - endomorph muscles are initially resilient and ready for heavy loads; in order to reduce their adaptation to the training program, constantly increase working weights, practice supersets, negative repetitions, direct and reverse pyramids.

As in other cases, endomorphs need to build a training program on heavy basic exercises - squats, deadlifts and bench presses. For the first time after starting classes, they don’t have to use isolation exercises at all, replacing them with cardio training. It is rational to train in this way until the percentage of body fat decreases to the desired level, after which you can move on to targeted muscle training with isolation.

Advantages of an ectomorph

If it becomes clear to you that you belong to this somatotype, do not be upset and do not rush to give up your sports career. Many of these people humble themselves and declare that they come to the gym not to achieve any results, but just “for themselves,” to maintain health, and they simply don’t need mountains of muscles.

With such an attitude towards yourself, you really won’t achieve anything, since the main features of an ectomorph actually guarantee the presence of difficulties that prevent weight gain. But if you study the problem a little deeper, you will see that there are also ectomorph bodybuilders who have achieved very impressive results. Moreover, among athletes who have an ectomorph physique, there are crossfitters and powerlifters, and most of them perform at the top of their weight classes.

This fact shows that not everything is so bad. You just need to strive to achieve results, organize training and nutrition correctly. Moreover, athletes with this body type have many distinct advantages over other athletes. Here is a short list of these benefits:

• the gain of pure muscle mass occurs faster and better - no fat formation is observed;
• no muscle loss during drying - metabolic activity does not decrease;
• a good and very noticeable increase in strength with properly organized training;
• complete absence of the need to take growth hormones and anabolic steroids for hypertrophy.

The advantages of the ectomorph do not end there. Having a very high level of endurance, powerlifters with this body type can successfully perform in multi-repetition events. In the Mitrofan deadlift, folk bench press and Russian biceps, they often show the most impressive results.

Main types of male figure

It is believed that the division into body types is a convention, because most often the proportions of the body can be corrected by performing various physical exercises. Using a simplified classification, it is possible to determine what needs to be emphasized in oneself and what needs to be hidden as a flaw.

There are 4 types of male figure:

• triangle;
• trapezoid;
• rectangle;
• oval.

Triangle

This type includes men with broad shoulders and a narrow pelvis. The waist is placed in line with the hip or slightly wider. Men have developed latissimus and teres dorsi muscles. Most often, people belonging to this type engage in athletics and swimming. The same form can be achieved through training in the gym.

Trapezoid

An analogy can be drawn with a triangle for this type of figure in men. Characteristic differences are: powerful arms, large muscles and a wide body, stocky build. These people are often overweight.

Rectangle

The characteristic features of this type of figure in men are that the shoulders, hips and waist are located at the same level. In this case, the shoulders may be slightly wider than the hips, but they do not look massive. Typically, men look thin and have trouble gaining weight.

Oval

This type of figure includes all men who are overweight. It is worth noting that the type of fullness can be different: “hourglass” with a pronounced waist; weighted bottom; the figure is rectangular or triangular; men have a protruding belly.

Some disadvantages

When discussing the characteristics of “hard gainers,” we cannot ignore the shortcomings that simply need to be taken into account when drawing up a training program and diet. There are quite a lot of them:

• a high metabolic rate requires increased nutrition - without fail, which incurs additional costs;
• there are much more white muscle fibers, and this fact negatively affects the ability to achieve first results;
• increased level of injuries during training due to inadequate load perception;
• the need to carefully monitor training time, alternating load and rest.

It is unlikely that an inexperienced athlete can independently take into account all these shortcomings and correctly organize the training process. But under the guidance of an experienced coach, it is quite possible to overcome them and achieve quite decent results.

Recommendations for sports nutrition

It cannot be said that a mesomorph does not have disadvantages and caveats in choosing sports nutrition, since the type is prone to gaining not only muscles, but also fat. Too high-calorie supplements, such as high-carbohydrate gainer bars, will contribute to an excess of carbohydrates, which will cause compaction of adipose tissue. This body type needs to be given as many calories as it can absorb. Therefore, especially fast gainers with a predominance of simple carbohydrates should be left to ectomorphs.

Protein shakes, including casein and whey, gainers with equal proportions of proteins and carbohydrates, and complexes of essential and essential amino acids are suitable for gaining muscle. Also, to gain muscle, mesomorphs can resort to using creatine and pre-workout complexes.

To reduce subcutaneous fat during endurance work (when losing weight and drying muscles), you can use whey protein isolate, amino acids, fat burners, L-carnitine and avoid simple carbohydrates and fats in supplements.

How to identify an ectomorph

Any body type is determined by genetic characteristics. But if you follow the advice of a specialist, eat right and train, choosing the most adequate exercises and loads, you can overcome genetic limitations and build a beautiful, sculpted body, radically changing your appearance. This also applies to asthenics.

But first you need to correctly determine your belonging to one or another body type. A qualified specialist can guarantee that this can be done correctly by assessing external features, anthropometric data, and conducting special tests. But how can you find out whether you are an ectomorph or not on your own?

This is simple, but you need to keep in mind that most people are characterized by belonging to mixed types with a predominance of one.

So, what does an ectomorph look like: the most characteristic feature is thinness and a lean physique. In the hall, such people are often called “scraps”:

• narrow shoulders;
• thin bones and small joints;
• long arms and legs;
• elongated fingers;
• thin waist without bright expression;
• almost complete absence of subcutaneous fat;
• The growth of an ectomorph is usually high.

There are other features that have little to do with appearance, but that define its features. Asthenics (this is also the name for people with this body type) can eat anything and in any quantity without gaining weight. They are not at risk of obesity - a powerful metabolism guarantees this.

With intense training, muscles grow slowly, but they have truly amazing endurance. Therefore, asthenics show excellent results in long-distance running. They make outstanding marathon runners. They also have an active lifestyle.

When creating a training program and adjusting your diet, you should understand that most of the nutrients and calories you get from food are spent solely on maintaining the vitality and strength of the body.

Now, knowing well how to determine the type of ectomorph with a high degree of accuracy and classifying yourself as a glorious and complex family of asthenics, you can move on. Drawing up a training program (let a qualified trainer do this), adjusting the athlete’s diet with a calorie surplus are the most important actions that largely determine success in bodybuilding.

How to find out your body type?

We also note that modern science is very critical of the theory of body types. Ultimately, there are no clear and unambiguous criteria by which a person belongs to exactly one of them. There are always exceptions and individual differences.

In some people (most often women), the top of the body may have characteristics of one body type, and the bottom - another. This is why it is extremely difficult for the average person to determine whether they are an endomorph, mesomorph or ectomorph. In addition, nutrition also plays a role during adolescence.

Let us recall that William Sheldon, the author of the theory of body types, practically does not meet with somatotypes. In real life, a given person is a combination of all three body types. In total, the scientist identified more than 200 possible body types.

// Continuing the topic:

• three body types - do they really exist?

***

The training and nutrition strategy that he needs to create an athletic figure depends on what body type predominates in a person. However, most people combine the characteristics of all three body types - but in different proportions.

To clarify contraindications, consult a specialist.

Scientific sources:

1. William H. Sheldon, Barbara Honeyman Heath and the Struggle for Hegemony in the Science of Somatotyping, pdf
2. Somatotyping, antimodernism, and the production of criminological knowledge, source
3. Somatotype Profile and Body Composition of Players from the Mexican Professional Basketball League, source
4. Body composition and somatotype of judo athletes and untrained male students as a reference group for comparison in sport, pdf

If the ectomorph is a girl

Any girl would be happy to have this body type. This desire can be recognized as a completely natural desire to be like the most famous models - all of them, as a rule, have this particular body type. True, modern trends have begun to pass by tall and slender, but still they will be in demand in the modeling business for a long time.

Another advantage of this body type that attracts the attention of women is that an ectomorph girl never gains extra pounds. Moreover, if you consider that a slender woman who regularly works out in the gym under the guidance of an experienced trainer becomes fit, acquires a beautiful figure and attracts the attention of all the guys on the beach, it becomes clear that an ectomorph woman can make a very powerful impression.

What it is

Body type or somatic constitution is a definition of the physical characteristics of a person's body. This is not only the physique itself, but also a program for its development in the future.

The body can change several times throughout life, but the somatotype is determined genetically, it goes hand in hand with a person from birth to death. Any influence on the figure, be it sports, age-related changes or the consequences of diseases, only changes the outline of the body, but does not have any effect on the somatotype.

Male ectomorph: little joy

The body of an ectomorph man is unlikely to bring satisfaction to its owner. The only exception is for long-distance runners - in this type of debate, this body type with its characteristic endurance is most preferable. In addition, the low weight of the ectomorph contributes to the achievement of sports results in athletics.

But if you just want to gain beautiful relief and “pump up”, a male ectomorph very often turns out to be doomed to failure. But this is only due to a not entirely clear understanding of the characteristics of this asthenic physique and ignorance of the technique.

It is quite possible for an asthenic person to gain relief and significantly increase strength indicators, to adequately participate in powerlifting competitions and even win them if he treats the problem calmly, with full understanding, and leads a lifestyle that can help achieve his goal. This requires the preparation of a special training program for working in the gym, a sequence of actions and correction of the diet.

How to lose weight as a mesomorph

None of the mesomorphs are immune from gaining excess weight. This condition can arise for various reasons; it is important to find a suitable solution and take action.

The first step is to sit down and make a plan:

1. Describe your current situation.
2. What's stopping you? About

Ectomorph training

Creating the right training program is especially important for athletes with this body type. Aerobic exercise in the program should be present only to the extent necessary for “warming up”, and the bulk of the time is spent on strength training. Particular attention should be paid to the intensity of each workout. This is the only way to launch the synthesis of red fibers and the maximum inclusion of white fibers in the process.

Short intense workouts with the complete exclusion of long-term cardio contribute to the launch of anabolic processes and prevent catabolism, which has an extremely negative effect on the muscle mass of the ectomorph. Short-term, high-intensity strength loads are a powerful stress for the muscles, which will certainly stimulate the growth of the coveted mass.

The main condition for training for an ectomorph is a properly thought-out split (training on one part of the body per workout). The duration of classes should not exceed one hour.

A high-repetition regime with medium or light weights has a good effect on the activation of anabolic processes (muscle growth). But from time to time it is worth training with heavy weights without damaging the muscles and ligaments. This effectively activates the processes of muscle growth, strengthening of ligaments and becomes something of a test showing the results of training.

Weekly exercise program for ectomorph

Day 1 (legs, shoulders)

Squats with a barbell 4x8-10.

Leg press 4x8-10.

Leg extension in the 4x8-10 simulator.

Smith front press 4x8-10.

Barbell row to the chin 4x8-10.

Day 2 (chest, triceps)

Bench press on an incline bench 4x8-10.

Dumbbell bench press 4x8-10.

Dumbbell fly 4x8-10.

French press with dumbbells 4x8-10.

Extension of the upper block with edges 4x8-10.

Day 3 (hamstrings, rear deltoids)

Romanian deadlift 4x8-10.

Hyperextension 4x8-10.

Leg curls in the 4x8-10 machine.

Calf raises in the Smith machine 4x15-20.

Wiring in the simulator for the rear delta 4x8-10.

Day 4 (back, biceps)

Wide grip pull-ups 4x8-10.

Lever rod 4x8-10.

Bent-over dumbbell row 4x8-10.

Barbell curl for biceps 4x8-10.

Standing dumbbell biceps curl 4x8-10.

Exercise hammer 4x8-10.

Endomorph

Representatives of this somatotype can be described as dense and soft. They incredibly easily build up both muscle volume and fat, as a result of which their muscles do not have sufficient definition. Typical for an endomorph:

• short stature;
• round head;
• big belly;
• weak and flaccid limbs with thin wrists and ankles, wide knees and elbows, large deposits of fat on the shoulders and hips;
• slow metabolism, which makes losing fat incredibly difficult.

The ectomorph's muscles are well trained to increase strength. This is especially true for the quadriceps and gluteal muscles.

Endomorph training

Following these recommendations will help an endomorph achieve positive results in bodybuilding:

1. Weight training - 4 times a week with a clear division into top and bottom.
2. The optimal dosage of one exercise is 10–15 repetitions with breaks between 3 approaches, lasting 45–60 seconds.
3. Including supersets of non-competitive exercises in each workout, for example, bench press, imitation rowing, during the drying phase.
4. 3-4 full-body cardio sessions either after strength training or on the days in between. However, 1 day a week must be a day off.

This combination will boost your metabolism, support muscle growth and at the same time get rid of fat.

Endomorph diet

To achieve better results, endomorphs should follow these tips:

• reduce the calorie content of the daily menu, but only slightly;
• avoid fasting or strict diets;
• eat small portions of equal volume and calorie content throughout the day;
• give up junk food, fast food and street food;
• enrich the menu with protein from lean meats and fish, vegetables with a lot of fiber;
• limit carbohydrates and alcohol.

During the period of weight gain, to compensate for the dietary intake of meat, include one of the whey proteins in the menu.

Training tips for all somatotypes

In order to more or less summarize all the above information and draw certain conclusions, I suggest that you familiarize yourself with the general recommendations regarding training that are suitable for any of the types. Regular and correct implementation of them guarantees a minimal increase in muscle mass. So:

• Buy a gym membership, after which it is recommended to consult with a trainer who is suitable for you;
• Conduct your workouts with heavy and medium weights;
• Study carefully, and then use mainly basic exercises in your training;
• Don’t exhaust yourself (let the workout be intense, but not long, about 60-80 minutes);
• Perform the exercises correctly and avoid any kind of injury;
• Forget about long-term illnesses;
• Make a plan for yourself (nutrition, training, regimen, etc.) and strictly adhere to it;
• Take vitamin and mineral complexes regularly;
• Drink 1.5-2.5 liters of water every day;
• Forget about stress and get more positive emotions.

As practice shows, if you follow the recommendations given, you can safely count on the following indicators of muscle mass growth:

For ages 18 to 25:

• Ectomorphs – up to 5 kg;
• Mesomorphs – up to 6 kg;
• Endomorphs – up to 7-7.2 kg.

For ages 26 to 35:

• Ectomorphs – up to 4 kg;
• Mesomorphs – up to 5.4 kg;
• Endomorphs – up to 5-5.85kg.

Once again I would like to remind you that everything written above is not the ultimate truth. This is a kind of starting point for observing yourself, your body and its reaction to stress, after which you can draw conclusions and adjust the training system to suit you. And remember, genetics is a very important point in building a beautiful athletic body, but it can be changed at will. This will only require persistence and regular training and, of course, a reasonable approach. Therefore, there is no need to complain that someone is lucky, but you are not so lucky. A beautiful sculpted body has several secrets:

• Effective training strategy;
• Proper nutrition;
• Positive emotions.

And only then comes genetics.