Do you believe in body types?

Oishii
Oishii Posts: 2,675 Member
edited October 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Thanks to someone's signature, I ended up googling 'mesomorph', and reading up on body types. It makes a lot of sense to me. I always felt big as a kid because I would never have spindly legs, like an ectomorph. I have always lost and gained weight easily, so i'm not an endomorph. When my French Exchange had me do strength exercises with her (sit ups, crunches, etc) I gave up because my jeans started falling down...

... Guess I'm a mesomorph!

But should I be buying into this idea of body types at all? Does it really help?

Replies

  • CARNAT22
    CARNAT22 Posts: 764 Member
    These are male body types though? :smile:
  • soniak78
    soniak78 Posts: 74 Member
    Where r u getting this info from?
  • koosdel
    koosdel Posts: 3,317 Member
    It's simply a way of identifying genetic disposition. Male and female...
  • sugarbone
    sugarbone Posts: 454 Member
    I believe in body types, if only because of all the women with low body fat percentages that you can see their different shapes. Lol. Huge differences in bone structures, curves, and where they carry their minimum fat!

    Unless you mean more compositionally/chemically, then I have no idea.
  • CARNAT22
    CARNAT22 Posts: 764 Member
    These are male body types though? :smile:

    I stand corrected http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatotype_and_constitutional_psychology

    I am the body type that gets fat LOL!
  • ivansmomma
    ivansmomma Posts: 500
    body types physically or 'chemically'? I do believe in the physical body types - mine is bigger hips and smaller waist.
  • Oishii
    Oishii Posts: 2,675 Member
    Where r u getting this info from?

    Google
  • CasperO
    CasperO Posts: 2,913 Member
    Yep. Absolutely. We all understand these with tons of anecdotal evidence.

    From lightest to heaviest: We all know folks who eat like pigs and will always be skinny (ectomorphs), And of course we know a lucky few naturally gifted folks, athletic, great bone structure, can control weight without too much trouble (mesomorphs). And most of us know (and a lot of us here ARE I'll bet) folks who are really big and can be really strong and have to be really careful or they'll get really heavy (endomorphs).

    It's not necessarily a completely distinct thing - more of a continuum. The really impossibly skinny (andy **** - shelly duvall) are pure ectos - and then body type kind of get more 'heavy duty' til you get to the opposite extreme of folks who are just massively boned with a slow metab and they tend to be really heavy unless they're very careful (george wendt - nell carter).

    I know that I'm a heavy mesomorph - I have good bone structure with narrower hips, but I'm pretty heavy too and I gain weight easily. Most folks don't entirely fit just one category.
  • slim_photographer
    slim_photographer Posts: 310 Member
    My body type is the kind that retains cheeseburgers. lol
    But seriously if you think you have a large frame and this is the 'cause why you couldn't realistically reach your suggested goal weight (BMI charts for instance), it's good to know so you don't kill yourself becoming a 'weight' you can't be based in you body frame.
    I would also suggest you look into monitoring your body fat percentage for women of course. There are expensive/accurate ways of getting it checked and less expensive/less accurate ways. There seems to be a consensus that as long as you use the same device you can rely on it for monitoring the body fat %.
    You can use a scale that sends an electrical pulse through the body. Or a caliper( <$10 online). With the caliper you can also find out if you body frame is not in the common range for most people.
    I hope this info helps you.
  • TheRoadDog
    TheRoadDog Posts: 11,788 Member
    I wanna be a Mighty Moprphin Power Ranger.
  • sugarbone
    sugarbone Posts: 454 Member
    I wanna be a Mighty Moprphin Power Ranger.

    Lol!
  • Oishii
    Oishii Posts: 2,675 Member
    These are male body types though? :smile:

    I stand corrected http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatotype_and_constitutional_psychology

    I am the body type that gets fat LOL!

    Urg! Don't like the psychology link to body type there... I'd be an ectomorph (geek) in a mesomorph body :laugh:

    The stuff about endomorphs looking like ectomorphs in times of famine was also interesting and brought up more questions. Am I more muscular than bony because of a genetic predisposition (body type) or because I've always walked a lot? I even kicked a lot as a baby (so much my toes went septic, so I've been told), so is that really the reason instead?

    As a teenager I wasn't interested in why and avoided science and logic when possible. Now I really want to understand more and better how everything works.
  • jazzy020106
    jazzy020106 Posts: 485 Member
    I found a quiz and I am between a Endomorph and a Mesomorph! lol.. The link is below if you wanna take the quiz =] its pretty interesting.


    http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/becker3.htm
  • AlsDonkBoxSquat
    AlsDonkBoxSquat Posts: 6,128 Member
    I believe in pear, apple, etc . . . "_morph" does nothing for me.
  • AlsDonkBoxSquat
    AlsDonkBoxSquat Posts: 6,128 Member
    I found a quiz and I am between a Endomorph and a Mesomorph! lol.. The link is below if you wanna take the quiz =] its pretty interesting.


    http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/becker3.htm

    apparently i'm a mesomorph which means I should have a reasonable diet and exercise both cardio and weight training?
  • Oishii
    Oishii Posts: 2,675 Member
    I believe in pear, apple, etc . . . "_morph" does nothing for me.

    I think pear, apple and hour glass are too emotive for me. I saw myself as a pear as a teenager, when my hips are naturally slim, and having had a child, I'm no longer an hour glass, but an apple (same weight as when I was an hour glass). Sciency names seem to make me feel better :happy:
  • Oishii
    Oishii Posts: 2,675 Member
    It's simply a way of identifying genetic disposition. Male and female...

    I suppose what I'm really asking is whether people believe that there are genetic predispositions that can be broken down into three types this way.
  • Loonymoon
    Loonymoon Posts: 27
    Well I don't know about the "morphs" but I've always had skinnyish legs, hardly any bum but a very square torso with most my weight around my middle (i.e. the worst type for heart disease apparently) even when I've been quite fit and I still am like that although all the Zumba has changed the way I look quite a lot and I am starting to see a little bit of a curve in to a previously non-existant waist.

    I've always thought my predisposition to weight round my middle was because I've got long legs and a comparatively short spine so it compresses everything round my middle and makes me look square. I'm 5 ft 6 but when I sit down my torso is shorter than some of my friends who are a couple of inches shorter than me I have a 31" inside leg, My fiance is 5"7 and his inside leg is 29"......
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