No, I'm not perfecting the illustration process, this post is about fitness.
I'm seriously into fitness, I believe it is the absolute best solution to living your best life possible. I don't sport washboard abs, I'm still seriously into food, and I indulge in the occassional cookies and milk before bed routine alongside my husband on an occasional night. However, once I see my weight tiping the scale in the opposite direction, I quickly jump on board and whip myself back into shape.
I've discussed Body for Life, Jillian Michaels as my preferred methods of training as well as the Sonoma diet for sound advice on nutrition. Both Body for Life and Jillian Michaels offer sound nutritional advice as well. All the aforementioned are very good, but I got one more trick up my sleeve.
Body types.
There are basically three body types:
The Ectomorph, the Mesomorph and the Endomorph.
The Ectomorph can best be defined as slender with a fast metabolism rate. People in this category find it difficult to gain weight and muscle.
The Mesomorph is your classic athletic build. This category has the least trouble gaining or losing weight.
The Endomorph are the softer, rounder body types. People in this category find it most difficult to lose weight.
Before you go on and doom yourself a failure because you fall into a less than ideal body type, consider this: God created specialized exercise regimens for each individualized body type.
I myself was an ectomorph from my teens to early 20's. Now in my late 20's and as a mother, I relate most with the mesomorph build.
The Ectomorph
+Focus on heavy weight with low reps (6-8).
+Limit cardio training.
+Workouts should be intense and short (30-45 min.)
+Replenish with a quality diet and supplements.
The Mesomorph
+Super set training - super set training is defined by 2 exercises performed in a row with a rest in between.
+About 3 sets of super sets with 8-12 reps per exercise.
+Cardio 2-3 per week for about 20-30 minutes
The Endomorph
+Circuit training, supersets, plyometrics is ideal for this category.
+Cardio 3-4 times per week for 40 minutes.
+Less rest in between sets, you want to keep your heart rate up.
+An excellent source for plyometrics and circuit style training is Jillian Michaels. Excellent.
+Eat in ways to enhance your metabolsim, such as 6 short meals per day versus 1-3 large ones.
A fellow gymmate of mine, and a gorgeous fitness competitor recently confessed to me 80% of her regimen is diet. Diet! And she fell under the mesomorph category. With every single body type, be it an endomorph, ectomorph, mesomorph or a combination of any, diet is essential for positive results.
Find the body that most suits yours and begin working from there.
Illustration credit here.
Reference material here, here and here.
Happy Friday everyone! Hope this post finds you in the gym later!
This was an incredibly helpful post. I love it! Unfortunately, I fall in the last category, I think. Although my parents are both in the first. I don't know how I turned out to have such a marshmallow body shape. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteI have been exercising a lot (zumba three times a week and walking for an hour every day) but I have NOT been losing any weight! It has been over a month since I started doing this. I think it may have to do with my metabolism and perhaps I should start eating six small meals a day??
Yes, you'd be surprised the role diet plays.
ReplyDeleteAter having my second baby, I set out to work with a personal trainer who restricted my diet with NO CARBS after 12:00p and within one week I lost inches off my waist. This was a bit extreme though.
On another note regarding exercise, I lost 5 lbs. in 2 weeks on Jillian Michaels' online program. She incorporates a ton of circuit training/super sets which keeps your heart rate pumping.
With Zumba, walking, or any other activity, the key is to keep your heart rate at a maximum for fat burning. You can visit this site to calculate yours:
http://www.brianmac.co.uk/maxhr.htm
The key to weight loss is burning mor calories than you consume.
It's very mathematical :)