How to Train for your Body Type - Endo, Ecto & Mesomorphs
Published: Sat, 12/02/17
(from Legendary Bodybuilding Historian Dennis B Weis)
Q. I am wondering if there are any secret nutrition and workout programs that you know of for say the Endomorph, Ectomorph and Mesomorph? I am sure there has to be some differences in how each one would eat and train. Let me know. And thanks!
A. Your mention of somato-types or three major categories of mankind is an interesting concept in its own right. This is a concept of attaching a kind of biological identification tag to a person. It began back in the 1930s and was expanded on by a Dr. Shelton around 1950. Here is an encapsulated overview of each.
The endomorph is a roly poly fat type who has an easy-going nature and likes to consume large portions of food and as a result shows little evidence of any muscle definition and gains weight quite easily, both in muscle and fat.
1. Train 4 times per week using the Push/Pull System.
2. Two to three exercises per body part.
3. Three sets of 12-15 reps each.
4. Do the exercises in Super-set or Tri-set fashion.
5. Rest only 30-45 seconds between the super-sets, or tri-sets.
6. Eat low calorie, low fat foods every 3.5 hours. Remember, there exists a level of calories beyond which weight (fat) will be gained. You must find that level.
7. Use thermogenic (fat burning) agents.
8. Aerobic session 40-50 minutes per day, early morning before breakfast or immediately after the workout.
The ectomorph is just the opposite and is very tall, almost “rail thin” and wiry and for all intents and purposes is a hard gainer when it comes to training. This person can lose weight on a high-calorie diet of pizza, cheeseburgers and ice cream.
1. Total body workout.
2. Twice per week on non-consecutive days.
3. Do five to seven basic exercises such as Barbell squats, Bench presses, Deadlifts, Bent-over rowing, Presses overhead and Barbell curls etc.
4. Three to four sets of 5-8 reps (High reps are counter-productive except for abs 20 reps and calves 15-20 reps)
5. Eat at least 6-8 small meals (natural unprocessed foods) every 2-2.5 hours.
6. Lots of rest between sets and exercises (4-10 minutes in some cases) just due to the physiology of being ectomorphic.
The mesomorph, now we are talking, is the “Natural athletic type,” and is very muscular and powerful which is obviously the best of two worlds when compared to the two previous somato-types.
1. Total body workouts.
2. Two to three times per week on non-consecutive days.
3. Do 10-12 exercises.
4. Four to five sets of 8-10 reps each except for abs and calves (explained above).
5. Aerobic session 20 minutes two or three days per week.
Having given you this brief overview I must qualify it by saying there are very few people, if any, that can be considered to fit totally into any one of the somato-types I have mentioned.
Most individuals are a combination of the three but not in equal percentages. Somato-typing is thought by some in the iron game community as passé, outdated and of no value what-so-ever but I am not one of them nor is Bob Kennedy for example.
Hope you found this helpful and can apply it to your training!
Stay Strong,
Coach Chris
CriticalBench.com