People all over the world differ from each other in appearance. Some are thin, others have toned, athletic figures, and some have wide bones. And very often these indicators do not depend on going to the gym or dieting. Belonging to one type or another is genetically inherent in people.
The predisposition to gain excess weight, to burn all the sweets you eat, or to actively develop muscles is built on the speed of metabolism. It is the metabolism and skeletal structure that determines which somatotype a person belongs to.
Tip #1. Stop dropping and dialing
Of course, the traditional well-known methods of gaining weight give everyone the opportunity to gain maximum weight at the same time as fat, which will then need to be burned. But “skinny fat people” are very poor “distributors” of nutrients, so a significant part of the excess calories does not go to the muscles, but is stored in fat. This means that without the use of various kinds of auxiliary substances (for example, steroids), the process of getting rid of excess fat will be so long that most of the mass will go away along with it. Therefore, it is worth choosing a nutrition system in which fat would not accumulate, but the muscles would receive all the necessary nutrients. More proteins during the day and fewer evening carbohydrates, or a complete refusal of carbohydrates in the evenings. Measure your waist every week and adjust your diet accordingly. Find the line after which your waist begins to grow, and just don’t cross it.
Body composition testing
In addition to simple testing methods, there are various types of body composition testing to determine the somatotype (mesomorph, endomorph, ectomorph). The test shows the relationship between the level of subcutaneous fat and muscle mass.
The most commonly performed tests are:
- Skin fold testing. In different parts of the body, the thickness of subcutaneous fatty tissue is measured using calipers, which is used to calculate body composition.
- Testing a body immersed in water. The technique is based on weighing the human body in the usual way and in water. The residual lung capacity is also determined. Next, the necessary calculations are carried out using a special formula.
- Electrical resistance test. This determination method is based on different levels of resistance of body tissues (in particular, adipose tissue and water) to the electric current passing through them.
Having determined the type of constitution (mesomorph, ectomorph, endomorph), girls and boys who want to achieve certain results in improving their own figure are required to follow some rules of physical activity and diet that correspond to their somatotype.
Tip #3. Forget about abs
One of the most important rules for “skinny fatties” or otherwise “fat ectomorphs” is to first lose weight and never go back to losing fat. This means that you will need to never gain so much fat that you have to lose it later. Most “skinny fatties” will easily be able to lose 10-15% of their total fat mass everywhere except the abdominal area. This is quite enough to look good and be able to build muscle mass.
To get rid of all the fat and reveal those six-pack abs, you will need to go on a strict low-carb diet for a while. Along with the fat, some of the muscles will also go away. And as soon as you return to your usual diet, your stomach will again be covered with some layer of fat. This is fine. Even professional athletes can show off beautiful abs only at photo shoots and competitions. The rest of the time it is just as hidden under a layer of lard.
Who is a mesomorph: description of the structure of the male and female body, photo
Mesomorph
Mesomorphs are naturally happy people. They have a beautiful athletic build, an athletic figure and almost no subcutaneous fat. They say about such people: “Good heredity and fast metabolism.”
Woman with a mesomorphic body type
Men and women with this body type have a proportional body, long arms and legs. They also have a long body, a wide chest and well-developed muscles in the shoulder region. It is not difficult for such people to lose weight or build muscle mass.
Tip #4. Don't underestimate bodyweight exercises
For most bodybuilders looking to develop their muscles, training tends to focus on barbell, machine and dumbbell exercises. Squats, deadlifts, bench press, etc. But you should not neglect training with your own weight - push-ups, dips, pull-ups with a forward and reverse grip, etc. These exercises will not only help you keep your body weight under control, but will also help you develop muscle and prevent fat storage. They are quite easy to perform at home as gymnastics.
Human somatotype
A person’s somatotype is their type of constitution, which is made up of the developmental features of the human body:
- Skeleton.
- Muscle
- Subcutaneous adipose tissue.
For each person, it is determined at the genetic level by the metabolic processes that occur in the body.
The somatotyping system was first introduced by the scientist Sheldon, who proposed three main types:
- Ectomorph.
- Mesomorph.
- Endomorph.
This typing theory was introduced after much anthropometric measurement. The names are borrowed from embryology, each meaning one of the germ layers. So, endoderm is the inner layer, mesoderm is the middle layer, and ectoderm is the outer layer. According to the theory of embryo development, internal organs develop thanks to the endoderm, bones, muscles and blood vessels develop through the mesoderm, and the ectoderm develops skin, hair, legs, brain and nervous system.
Tip #5. Don't neglect isolation exercises
Basic exercises are known to be more effective in almost everything. But without isolation exercises, your arms will look no more sculpted than PVC pipes. Therefore, you should not neglect isolation exercises.
“Skinny fatties” are known for having thin wrists, which is why we highly recommend that you use a thick bar for all rows and presses. To achieve maximum effect, you can add pull-ups on a wide bar or lat pull-downs with a thick handle. This will be the bane of your workout, so to speak, but you will soon see your shoulders and arms begin to grow very quickly.
Flaws
Despite all of the above, ectomorphs have disadvantages:
- High metabolic rate. This is both a gift and a curse. It necessitates more food consumption. But this is expensive, not always possible and causes increased stress on the gastrointestinal tract.
- The need to use sports nutrition. This is the only somatotype that really needs to take gainers and protein shakes, since the stomach is physically unable to satisfy all nutritional needs.
- The predominance of white “endurance” fibers slows down the start. It is difficult for ectomorphs to take their first milestones, since hyperplasia has not yet begun, and hypertrophy is not able to provide sufficient leverage.
- Frequent injuries during training. White fibers also come into play with serious weights, but they do this gradually. As a result, a person with a predominance of red muscle fibers can easily lift his maximum weight, but if he moves it even 5% more, he will become unbearable. Ectomorphs, who have predominantly white muscle fibers, do not feel the difference between 95% of maximum and 120% of maximum. Without feeling this difference, they often load the bar beyond its limit, which causes ligament injuries and muscle tears.
- Control over training time. The need to control the time of rest and the training process itself is a frequent recommendation from trainers who see ectomorphs in the gym. They are advised to focus only on three basic exercises. This, in turn, triggers a psychological factor that interferes with growth: “after all, I paid for the gym and should get the maximum from it, and doing only basic exercises, I spend at most 30 minutes in it.”
Tip #8: Shoulders, latissimus dorsi and chest
“Skinny fat people” usually have a pyramid-shaped body, i.e. The waist is wider than the shoulders. This needs to be fixed. Focus on training the muscles of the shoulder girdle - the upper pectoral muscles, deltoids, neck and trapezius. Include the lats in this list, because... it is their “wide wings” that make the waist look thinner.
Consistent training that includes pull-ups, incline bench presses, dumbbell presses, standing dumbbell flyes, standing dumbbell or overhead presses, and dumbbell bent-over rows will eventually pay off!
How to determine whether you are an ectomorph, mesomorph or endomorph: test
There are many different tests to determine whether a person is an ectomorph, mesomorph or endomorph. But just a few questions are enough to understand what type you are. For example, here is a test with questions:
- Your gender: man or woman.
- Shoulders: Wider than hips, same width as hips, narrower than hips.
- Relaxed jeans (with the right waist size): fit tightly on the buttocks, fit perfectly on the buttocks, fit loosely on the buttocks.
- Your forearms look: large, medium, small.
- Your body: has some excess fat; thin but muscular; skinny.
- Your body looks: pear-shaped; hourglass shaped; mostly straight at the top and bottom.
- If you grasp your wrist with your middle finger and thumb: the middle and thumb will not touch; the middle finger and thumb touch each other; The middle finger and thumb overlap each other.
- Regarding your weight: you gain weight easily, but have difficulty losing it; gain and lose weight without much effort; There is a problem of gaining weight in the form of muscles or fat.
- Your breast volume ranges from: more than 107 cm; from 89 to 107 cm; less than 89 cm.
Below in the table are published the answers to how a person belonging to one or another body type will answer.
| Ectomorph | Mesomorph | Endomorph | |
Shoulders:
| 3 | 1 | 2 |
Relaxed jeans (with the correct waist size):
| 3 | 2 | 1 |
Your forearms look:
| 3 | 2 | 1 |
Your body:
| 3 | 2 | 1 |
Your body looks like:
| 3 | 2 | 1 |
If you grab your wrist with your middle finger and thumb:
| 3 | 2 | 1 |
Regarding your weight:
| 3 | 2 | 1 |
Your breast volume ranges from:
| 3 | 2 | 1 |
- If any of the answers are slightly different, then you have a mixed type. In this case, you should follow the advice that applies to both types. More often it happens that the mixed type can be between endomorph and mesomorph. Then the recommendations would be:
Endomorph and mesomorph
If you get a result between mesomorph and ectomorph, then the result and recommendations will be as follows:
Ectomorph and mesomorph
If you learn to independently determine your body type, it will be easier for you to lose weight or gain muscle mass. If this cannot be done, then it is better to turn to professional fitness trainers. They will create a program of exercise and nutrition, taking into account all your parameters, and you can quickly achieve the desired results.
Tip #9. Change the number of repetitions each time
As a rule, ectomorphs need changes in order to provoke progress. But they don't have to be complicated. One of the oldest methods is to increase the number of repetitions. For example, you bench press 100 kg and can do four sets of six reps each. Stick with these weights for all subsequent workouts until you are doing four sets of twelve reps. Once you can achieve this, add 5kg and repeat the above process. This will allow you to train with heavy weights and low reps for a while, and then gradually increase the number of reps. Almost everyone benefits from changes in intensity and weight, so don't convince yourself that the end point for developing strength and size is five or six reps.
Methods for determining body type
Human body type (Somatotype) is a certain structure of the human body, which is characterized by bone thickness, metabolic rate, percentage of body fat and many other factors.
Somatotype depends on genetics. In other words, if the parents are thin, then the children are more likely to be thin and have thin bones.
Body type is determined in order to select the most suitable training and nutrition. As stated earlier, each body type has its pros and cons. Knowing the somatotype, you can neutralize its disadvantages. The following aspects of training and nutrition depend on your body type:
- Type of training;
- Training intensity;
- Duration of rest between approaches and workouts;
- Diet;
- The need for certain sports nutrition.
Most people do not belong to any specific body type. Mixed somatotypes are common.
For example, let's take Arnold Schwarzenegger. In his youth, Arnold was a tall, thin boy who did not stand out for his strength or muscle mass. The signs of a typical ectomorph are obvious. Then no one could have thought that he would become a bodybuilding legend.
After starting to train, Schwarzenegger discovered a predisposition to gain muscle mass with virtually no fat. These are already signs of a mesomorphic body type. Based on this information, we can conclude that Schwarzenegger has a mixed body type.
A pure ectomorph or endomorph will not become an outstanding bodybuilder, but with proper training and proper nutrition, he can build a body with which he will not be ashamed to go to the beach. The main thing is not to be lazy!
1) Does the potential athlete have the opportunity to achieve high results in a particular sport. If a person made the wrong conclusion about his body type (his genetic capabilities) or did not make it at all, then his energy, time, and money may be wasted. Therefore, before embarking on the path of professional sports, it is extremely important to assess your genetic potential.
2) What is the predicted performance limit in the chosen sport. Having correctly identified yourself as an ectomorph, mesomorph or endomorph, you can evaluate your progress according to the criterion “efforts made - results achieved.” Let us explain with an example: the closer an athlete is to the “ectomorph” body type, the more difficult it is for him to gain muscle mass. Such a person needs to be condescending towards the poor progress of the mentioned indicator, especially when comparing himself with other athletes.
3) Training methods, nutrition and rest. It is known that progress in athletic sports consists of the three listed components. Their connection with body type is obvious.
4) Changes in body size and proportions in the future. There are fairly accurate methods that make it possible to make a forecast about the future development of an athlete as his age progresses.
How to determine somatic type - endomorph, ectomorph or mesomorph? There are quick assessment and more accurate methods to determine the somatotype. The second group of methods naturally requires more information and time spent. The methods are listed below in order of increasing difficulty.
Here anyone can be an expert. A necessary condition is a clear idea of what body parameters clearly defined representatives of the three basic body types have. To increase the adequacy of the assessment, there should be several experts.
A fairly old method, the adequacy of which is now being questioned. The essence of the method: a wrist size of 17.5 cm was considered the average norm. If the wrist is much smaller than this size, the physique is thin-boned (corresponds to an ectomorph). According to the method, a value of 19 cm or more corresponds to excellent genetic potential (mesomorph).
such athletes as A. Schwarzenegger, L. Ferrigno, S. Oliva achieved excellent results in bodybuilding, having a wrist size of 17-18 cm.
There are several techniques here.
- The roughest way to calculate the norm is as follows: you need to subtract 110 from the height of a person (in cm), provided that the person’s height is more than 170 cm. The resulting value very roughly corresponds to the weight of the mesomorph. The greater the difference between the actual weight and the calculated value, the closer the person is to the other two somatotypes.
- The age-based method is as follows. WEIGHT = 50 0.75 * (HEIGHT – 150) (AGE – 20) / 4 Height is measured in centimeters, age in years.
- There is also a method based on table values. Body type can be determined by comparing a person’s weight and reference weight values for one measured height. For example, for a man 185 cm tall, the normal weight is 71.4 ÷ 79 kg (mesomorph).
The range of lower weight values corresponds to the ectomorph (68.6 ÷ 73.2 kg). For an endomorph, the indicators are as follows: 75.9 ÷ 85.4 kg.
4) Complex formulas
The most accurate, scientific approach is to use more complex formulas that include limb girth measurements, skin fold measurements, and obesity index (height to weight ratio) in the calculations. This method (Heath-Carter formula) is widely used in Western sports science and physiology. The result of the calculations is an indicator of three numbers (according to Sheldon’s method), which determines the similarity with each of the three somatotypes.
Next, a coordinate system and a point corresponding to the results obtained are constructed on the plane. Thus, different athletes can be assessed with quite visual numerical indicators, with their further display on a plane (graph).
An addition to the above methods can be an analysis of a person’s tendency to gain weight and the body’s responsiveness to correctly delivered training. For example, according to authoritative physiologists, obesity is completely alien to an ectomorph, but gaining muscle mass through natural methods is also organic for him.
On the Internet you can find a sufficient number of so-called calculators that allow you to determine your somatotype. The initial value for most of them is one or two girth sizes (hand, thigh) or an obesity index based on height and weight.
Determining your body type is an extremely important sporting task. Knowing the somatotype, you can make a prediction about a person’s predisposition to certain sports, make a forecast about future results and calculate their maximum achievable limit. Let us remember that body type does not change throughout life. Sizes and proportions can be corrected, but not the constitution of the body.
How should an ectomorph train {amp}gt;{amp}gt;
For a novice athlete, one of the main questions should be the following: “endomorph, ectomorph, mesomorph - how to determine?” Regarding methods, there are simpler, faster methods and more precise scientific approaches. The advantage of the latter is the possibility of numerical comparison of different athletes and a visual graphical presentation of the results.
Ectomorph
This type of physique is not at all distinguished by stateliness or high strength indicators. There is practically no layer of fat in their body, but there is also no muscle as such. Gaining muscle mass is very difficult for them, but possible. The only caveat is that the entire result of training may come to naught if you stop exercising.
The nutrition and training strategy for them should look like this:
- Workouts are short and high-intensity (no more than 40-50 minutes, 2-3 times a week), you need to use average weight and minimize cardio loads;
- Nutrition - enhanced with a high content of calories and proteins (3g per 1 kg of body weight);
- Nutrient content (as a percentage) – 20-30% proteins, 50-60% carbohydrates, 20-30% fats.
Important: if you remember famous athletes whose body type is ectomorph, then Frank Zane deserves attention. With his small build (height 1.77 m, weight 90 kg), he was awarded the title of Mr. Olympia three times.
Training program for ectomorph
Mesomorph
People with such a figure are literally meant to engage in bodybuilding. They are well built and by nature they are considered the most suitable for sports, the so-called “lucky” ones by nature. But you shouldn’t think that with such a constitution you won’t have to work hard and take care of yourself. Without proper care, even the highest quality and pliable “material” will lose its properties and will not be able to show its full potential.
The nutrition and training strategy for them should look like this:
- Workouts - any set of workouts suits them well, the main thing is to exercise regularly in the gym (at least 2-3 times a week) and approach your workouts wisely (workout duration is 60-90 minutes);
- Nutrition - you need to adhere to the main principles for gaining muscle mass (how often an athlete should eat), and also not violate the protein intake norms - 2.5 g per kg of body. Cardio exercises should be of moderate severity and last about 30-45 minutes;
- Nutrient content (as a percentage) – 30-40% proteins, 40-50% carbohydrates, 10-20% fats.
Important: one of the most prominent representatives of the world of athletes, whose body type is mesomorph, is Arnold Schwarzenegger, who received the title “Mr. Olympia” 7 times.
Endomorph
It is considered the most common body type among men, the main characteristics of which are a tendency to be overweight, a slow metabolism and a barrel-shaped body.
- Training – intense training (basic exercises) with a large number of repetitions (more than 10), drinking large amounts of water (from 1.5 liters per workout);
- Nutrition - high in protein foods and moderate amounts of carbohydrates. The selection of products must be done very carefully;
- Nutrient content (as a percentage) – 40-50% proteins, 30-40% carbohydrates, 10% fats.
Important: a typical popular representative in the world of bodybuilding with a mesomorph physique is Jay Cutler, 4-time Mr. Olympia.
Training program for gaining muscle mass
Tip #10. Visit the gym regularly!
Let's end our recommendations with a rather extreme proposal. Many “skinny fatties” are shapeless and weak simply because they are too lazy and spoiled. From a biological point of view, having muscles is the result of a lifestyle that requires them to be created. So it might be worth trying to exercise every day to send a message to your body that you're not content with being the "skinny fatty." If you feel that you do not have time to recover, reduce the training time to 25-40 minutes.
Of course, all these recommendations are not all that you need to know in order to build an ideal body, but these are exactly the very points that it will be very useful for the “skinny fat man” to pay attention to!
