How to Exercise if You Have a Mesomorph Body Type
If you tend to build muscle easily, here are some training tips for making your time sweating it out more effective — and for getting fitter overall.
How do you know if you have a mesomorph body type? You might love Tabata and other high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts, but find long bouts of cardio arduous. You may naturally enjoy the weight room because that’s where your strengths — no pun intended — lie.
“A mesomorph is generally defined as someone who has a body type that has a high level of muscle and strength,” says Adam Feit, the head strength and sports psychology coach for Precision Nutrition in Springfield, Massachusetts. Now, perhaps you don’t have lots of muscle at the moment because you’ve been inactive for a while. But you know if you did start working out, you would gain muscle relatively easily.
Football players (think linebackers, cornerbacks, and running backs) and gymnasts often have mesomorph body types, as muscle and power tend to allow these athletes to be more successful in their sports. Non-professional-athlete mesomorphs may notice that they can build muscle with a weight-focused strength routine easily, but they’re also likely to gain weight or fat.
The other main body types, also called somatotypes, are ectomorph (long and lanky) and endomorph (curvy). Somatotype theory builds on work from the mid-20th century by the psychologist William Sheldon, who defined these body types. Much of Sheldon’s work linking these body types to various personality traits was debunked, according to the National Academy of Sports Medicine. And there’s still not a large amount of evidence behind the diet and exercise recommendations for the various body types, but some data does suggest that eating and exercise can have different effects on people with different body types — and that learning your body type can help you address deficits in your strength, cardio, or flexibility.
RELATED: Everything You Need to Know About Working Out, Including How to Get Started
While some people are strictly one body type or another, many are combinations of these three somatotypes, Feit says. Some people may even notice differences among different muscle groups. For instance, you can easily build muscle and bulk up in your legs and glutes (mesomorph body type tendency), but you really struggle to build upper body strength (ectomorph body type tendency). For that reason, there isn’t one guideline that will work for everyone who identifies fully or, in part, as a mesomorph. “I encourage you not to allow these basic categories to become a rule you must follow,” he says.
If you do have a mesomorph body type, you may find that these training tips will help you reap the exercise gains you seek.
What Types of Exercises Should You Do if You Have a Mesomorph Body Type?
For people who build muscle readily, they may find that they gravitate toward the activity that they’re good at: strength training. That’s according to American College of Sports Medicine fellow Stuart Phillips, PhD, a professor, the director of the Physical Activity Centre of Excellence, and the director of the McMaster Centre for Nutrition, Exercise and Health Research at McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario. Dr. Phillips says he mostly identifies with the mesomorph body type, and, while it doesn't resolve everything, knowing his type did give him some insight on what works best for him.
“After running marathons, I realized I wasn’t made to pound up and down pavement. I tailor activities to what I enjoy and that feel better naturally, which is weight lifting,” he says.
But while people with mesomorph body types may see the most progress after weight and strength-training sessions, it’s important not to forgo other types of exercise.
Do diversify your workouts and include cardio. “If you’ve just been weight lifting, take a day to do body weight exercises and spend a day on cardio to challenge your heart and respiratory system for endurance,” says Katrina Pilkington, a NASM-certified personal trainer based in Sacramento. It’s not a call to run every day, but do focus on your heart (via cardiovascular or aerobic exercise) sometimes rather than just your muscles, she says.
Also get in flexibility or mobility training. “Flexibility is all about recovery and making sure muscles can perform to their optimum ability,” says Pilkington. She favors vibration therapy to release tight muscles (use a power massager, for instance). Research published in the Journal of Clinical & Diagnostic Research found that vibration therapy can be effective for improving muscle recovery, power, strength, flexibility, and reducing post-exercise muscle soreness.
If that’s not available to you (these devices can be an investment), static stretching post-exercise is another good option, says Pilkington.
“If you do not take care of your tendons and muscles, you’ll hit a wall in training and may also get injured,” she says. Try stretches like the quad stretch (where you stand and bring one heel up to your butt), a calf stretch, or lat stretch (facing a table, stretch both arms out straight on the table, then bend forward and push your shoulders down), Pilkington says.
RELATED: How Much Exercise Do You Really Need?
Common Mesomorph Exercise Mistakes — and How to Fix Them
- Skipping cardio If you’re continually in the weight room, you may be missing out on the cardiorespiratory side of a fitness routine. It’s not necessary to go through long bouts of cardio if you find it especially grueling. Instead, consider interval sprints or high intensity interval training (HIIT), which will get your heart rate up but can be done in much shorter periods of time, says Feit.
- Getting stuck in an exercise rut Not enough variety in an exercise routine can be a problem for people of any body type, says Feit. For mesomorphs, it might look like always doing the same weight training routine or the same types of strength workouts. Cross-training with other activities will prevent mental burnout and lower the risk of injury. Broaden your scope of what “counts” as exercise. A long hike with your family — even if casual — can make your legs (and lungs) burn in different ways by forcing your body to recruit a range of muscles, including stabilizer muscles, rather than isolating them at the gym. Similarly, yoga and Pilates may not come naturally to you, but you may realize that an occasional practice makes your body feel really good.
- Not going after your exercise goals Maybe you decide that, in fact, you do want to train for a half or full marathon. Don’t let a boxier frame and more muscle dissuade you from signing up. (You may find that it’s not you, or you could discover you love it.) Never let naysayers tell you what you can and can’t excel at. “Your body type doesn’t define you,” says Feit. “While it might provide some basic guidelines about what will work for you, don’t let that dictate the exercise you pick,” he says.