The three main female body types and how to target your workout to maximize benefits and results without frustration or unrealistic expectations.
Make no bones about it–to be your healthiest, fittest and looking and feeling your best you need to exercise–in some form or fashion.
What you are training for will, to a large degree, determine your exercise program.
Every program no matter the goal or sport must have an element of strength training and metabolic conditioning.
We throw into the equation flexibility and mobility work to maintain joint health, range of motion, and stress reduction. These basic components present will make any person/athlete better prepared for their activities of daily living or sport.
Sounds simple, doesn’t it?
Yes, until we throw individual genetics into the mix; we come in many shapes and sizes and a one size fits all exercise program doesn’t work.
Sport specificity aside with the goal of most people being general physical preparedness (fitness), genetics will favor heavily in the mix.
3 Female Body Types
Just like with nutritional protocols, different people require varying amounts of calories and macronutrients and certain body types respond better to varying volumes and intensities of exercise.
The ECTOMORPH Body Type – The Cardio Queen
We all know someone like them; they can eat whatever they want and never seem to gain a pound.
Typically tall, thin, and longer limbed, “ectos” are often referred to as ‘hardgainers’.
They struggle to put weight on and have an even harder time putting on and maintaining muscle mass. They’re not genetically predisposed to it.
In order to overcome nature, they must load up–at the gym and in the kitchen.
The Plan
- Go heavy with the weights using low reps. Use free weights resting 2-5 min between sets and allow 48 hours between workouts for recovery.
- Limit conditioning. Ectos have high metabolisms so they need to limit cardio to infrequent, shorter duration sessions.
- Diet: Eat–a LOT and often. If they don’t, they will not gain muscle. Quality foods with adequate protein making sure to add in enough of both the right types of carbohydrates and healthy fats to raise calorie consumption
The ENDOMORPH Body Type –The Hearty Girl
Sturdy heavy-set types that have soft, stocky bodies and sluggish metabolisms may feel like they got the short straw.
Gaining weight is not a problem but losing fat is challenging. Endos must make a conscious, concerted effort to do the things their bodies should be doing for them. They need to go hard, fast, and often in the gym paying strict attention to nutrition.
The Plan
- Rev up the engine. Their slow metabolism needs a major boost. For the weights lift in the 10-12 range with moderate weight and little rest between sets. Throw in short, hard bursts of cardio to crank it into gear.
- Superset. That means exercises done back to back or circuit fashion with a reduced recovery time. CrossFit is excellent for this.
- Diet: you need more healthy fats than any other body type and very LITTLE carbohydrates. The higher fat will help to push out the unwanted body fat and the reduced carbohydrates will help you effectively go from a sugar burner to a fat burner. Portions matter.
The MESOPORH Body Type –The Natural Athlete
Mesos are lucky, they hit the genetic lotto. They add muscle with relative ease and gain or lose weight without much effort. Typically they have longer torsos, shorter limbs and tend to be strong athletic types. They are bursting with energy and tend to do well in explosive sports that require power and speed
The Plan
- For the weights, mesos should stick with compound movements that work multiple muscle groups such as deadlifts, chins, presses, and squats. These moves exploit their natural strength.
- Crank it up. They can also handle a higher volume of both weight and conditioning sessions. They can hit the gym with 4 weight training sessions and about 3 met cons each week for max results.
- Diet: Mesos should eat reasonable portions of protein, adequate healthy fat and carbs aren’t really an issue. But stick to the right ones for health reasons.
While some people will find they are a ‘classic’ type many people are a combo of either ecto/meso or meso/endo. We won’t find any ecto/endos.
While we can’t change the basic body type we were born with by implementing these training/nutrition tips you can optimize your body type and ultimately reach your fitness goals.
More Information
I have a question about my body type. It seems to me to be a very bizarre type. I am mostly ecto except in my hip, thigh, and butt area. I seem to store nearly all of my fat there, which isn’t unusual for women, but what is unusual is that when I lose weight and try to get rid of this excess fat in these areas, I become EXTREMELY underweight looking in my upper body. As, in my thighs will still have enough fat that they rub together, but you can clearly see every bone in my ribs, across my chest, down my back. I’m not at all exaggerating; my friends used to call me “stegosaurus” because of the bones sticking out down my back. My limbs are very long and slender (except for the tops of my legs), and that just adds to the underweight appearance I get when trying to lose my thigh fat.
I suppose I also have some meso to my build because I don’t really bulk up with muscle when weighlifting, but I do get very “cut up”. I easily get six-pack abs and very impressively defined lats. Even so, I will have nothing but bone and muscle outlines in my upper body, but jiggly, dimply, unflattering fat at the tops of my legs, thighs, butt. It’s as if I’m a Frankenstein project.
Any advice on what to do about my frustratingly strange body composition?
Ebony, my personal favorites are potatoes (sweet & white), plantains, yucca and almost any root or tuber. I do not like or do well with grains but if you tolerate white rice you could try adding that in also.
Hi Paula,
I am an ectomorph. What are the right types of carbohydrates to add into my diet so I can continue gaining weight?
Hello Paula,
At your convenience, are you able to provide an example of an interval workout? Would an example be: 30 minutes of treadmill sprints: 30 seconds sprint, 30 seconds fast walk for 30 minutes?
Thank you so much!
I am 56 (soon to be 57) and I have been doing weights at home 8, 10, 12 pound weights and have not lost any weight. I am a endomorph and I have gained weight all over. I do not go to a gym and I need help on what exercises to do and are there any DVDs that will do the trick for me to get the weight off.
I got really in shape when I did P90X for 3 months and then massive long walks for 8 miles a day along with hiking and steps and stuff. Jillian Michaels has some fitness videos 30 day shred and body revolution, Chalene Johnsons Turbo Jam, and Insanity is hard core. You can also find free workouts on Youtube. Check out FitnessBlender and CharlieJames1975
Hi Paula
This is a great article. I am an ectomorph, very tall and thin though skinny-fat for many years due to poor diet (ovo-lacto vegetarian with a sweet tooth to boot!). I am now approaching 50, have cleaned up my diet a lot and doing a mix of yoga and strength-training with the odd cardio. As my metabolism is definitely slowing with age, I’m thinking I should do more intermittent fasting, and try to limit myself to two high-quality meals a day most days. Will that work against gaining muscle?
Hi Suzanne, I would make sure you are lifting heavy (with proper form), allowing adequate recovery between workouts, getting sufficient rest and eating enough quality foods. Check out this site for some info on IF and muscle gain. http://www.leangains.com/
I loved your article but am still trying to figure out where I fit in. I’m not tall and skinny, but I’m not overly predisposed to being heavy either. And I’m not muscular. I’m just–average and a combo of all of them. I loved this article though and passed it along to friends who do fit in your three categories. Thanks for the great advice and help!
I think I’m meso/endo now, although in my youth I was physically more meso (although I was never very sporty!!) I didn’t have a hard time gaining muscle and I didn’t really have a hard time losing weight! Unfortunately, I struggle more with the weight now I’m older and have three kids.
Thank you. Many people are a combo of 2 body types; these are just generalizations for the somatotypes.
As time marches on relentlessly and life happens our bodies change. We only have control of certain things; like making sure you are exercising regularly and appropriately for your body type, getting the right types and amounts of food and plenty of rest. No one knows your body better than yourself so you definitely need to experiment and pay attention to what works for you.
Paula,
Love your guest posts, especially this one. My question: though I’ve always been somewhat long and lean (even if not lean enough for me) I am having trouble at 50, after 4 kids, peri-menopausal, etc. etc. losing the last 10 or so pounds I really want to ditch. i am definitely not the stout curvy type, and I am not a natural athlete for sure. Does this make me still an ectomorph even though I can easily gain if not careful? In other words, I fit most of the ectomorph description, but not all, but don’t see a combo that works. is it more important to consider body shape or how you gain/lose weight? (sorry if this sounds jumbled…see the aforementioned 50, 4kids, perimenopausal comment!)