Exercises For Your Body Type

Alright, now we have all we need to actually start a training program for our body types. 

Be very kind to your body at the beginning though, don’t get frustrated and be proud of every little progress you may have. 

Everything is about confidence in this lifestyle, so crying over a barrel of ice cream because you weren’t able to lift a 20 lbs dumbbell the first day might not be the best way to progress further. 

Eat the ice cream as a cheat meal on Sunday though, it’s good for the soul!

Ectomorph: 

The aim for this body shape when eating and working out is to maximize the calories consumed, conserve calories burnt, and build muscle! So yes, you can go right ahead and eat that huge burger that gives you an award for eating under 60 minutes. 

Ectomorphs are often good at activities such as long distance running, due to their light weight frames, but to gain a few curves and muscles, it is better to keep cardio activity to a minimum and focus instead on resistance training. 

Make sure you always put weights on every exercise you do, whether you’re beginning or not; do squats with the 10 lbs bar, curl 5 lb dumbbells, do elevated crunches with a medicine ball in your hands. 

Whatever you do, just keep weight on as much as possible. And yes, you are extremely blessed to have a body naturally thin, we’re all very jealous internally!

Mesomorph: 

Although we have a tendency to gain muscle rather than fat, people with this type of body can become overweight if they do not exercise or eat correctly. 

Although we will not “bulk” if we lift heavy, we will have bigger muscles than we would like (as women). You, men, can bulk as much as you’d like, as long as you cut before summer or competition, if you’re into that. So to tone without gaining too much muscle, muscular conditioning and strengthening activities such as yoga and Pilates are ideal for Mesomorph body types.

 Keep in mind that you need to include HIIT in your everyday training, therefore you can take yoga and Pilates for recovery but the ideal workouts would be Shaun T’s 30 minute workouts, or Jillian Michael’s DVDs, or other great body workouts that leave on the floor crying. The more exhausted you are after your workout, the better it is. Lift heavy weights and in between sets do jumping jacks to keep the heart rate up, or better yet use the jump rope for 30 seconds before every set. You will hate me and your trainer, but you will love the progress!

Endomorph: 

Since this body type already has a lot of muscle under the fat, it’s easier to gain muscle. If you are looking to lose weight though, increasing cardio and keeping the weightlifting activity stable will help you achieve that. The best way to work out with this body type though is to have quick sets with medium to heavy weights and then resting. You have a faster metabolism already, since you have more muscle than the other body types, so the heart rate will stay up regardless. The Elliptical and Treadmill are great for this body type since it will not bulk up the muscles; the stair master may simply increase body mass instead of making it lean, so be careful and keep in mind your goal.