I spoke at Spencer Presbyterian Church last week and we had a great conversation on genetic body types. I explained how body type affects the way you work out and how certain eating habits work best for certain body types. There are three body types that are typically used to describe someone’s genetics:

• Ectomorph: light build with small joints and lean muscle. Usually ectomorphs have long limbs with stringy muscles. Their shoulders tend to be thin with little width.

• Endomorph: A generally soft build, and usually of shorter build with thick arms and legs. Endomorphs gain fat very easily. Endomorphs are naturally strong in leg exercises.

• Mesomorph: has a large bone structure with large muscles and a naturally athletic body. It is quite easy to gain muscles and they are naturally strong.

Typical traits for the Ectomorph are

• Small and delicate frame and bone structure

• Classic “hard gainer”

• Flat chest

• Small shoulders

• Thin

• Lean muscle mass

• Finds it hard to gain weight

To gain muscle, workouts should be main movers such as bench press, squats, or deadlifts with heavy weight for 8-12 reps. Low cardio, work out after warmup should be 45 minutes or less. High calories including complex carbs, healthy fats such as nuts, seeds, advocado. And high protein should be part of an ectomorph’s diet. Stay away from long cardio if you want to gain muscles. Typically, ectomorphs seem to excel in sports that are long in duration, such as marathons. Body Pump, Power flex, Interval combined with weight class would work well for this body type.

Typical traits for the Endomorph are

• Soft and round body

• Gains muscle and fat easy

• Is generally short and stocky

• Round physique

• Finds it hard to lose weight

• Has a slow metabolism

To lose fat , workouts should be high intensity interval training. Stay away from long “fat burning” cardio. Low carbs (it doesn’t say no carbs!) Build shoulder muscles, but do not perform endless ab crunches because you can not spot reduce. Stay away from complex carbs. Heavy weight especially with the upper body keep intensity high with low rest and high intensity cardio. Example: 10 minutes high intensity walk on treadmill on 10 percent incline or sprint intervals on the track , do 4 upper body exercises heavy weight and again 10 min of high intensity cardio again. After warmup, workout probably lasts one hour to 75 minutes. Or classes such as Boot Camp, High intensity Interval would work great.

For the Mesomorph are

• Athletic

• Hard body with well defined muscles

• Rectangular shaped body

• Strong

• Gains muscle easy

• Gains fat more easy than ectomorphs

Train like an athlete, time your workouts and set goals for those workouts. Just because you have this body type does not mean that you can not get fat or out of shape. You still have to watch your food intake and when working out keep it high intensity. After warm up workout should be 45 minutes to an hour of high intensity. Boot camp class, triathlon training, obstacle course prep class would be a great workout for this body type.

With this information, try to find your body type. Sometimes you might have a bit of two body types. I am definitely the Mesomorph type.

Ester Marsh ACSM Cpt Health and Fitness Director Hurley YMCA