This makes him naturally leaner, meaning that he gets less insulation from body fat, which raises his metabolism even higher. Their thinner torso also radiates more body heat, giving him a higher metabolism. That thinner torso still needs to house all the same vital organs, which leaves less room for his stomach, making it harder to eat big meals. This describes the thicker endomorph body type, and it explains why endomorphs tend to be overweight.

That bigger stomach mean that they can eat more food before becoming full. That roomier torso allows for a bigger stomach. The next question is why? Why do these characteristics so often cluster together? What Defines Our Body Types?

When I read the description of an ectomorph, I felt like I finally had a word to describe myself. There really are “ectomorphs” with thinner bones, less muscle mass, less fat, and who are eager to bulk up but struggling to eat enough. What’s interesting is that these traits really can cluster together. Now, does this mean that endomorph, mesomorph, and ectomorph are scientific terms? No, but it does mean that body types are often used in bodybuilding and fitness communities as a way to talk about people with differing genetics, struggles, and goals. The interesting thing, though, is that they’d hate you for the opposite reasons. If you tried to put those same body types on the same diet, they’d both hate you. They’ll be told to “eat less, move more” if they want to lose weight, often finding that advice equally difficult to follow. Endomorphs, on the other hand, tend to be overweight. Ectomorphs will often be told to “just eat more” if they want to bulk up, but us so-called “hardgainers” often struggle to gain weight. This kind of advice is fairly common, too. For instance, the leading hypertrophy researcher Brad Schoenfeld, PhD, says that “those who are endomorphs typically do better with slightly lower calories, while those who are ectomorphic usually need a higher energy intake as much as 25 calories per pound for extreme hardgainers.” However, you’ll often hear them mentioned in bodybuilding research. Certain clusters of characteristics do go together.Īs a result, you’ll never hear the somatotypes mentioned in psychology research. And in that sense, the three body types make sense. His hypothesis was refuted. Nowadays, somatotypes are just used to describe someone’s physical characteristics-especially those that are genetic. Regardless of his reasoning, though, the psychological side of his somatotype research didn’t pan out. That’s not why most ectomorphs are skinny, but I can see how someone might think that. For instance, it’s not that farfetched to think that people who get lost in deep intellectual activities may sometimes forget to eat, giving them a thin ectomorph body type. Or perhaps Sheldon was just noticing the differing fitness levels are associated with different interests. A 1989 study by Ryckman et al found that we tend to assume that fat people spend too much time eating and too little time moving, that fit people are more confident and capable, and that skinny people must be intellectuals who forget to eat. Not surprisingly, Sheldon was accused of just rattling off common stereotypes. A stocky endomorphic body type made men more affectionate.A skinny ectomorph body type made men more intellectual.An athletic mesomorph body type made men more adventurous.

He organized men into these three body types so that he could link them to personality types. He went far beyond analyzing physical traits. People come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. That’s not in dispute.īut that’s not all Sheldon did. Going deeper, you may have smaller wrists, shorter collarbones, or a thinner ribcage. You may struggle to gain weight while your friend struggles to lose it. You’ve surely noticed that different people are, well, different.

Ectomorphs: Men with a slighter, more rectangular bone structure: longer limbs, thinner bones, and a flatter ribcage.

Mesomorphs: Men with a broader, more triangular bone structure: narrower hips and broader shoulders.

Endomorphs: Men with a sturdy, rounder bone structure: wider hips, stocky limbs, and a barrel-shaped ribcage.

He called these male body types somatotypes: In the 1940s, a psychologist named William Herbert Sheldon sorted men into three distinct body types. The terms originated in discredited research.

If you’d prefer to read, read on! Are the Male Body Types Real?Īs we’ve alluded to above, there’s a lot of skepticism about sorting people into the three body types. But disagreeing with good arguments is far more interesting than disagreeing with bad ones, and there’s far more to be learned that way. Jeff Nippard has my favourite YouTube channel of all time, Mike Israetel puts out great content, and Natural Hypertrophy is the philosopher king of YouTube. For the record, those channels are totally rad.

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