Body-type specific body building tips

When it comes to bodybuilding, I truly believe that the first thing one has to determine is the body type. Now, what do I mean by "body-type"? The bodies of all human beings (men & women) is usually broadly classified into three categories:

I. Ectomorph:

• People with a slim body frame.
• Have a hard time putting on fat/muscle.
• Have a high basal metabolic rate (that means their body burns a lot of calories even when resting).
• They generate less power as compared to the Meso and the Endomorphs, but their endurance levels are high.

II. Mesomorph:

• Genetically gifted in other words.
• Have just the right basal metabolic rate (BMR).
• Usually possess a muscular body structure with a decent body frame.
• Easily gain lean muscle with not much hassle.
• These guys are powerful with good endurance levels.

III. Endomorphs:

• Have a very heavy body structure.
• The BMR is too slow and their body tends to convert all the excess calories into fat very quickly.
• The people in this category don't have a hard time putting on weight, but they do have a hard time converting the fat cells into lean muscle.
• Most prone to heart related diseases.
• They are powerful, but they don't have a good endurance.

Now, these are the three general categories. But this is not it! There are people who fall under Ecto-mesomorph and the Meso-endomorph categories as well. Now, I won't get into the details, but the name says it all about those categories. 

But why you need to know about the body-types before u get to planning your workout.

Well, the answer is obvious. The best way to build your body/gain lean muscle/even lose weight is to understand your body type and then plan your workout accordingly. Here are certain tips that might help you build a "dream body":

1. Set realistic goals for yourself. Irrespective of what body type you belong to, you have to understand the value of setting goals. If you don't have a goal, you don't have an objective. Now, I can't tell you how important this is! 

2. Have a role model for yourself and stick a big wallpaper of that person in your bedroom. I'd suggest that you choose a role model who has your body-type or in other words started off from where you are right now. This will keep you on track! Whenever you look at the wallpaper, remind yourself that this is what you want to achieve!

3. Set short-term goals and monitor your progress every week. This will help you stay on track as well as modify your activities to be able to reach your goal faster.

4. Be excited about your health routine. Plan your daily activities including waking up, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, workout routine ahead of time and keep things simple so you don't get lost during the week! Make healthy eating and working out a habit. Initially, you might have to drag yourself to the gym and deliberately try avoiding junk-food, but once it becomes a habit, you will never have a hard-time then.

5. At the end of each week, award yourself with an incentive if you achieve your goals for that week successfully. This will keep you going. But also make sure your incentives don't interfere with your daily activities, otherwise, you will lose track soon.

Follow these simple guidelines, and I can assure you, you will achieve your dream body for sure!

I'd like to give specific tips for specific body types:

I. Ectomorph:

• Stick to the basics. Don't try fancy stuff when it comes to your meals and your exercise.
• Make sure you consume 1 gram of protein per pound or lb of body weight.
• Consume a lot of carbohydrates.
• Try and maintain a carb to protein ratio of 2:1.
• Drink atleast 2-3 liters of water everyday if you eat a lot of fruits which already have a high water content such as water-melon, etc. Otherwise drink atleast 4 liters of water everyday.
• I'd strongly suggest, you avoid citrus fruits as they contain citric acid which cuts down body fat. Remember you're concentrating on gaining weight? (Just kidding)
• For carbs, eat a lot of potato, rice, papaya. Like I said before, keep it simple!
• Take a protein supplement to ensure you reach your protein intake goal for the day.
• Don't workout more than 4 days a week and 1 hour a day every alternate day.
• Workout once muscle a day except for biceps and triceps which should be on the same day.
• Heavy weights and low repetitions is the way to go! Don't workout more than 3 sets for any exercise and don't exceed 10 reps in any of the three sets (I'd suggest you go for a 10, 8, 5 rep routine for every exercise, but make sure you use appropriate weight). Initially, you can sacrifice on the form a little bit, but go as heavy on the weights as possible.
• Don't have the I'm skinny, so I shouldn't workout my abs attitude. It is important for you to gain some muscle mass in the abdominal region. Divide your ab workout so you have one week heavy weight and less repetition ab workout and the next week you have a low weight, heavy repetition ab workout.
• Don't consume liters and liters of water during your workout, because you won't be able to supply your body with enough post-workout nutrition because you have already filled your stomach with water.
• Divide your meals into 6-8 small meals instead of trying to gulp down a thousand calorie meal at once because being an ectomorph, you know it's not possible for you to ingest a 1000 calories in one meal!

II. Mesomorph:

• You guys don't need to worry much about your diet, except for the basics like avoiding fattening foods and just sticking to a healthy, high-protein diet.
• Workout, I'd suggest you guys can afford to workout for about an hour or 1 hour 15 minutes every other day (alternate days).
• Cardio should be given equal importance as weight/strength training to avoid shifting towards the endomorphic body-type. I'd suggest, at least, 10-20 mins of treadmill and cycling at a medium pace followed by proper stretching before you commence your weight training.
• Drink at least 4 liters of water on a daily basis to keep your digestive system clean and also keep the muscles hydrated.

III. Endomorph:

• Dieting is important for you guys, but workout is even more essential as your body doesn't naturally burn calories.
• The workout routine is obvious; more of cardio followed by a decent amount of weight training. People in this category often end up doing just cardio which is not the right way to go I believe. Working on building lean muscle helps increase your metabolism and thus aids fat loss.
• I'd recommend at least 45 minutes of vigorous cardio followed by a good 30-40 minutes of weight training.
• Cardio must essentially be done on the tread-mill, exercise cycle, using skipping rope, etc.
• Must workout abs atleast twice a week. Only go for a high rep ab workout! A low rep ab workout is a big NO NO!!!
• During weight training, go for decent weights (not too low or not too heavy), concentrate on the form of the exercise and try to do more sets of each exercise (atleast 4). Incorporate drop sets in every third exercise that you do (a drop set is usually the final set of the exercise in which very low weight is used and the repetitions are pushed up to 25). This not only pumps the muscle, but also drives a lot of lactic acid which aids in burning excess fat that has been deposited around that particular muscle. High reps also give a good definition to the muscle.
• As far as the diet is concerned, follow a low carb, low fat, decent protein diet. Recommended foods to eat would be brown rice, whole wheat bread, loads of water and loads of citrus fruits! Also drink skimmed milk, eat fat free yoghurt and avoid fried foods. Use extra virgin olive oil instead of the regular refined oil. Don't starve yourself, because thats not a healthy way to lose weight. Starving yourself will shrink your muscles further resulting in a lot of health issues and an increase in fat/muscle ratio.

I hope this helps! Please leave a comment if you like the post and also if you have any questions.