Do you struggle to lose weight and gain muscle?
Three body types that you’ve probably heard used a lot then wondered “what one am I” Core 150 ™ The Athlete’s Shaker™ focusses this week on the Endormorph.
If you have trouble shifting weight and gaining muscle the chances are you’re an endomorph. Endomorphs are characterised by a relatively high amount of stored fat, a wide waist and large bone structure.
The good news is that evolutionarily speaking you are a badass: when food was scarce, natural selection favoured humans with fat-storing metabolisms. The bad news is that, now sofas and milkshakes are readily available those once sought after genes are now scuppering you. Some experts suggest hereditary might account for as much as 70 per cent of your body mass index (BMI).
What you could be doing wrong in the Gym
There is no point in spending hours plodding away on the treadmill. The first thing I tell people trying to lose weight is to ditch the long, slow, steady pace cardiovascular work and switch to more intense based conditioning exercises to strip back the body fat. Intense exercises such as sprints, interval sprints and box jumps are great, but if you are heavy to the point of being worried about your joints then moves such as the sled push are slower but equally as intense.
If you are doing loads of crunches trying to pull in your waist line you should ditch this now. Spot reducing fat just doesn’t work and you must focus on losing it from everywhere to see results around your waistline.
What you should be doing in the gym
Combine hypertrophy work simplistically speaking, muscle building with conditioning combined to strip away unwanted body fat. A four day split might go something like: Monday upper Body hypertrophy: Tuesday lower body conditioning such as sprints or sleds: Wednesday Rest, Thursday: lower body-hypertrophy with Friday being your repetition day on the upper body consisting of lots of reps at a relatively low weight.
What to eat
This is one area you will have to watch more strictly than other body types. Try getting your carbs from vegetables and steer clear of white bread and rice.
What else
There is evidence to suggest that extra weight around the midsection indicates high stress levels or a low ability to cope with stress. Try to minimise the effects of the stress hormone cortisol by getting plenty of sleep and avoiding overtraining. Avoid sports drinks as they are full of carbs and they will spike your blood sugar level through the roof. The other drink to steer clear of with this body type is of course alcohol.
Good Moves
Get used to using your body and work on bodyweight moves such as press-ups or chin-ups together with moves that force you to use good technique such as the Turkish get-up.
