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Are you an endomorph? Here's how you tell. If you tend to be
rounded, medium to big boned, short limbed and find it hard to take off
fat, you are an endomorph.
Very few people are entirely true to
one body shape, but if you are apple shaped (carrying more weight in
your upper body with a smallish backside and shapely legs) or pear
shaped (slim shoulders tapering out to wide hips) you have more than a
touch of the endomorph about you.
The best thing about being an
endomorph is that we respond very readily to the right type of diet and
exercise program, because as well as being disposed to carry fat, we
also muscle up quite readily.
Whether you want a lean, toned look
or a mass of muscles, a simple diet and exercise program will come
through for us naturally strong but sloppy endomorphs.
An added
incentive for the apple shaped endomorph is the fact that excess fat
carried on the upper body is the most dangerous to our health. You
really really must get rid of it if you plan to live a long and healthy
life.
As an endomorph it can seem we pack on fat just walking
past a plate of delicate little pink iced cakes. (We tend to
conveniently forget the couple we lifted off the plate as we drifted
by).
Carbs are not an endomorph's best friend. While simple
carbs like sugar and highly processed foods, soaked in saturated fat,
are not going to do any somatotype (body type) any good, sadly even
complex carbs are not among the best of food choices for an endomorph.
A
moderate to high protein diet with a low to moderate carb intake will
do just fine. Keep in mind that your protein must be lean. Forget the
lardy bacon and eggs if you want to lose fat and get fit.
Eat
most of your carbs in the first half of your day, having high protein
meals in the late afternoon and evening. Never, ever skip a nutritious
breakfast of protein, complex carbs and mainly unsaturated fats.
With
regard to exercise, we've got to learn to love cardio. With our
naturally slow metabolism, cardio is going to get our fat burning.
You
may favour long distance steady state cardio or you could factor in
some high intensity cardio training, but the shorter the workout, the
more effort you have to put in to see worthwhile results.
Either way, you'll need some resistance training as well to tone your muscles.
In
order to sharpen your shape with some lean or mass muscles you need to
moderate to heavy resistance training with quite short rests breaks
between sets.
Become as informed as you can about diet and
exercise for the endomorph body shape. You can get extremely frustrated
with mainstream "one size fits all" programs that just don't suit your
particular needs. |
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