3 months' progress. 16 years old.

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Yep, they are EXCUSES nothing else. You have whatever genetics you were given, whether you find it hard to put on muscle and bodyweight or not, but HAVE YOU MAXIMISED YOUR POTENTIAL? That's the key question.

So someone saying "oh I'm an ecto life is so hard" I just think you lazy bastard. You telling me there are no ectos who reached 180+ ripped naturally?

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Bingo. I started out at 150lbs just over a year ago, ~10% bodyfat, 6' 1.5''. Skinny as fuark, long limbed, narrow waist. Wide shoulders so not 100% "ecto", but mostly. Got some good newbie gains for the first few months. Then for the next few months, hardly any change. Cue "Oh I'm an ectomorph, this is it I'm gonna put on about a pound a year" and so on. All down to ignorance. Long story short, on an average day I was eating about 2000 calories and I needed to up the volume. Took action, started growing again, currently up to 195lbs at 14% bodyfat. So yeah, if I started a cut tomorrow... in a couple of months, 180+ ripped "ecto" right here. If you're not growing, you need to have a serious look at your diet and training.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 21

Ecasx

Original post by WoodyMKC

Exactly. Most people just have a flaw with the way they go about with something, e.g. diet.

Reply 22

Arturo Bandini

Original post by WoodyMKC

None of what you said refutes what Sheldon wrote about somatotypes though. It just proves that people talk about it without really knowing anything, which is true for 99% of everything ever talked about on fitness forums.

Reply 23

It's****ingWOODY

Original post by Arturo Bandini

Oh absolutely, never disputed that they exist and in fact firmly believe that they do. I mean, most people are a combination of types to some degree, but there are of course characteristics that are considered to belong to one of the three somatotypes. It's just that the terms are often misused, especially "ectomorph" being used as a word to describe oneself as someone who supposedly cannot gain muscle.

Completely agree with that second sentence. Too many people on fitness forums that have read something that a few people that have themselves read from another forum member somewhere, and it causes an endless chain of regurgitation of words by people that have likely never tried something different to see how the results differ to what they're currently doing. So when you suggest something different to what they do, they probably just assume you don't know what you're talking about. I'd probably only have progressed half as much as I have done if I'd blindly kept following the advice of every bellend on bodybuilding forums that get their advice from powerlifters. No doubt they all have a post saying something along the lines of "You have to squat and deadlift heavy brah, they will release hormones and make you grow big".

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 24

silent ninja

I just don't think they are very relevant.

Incidentally, I can wrap my middle finger and thumb around my wrist, and also my pinky. In both cases they overlap, not just touch. 6.5" wrists for a 5'10 guy means I have a small frame apparently, yet through school and by average standards, I'm broader than most people (lifting aside).

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Reply 25

Arturo Bandini

Original post by silent ninja

. 6.5" wrists for a 5'10 guy means I have a small frame

According to who? Small wrist circumference is an ecto trait but nobody says it implies a small frame. A person can be part ecto with small wrists and part meso with long clavicles

Reply 26

silent ninja

Original post by Arturo Bandini

According to who? Small wrist circumference is an ecto trait but nobody says it implies a small frame. A person can be part ecto with small wrists and part meso with long clavicles

I don't think those things should affect your training, eating or sleeping habits. So for the most part, somatypes are not very useful.

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Reply 27

Ecasx

This is why somatypes piss me off. Surely the way you should train and eat is irrelevant to your somatype?

I saw a similar article to this a while back which is the same, word for word. Except the article I had seen previously also offered training advice specific to each somatype. This amazing advice was as follows: ectomorphs should traain with 4-6 reps, mesomorphs 8-12, and endomorphs 15+. This article was at the top of a google search. Sad.

Reply 28

Nvmthename

Original post by Ecasx

Stereo types fit all aspects of life, especially in which where the broader boundaries fit a target audience, these "somatotypes" do obviously exist to some extent and some training methods may benefit each individual category, but to label an individual routine / rep range for each body type is wrong.
However as an example i have a very wide sternum so rep ranges in relation to hypertrophy may correlate, i may need to adapt to benefit the larger surface area according to my training method.

Instead i dont, i ignore all theory and just listen to the biggest bros in my gym, incline hammer press for 10 reps errey day!

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(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 29

Ecasx

The principles of building muscle apply to every somatype identically. The way you train is irrelevant to your body type.

Only thing I can think of is that ectomoprhs may have a lower workload capacity. I forgot the reasoning behind this but it may be true - lower volume for ectos. I think.