Body Types 101: Don’t Waste Your Time Trying To Be Somone You’re Not!

It is important for anyone who is wanting to improve they way they look through nutrition and fitness to understand what body type they are. Either an ectomorphs, mesomorphs or endomorph (or somewhere in between).

If you’re an endomorph and trying to ‘morph’ into an ectomorph then you’re going to be fighting a losing battle from the start.

“So what do these body types mean?”

Here’s a simple rundown;

1. Ectomorphs

Ectomorphs are those people who are naturally skinny. They seem to be able to eat practically anything without gaining noticable weight. Unfortunately people with this kind of body type still have problems with flab (too high a body fat percentage) and cellulite because they find it a lot harder to build muscle.

Celebrities who are ectomorphs: Gwyneth Paltrow, Calista Flockhart

2. Mesomorphs

Mesomorphs are the lucky ones as they naturally have a muscular body type. The main problem people have when they are mesomorphs is keeping their fitness up when they get older. You’ll find guys who will stay fit, healthy and good looking all through out their high school, college and early working years only to get a beer belly by the time they’re reaching their forties.

Celebrities who are mesomorphs: Jessica Simpson

3. Endomorphs

Endomorphs are naturally bulkier than ectomorphs or mesomorphs. If you’re into bodybuilding then this is the ideal body type. If you want abs though you’re going to have to watch your diet a lot more closely than people who have the other body types.

Celebrities who are endomorphs: Renée Zellweger

You need to know what body type you are before you can make realistic goals

Kirstie Alley is never going to look like Calista Flockhart.  If she makes that her goal, then she is immediately setting herself up for failure.  Now this does not mean Alley doesn’t have a chance at slimming down and improving the way her body looks.  With correct dieting and exercising she would be able to be set the realistic goal of becoming a more attractive endomorph.

Take a look at celebrities and identify their body type to see what is possible.  Will Smith for instance is naturally of the ectomorph group.  That didn’t stop him from bulking to become a fairly convincing boxer in the movie Ali.  Renée Zellweger is a good example of an attractive endomorph body.

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Who’s genes are you wearing?

Have you used the easiest excuse in the book? 

One of the most common excuses I hear as to why a person is unable to improve their physical appearance is that they have “inherited bad genes”. They will here read what respected researchers and professionals say – that the best indication of what your body can look like is to look at you parents and photos of your parents when they were younger.

The truth: Some people are naturally going to have it better than others

Now it is definitely true that there are a vast variety of different body types and not everyone is able to look like Vin Diesel or Cameron Diaz. But even if your parents have been overweight all their lives it does not suggest by any means that you have to look like that. And for instance it sure doesn’t mean that you cannot get visible abdominals or substantially lower your body fat levels.

Fact: Most people are fat due to their lifestyles not their genetic makeup 

You see the main problem with the ‘I have bad genes’ excuse is that 9 times out of 10 the reason one’s parents have never had six pack abs is a lot less to do with their genes and a lot more to do with the food they eat, the sports they played and in general the type of lifestyle they lived. If someone sits on their couch for 3 hours every night watching TV and eating snacks they are completely missing the point if they blame their parents for causing them to have bad genetics!

Now I am more than ready to admit that their are people who have a medical condition which makes losing body fat a very tricky exercise (no pun intended). But by far the majority of people who are fat are that way because of their lack of exercise, and the type of diet they eat not because of their genetic make up.

You can do something about it!

Instead of complaining about the genes you have inherited how about doing something else? How about changing the types of food you eat, exercising at least 3 times a week for over half an hour and work out at a local gym (or home) as often as you can. If you stick to it, I promise you that you’ll start seeing what your genes are actually made of!

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