Do you feel like you’re constantly battling your body rather than working with it to enjoy every run and nail some personal bests? You’re not alone. Like many runners, you’re likely fixated on reaching a certain 'ideal weight' that doesn’t necessarily match—and may even be at odds—with your physiology.
Too many runners allow themselves to be defined by a number on the scale that is often grounded in nothing more than a notion of what they think they should weigh.
What are somatotypes?
It's easy to generalise body types, but most of us can slot our overall build into one of three general categories (recognising that there are a wide variety of shapes and sizes even within these categories).
Understanding your body composition is liberating because it gives you something to focus on in a good way—lean body mass. No matter what the scale says, if you're in a healthy body-composition range, you're all good! Your ideal body composition depends on your goals. If you're a competitive athlete, your aim is likely the lower end of the body-fat percentage scale (again, taking your somatotype into consideration), but remember that you are never gunning for zero fat, and lower is not always better.
Women naturally have more fat than men, as we have a greater amount of essential fat (fat needed for bodily functions, from forming reproductive tissue to aiding the absorption of vitamins consumed in different foods). The body-fat ranges for optimal health are 14 percent to 30 percent for women and 6 percent to 25 percent for men.
Don't get too hung up on trimming every little ounce, however. If you're at the lower end of the body-fat spectrum but your fitness level falls under general fitness or athlete, you're not going to gain performance benefits by focusing on fat loss. And you might just make yourself sick.
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Ectomorph
You tend to be long limbed and not particularly muscular.
You can be 'skinny fat,' meaning you're a relatively low weight and/or small size yet still have high body fat. Ectomorphs are the body type that is the most resistant to weight gain because of a fast metabolism. In other words, ectomorphs are often able to overeat while gaining little or even no weight.
People with this body type have little observable body fat, are only lightly muscled, and have a small frame (and joints). Basically your genetic makeup limits your ability to put on muscle mass. When training, focus on power and resistance training to build strength.
Eating as an Ectomorph
To maximise body composition (lean-mass gain, body-fat loss) as an ectomorph, eat good-quality fats with moderate protein intake of 25 to 30 grams per meal (four meals per day if you have a pre-training mini-meal) along with good-quality carbohydrates.
On non-training/exercising days, skip the pre-training and morning snack: Breakfast is hearty enough to carry you through to lunch. If you have afternoon snacks, you may want to make your dinner intake a bit lighter.
Training as an ectomorph:
Your slighter build can leave you susceptible to injuries. With less muscle, you may also lack power to sprint for the finish. When training, focus on power and resistance training to build strength and protective muscle tissue as well as to build bone.
Endomorph
You are generally softer and rounder and tend to store fat easily.
Endomorphs are the body types that are most likely to feel like they drew the short straw. Endomorphs naturally tend to have curvy, fuller figures and struggle to keep their body-fat percentage in check.
The most difficult challenge for endomorphs is perhaps to find out that they are in fact an endomorph. Why? Once you know you are an endomorph, you know that you were born this way. It can be difficult to come to the realisation that you are likely to gain weight very easily. You have the type of metabolism that is not forgiving. However, this doesn't mean you are destined to be overweight or even obese.
As an endomorph, you have to make a conscious, concerted effort to do the things your body should be doing for you automatically. If your body isn't instinctively telling you to move more, you have to make sure that exercise is part of your daily routine. If your metabolism is sluggish, you need to eat the right foods that will fire up your metabolism.
Eating as an endomorph
On non-training/exercising days, have a flat-belly breakfast within 45 minutes of waking up and skip the pre- and post-training snacks. Be sure to temper your afternoon snack to your appetite.
Training as an endomorph
Training-wise, high-intensity activities such as HIIT and CrossFit are great, as are weight training and moderate endurance training. As an endomorph, eat good-quality fats and protein and limit your carbohydrate intake to maximise body composition (lean-mass gain, body-fat loss) and to control insulin and blood sugar.
Mesomorph
You find it super easy to build muscle mass, and you are generally proportionally built.
Mesomorphs can lose and gain weight easily, are able to build muscle quickly, and usually boast an upright posture. This body type tends to have a long torso and short limbs. Women with a mesomorph body type are strong and athletic.
Mesomorphs excel in explosive sports—that is, sports calling for power and speed. The reason for this talent lies in the type of muscle mesomorphs possess. Mesomorphs have a higher percentage of fast-twitch fibres and will gain muscle mass more quickly than any other body type.
Eating as a Mesomorph
To maximise body composition (lean-mass gain, body-fat loss) as a mesomorph, eat good-quality fats with moderate carbohydrates and consider timing your protein and branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) intake. On non-training/exercising days, skip the pre-training snack and just have the green tea or coffee in the afternoon. Eat your usual pre-dinner and evening snacks.
Training as a Mesomorph
Basically your genetic makeup suits power and strength. For training, focus on moderate endurance training, high-intensity interval training (HIIT), and plyometrics. You can add in Pilates or yoga to lengthen with strength.
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Do you struggle to lose weight or gain weight super easily? Or do you struggle to put on muscle, not matter how much time you spend in the gym? The answer may lie in understanding your body type.
Knowing your body type can be very helpful if you have been trying to achieve fitness, strength, health, or weight loss goals less successfully that you’d like to. It can allow you to personalize diet and workouts to suit your specific needs, work with your body instead of against it, and achieve better results.
What is Body Type?
In the 1940’s American scientist William H. Sheldon and his colleagues proposed a system of classification based on physique that comprised of three body types (somatotypes), which he called ectomorph, mesomorph and endomorph.
William Sheldon was not an anatomist, instead he was a behavioural psychologist and thus the core of his theory lay in associating the three somatotypes with temperament types. This relationship has since been dismissed as simplistic and outdated.
While the element of behavioural science in his theory may have been poor, the study of somatotyping itself has merit. Since the introduction of this classification, it has continually evolved and developed. Presently the most commonly used method of somatotyping (or body typing) is the Heath-Carter method.
Today somatotypology is studied and applied by anthropologists, biologists, nutritionists, exercise physiologists, coaches, personal trainers, coaches, sports scientists and even doctors the world over.
While it is used in research, body types is also used for designing individual, effective and efficient weight loss, nutritional, and fitness programs.
The Science of Body Types
Research shows that genetics has a substantial influence on body type, particularly on ectomorphy and mesomorphy. This is important, because it helps explain individual differences in both physique and athletic performance that can’t be explained by lifestyle factors such as nutrition and exercise alone.
For example, having a high degree of mesomorphy is associated with greater strength performance. Furthermore, sprinters tend to be very mesomorphic, while endurance athletes become increasingly ectomorphic the longer their distance (e.g. 10K runners versus marathoners). Body type can also influence different playing positions in team sports.
Who should eat and train for their body type? Body types help to explain differences in metabolism, activity, and nutritional needs. For people who lose weight or gain muscle when they want to and achieve expected results, body types are not necessary. However, people who have tried to lose weight and really struggle (endomorphs) or those resistant to weight gain (ectomorphs), can really benefit from tailoring their diet and exercise routine to suit their body type.
Three Body Types
Each of the three body can gain or lose weight, but the degree and rate at which they do varies.
Endomorphs. This body type has a slower, less forgiving metabolism and have a greater tendency to store fat than the other body types. Endomorphs gain weight more easily and find it more difficult to lose weight compared to the other body types. Because of this, endomorphs are more likely to be overweight. Endomorphs have a medium to large frame and tend to be very shapely.
Mesomorphs. This body type builds muscle mass with ease. Mesomorphs are athletic, strong, powerful, and fast. They tend to have a predominance of fast-twitch muscle fibers, and excel at sports that require power and speed. They can lose weight without much difficulty. Mesomorphs have a medium frame, and a more square body shape.
Ectomorphs. In contrast to the other body types, ectomorphs have little mass (fat and muscle). They have a relatively small frame and long limbs. Ectomorphs are slender, lightly muscled, with a more linear shape. They have fast metabolism, and are more resistant to weight gain (fat or muscle). However, ectomorphs can look slim, but may still carry unhealthy levels of body fat.
Height has little to do with body type, despite the fact that ectomorphs tend to be thought as tall and endomorphs or mesomorphs as short.
Most of us do not fit perfectly within one of the 3 body type groups, but instead have qualities of at least two body types. Experts believe that many people are a combination of body types, such as ecto-mesomorphs or endo-mesomorphs, where they’re mainly like the mesomorph, but with traits of the ectomorph (e.g. small joints or a trim waist) or with qualities of the endomorph (e.g. a tendency to gain fat easily).
Body Types Are a Starting Point
Diet and lifestyle habits directly affect our level of muscle and body fat. However, no amount of exercise will transform a short-limbed person into a long-limbed one, because characteristics, such as the width of you hips and shoulders or whether you are small or big boned are unchangeable.
Furthermore, anyone can lose weight and anyone can gain muscle. You’ll see that written everywhere. What people are less apt to talk about, the inconvenient truth if you will, is that the ease and degree to which fat loss and muscle gain can achieved varies between people.
You cannot change your body type in the sense that an endomorph will always have a greater tendency to put on weight compared to a mesomorph or ectomorph. However, endomorph doesn’t equal being overweight or ectomorph being skinny. Think of body types as a describing propensity for weight gain.
Therefore, the different body types are simply starting point of what your body is and what you can do with it. Although you can’t change the framework, through healthy diet and exercise you have a huge amount control over what your body will become. In other words, body type sets the scene, but lifestyle largely determines the result. It places limits on what you can healthily achieve, but not on being healthy, fit, or strong.
An ectomorph can make huge gains and become more mesomorphic, but cannot become a mesomorph in the sense that a mesomorph who trains will always make bigger gains. Endomorphs can lose weight and become more ectomorphic, but can’t become ectomorphs who naturally have little mass and are very lanky. For example, Marilyn Monroe and Jennifer Lopez are endomorphs, while Audrey Hepburn and Tailor Swift are ectomorphs.
Body types are key to understanding that when it comes to weight loss and weight gain we are not all the same. Body types can help us understand our struggles, capitalize on our strengths, accept our amazing bodies, and learn what we can healthily and realistically achieve.
How to Determine Body Type
Perhaps it was immediately obvious which body type fit you. But if it wasn’t, also consider how you react to food and exercise.
While we may not fit a body type exactly, we will fit into one category better than the next and have a predominant body type.
1. Metabolism
Do you gain weight quickly after going on a lazy holiday? If you lose this weight rapidly after a change in diet or some exercise, you are probably a mesomorph. If you struggle to lose these extra pounds, then you may be an endomorph. If you don’t put on any weight, you most likely are an ectomorph.
2. Eating Habits
If you consume a large amount of calories and are still slender, you are probably an ectomorph. If you keep a rough eye on what you eat and don’t gain weight you are probably a mesomorph. If you consume few calories and still gain weight you are probably an endomorph.
3. Frame Size
To determine whether you are small, medium or larger boned/ jointed, encircle your wrist with your thumb and middle finger. If your middle finger overlaps your thumb, then you are small boned/ jointed (ectomorph). If your middle finger and thumb just touch, you have medium sized bones/ joints and if your finger and thumb do not touch then you are larger boned/ jointed. Frame size also has an impact on weight (see how much should I weigh?)
4. Think Back!
To help determine your body type, think back to your early twenties, a time before age (metabolism slows as you get older, making you more prone to weight gain) and lifestyle transformed your body into what it is today.
5. Body Type Calculator
Use this body type calculator to help determine your body type.
Below is side-by-side comparison of all three body types.
| Slender, linear physique | Square, athletic physique | Shapely body |
| Lightly muscled | Naturally muscular | Gains muscle easily, but may be underdeveloped |
| Small joints/ boned | Medium size joints/ bones | Medium to large joints/ bones |
| Low body fat (without exercising or following low calorie diets) | Naturally strong | Higher levels of body fat |
| Small shoulders, chest and buttocks | Broad/ square shoulders | Small shoulders, high waist and large hips creating a pear-shaped physique |
| Long arms and legs | Long torso and short limbs | Lose weight slowly |
| Difficulty increasing body fat | Losing fat is easy | Difficult to keep lost body fat off |
| Difficulty gaining muscle | Gaining muscle easy | Slow metabolic rate |
| Fast & efficient metabolism | Efficient metabolism |
Body types can also combine so that the upper body is ectomorphic with a smaller frame and slender, while the lower body is more endomorphic with larger-framed and greater body fat. These people are pear-shapes. On the other hand, people with a more endomorphic upper body and ectomorphic lower body are apple shape.
Read more: The 5 body shapes
Age & Body Type
Body type changes with age. After your mid-thirties, no matter what body type you have, you slowly become less ectomorphic and mesomorphic, and more endomorphic.
This is because maximum skeletal muscle mass and strength is reached between the ages of 20 and 35. The loss of muscle starts after the age of 30 and accelerates in your fifties. Muscle is lost at a rate of ½-2% per year. As muscle is metabolically active, the loss of muscle also leads to the slowing of metabolism.
However this shift in body type is not completely inevitable. Once people hit their mid 30s they start to decrease their level of physical activity. This not only leads to weight gain and the loss of muscle, but with time also adversely affects health, mobility, and fitness. So the good news is, this age-related change in body type can be substantially reduced with regular cardio and strength training.
How to Eat & Train for Your Body Type
All body types can be developed and body composition improved with the right training and diet. However, each body type needs to approach their goals with slightly different strategies.
Diet & Workout for Endomorphs
Endomorphs have the greatest transformational capacity of all the body types.
Endomorph diet: Endomorphs tend to be carb sensitive and get better results with a diet lower in carbs to help control insulin and blood sugar. Focus on nutrient-dense and complex carbs such as vegetables, good quality fats, and protein. Eat regular meals and avoid crash dieting, which can slow metabolism even further.
Read more: The Best Diet for Endomorphs
Endomorph training: Focus on cardiovascular exercise for weight loss and to keep weight off long term. A training plan should incorporate a combination of moderate-intensity exercise (e.g. brisk walking) and high-intensity workouts such as high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and CrossFit style circuit training, which also help build muscle.
Endomorphs should try to increase NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), which is the calories you burn outside deliberate exercise, in order to boost metabolism. This involves adding a little extra activity here and there, e.g. standing more, pacing while talking on the phone. It doesn’t sound like much, but the fast metabolism of ectomorphs may be in part due to very high NEAT, which may be as high as an extra 700 calories a day.
Read more: The Best Workout for Endomorphs
Diet & Workout for Mesomorphs
Mesomorphs respond quickest to exercise, compared to the other body types.
Mesomorph diet: Mesomorphs do well on a diet with moderate levels carbs, that includes vegetables, fruit and whole grains. Include good-quality fats (helps increase satiety) and protein (important for muscle repair).
For weight loss aim for a macro ratio of about 40 percent carbs, 30 percent protein, and 30 percent fat. Mesomorphs lose weight fairly easily and don’t need to follow low-carb or otherwise restrictive diets.
Read more: Calorie calculator
Mesomorph training: For weight loss focus on moderate endurance training and HIIT workouts. To increase strength and build muscle mass lift moderate-to-heavy weights.
To gain strength and stamina without size do super sets or circuit training and use lighter weights (with higher reps) or body-weight exercises. Pilates and yoga can lengthen and strengthen muscles.
Read more: Macronutrient calculator
Diet & Workout for Ectomorphs
It can be difficult for ectomorphs to eat healthily, as poor eating habits don’t lead to weight gain. However, with age ectomorphs are likely to gain body fat and may suffer with high levels of hidden, unhealthy belly fat (known as skinny fat).
Ectomorph diet: Ectomorphs tend to have a higher tolerance to carbs, but may become a little sensitive to carbohydrates with age. Either way, shoot for high-quality, whole-food carbs, and skip the high-sugar fast foods. Eat healthy fats and try to consume protein with every meal. If your goal is to gain weight, eat every 3 hours and stick to healthy, nutrient-dense snacks for extra calories.
Read more: Weight gain calculator
Ectomorph workout: Long limbs and more slow-twitch muscle fibers mean ectomorphs are great at endurance cardio. Use some of your cardio workouts to also build strength and power. Seek out hills if you’re exercising outdoors, ramp up the incline or resistance on the cardio machines, or throw in some plyometric exercises.
Ectomorphs who don’t need to lose weight should still do some regular cardio to maintain cardiovascular fitness and health.
Strength training is a key part of the training strategy for ectomorphs. To build muscle, aim to lift weights at least 3 times a week using heavier weights with longer rest periods.