Important: Are you an ectomorph?
| Posted in Training | Posted on 25-04-2009
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Every guy that is very skinny and knows something about body types considers himself an ectomorph (a.k.a hardgainer). It’s one of the excuses to why he is not gaining enough strength/weight. But is every skinny guy an ecto? Maybe his body type is different but he eats like a small bird or Lindsay Lohan… Here is a definition of an ecto from Britannica Encyclopedia online:
The extreme ectomorph has a thin face with high forehead and receding chin; narrow chest and abdomen; a narrow heart; rather long, thin arms and legs; little body fat and little muscle; but a large skin surface and a large nervous system. If well fed he does not gain weight easily. Take a look at this drawing:
Now you know how a true ectomorph looks. If you have long, thin arms and legs, a short torso and look like the drawn figure in the left than you saw yourself in that drawing.
If you are, well, this journey to gaining weight will be tougher than for others. This site is definitely for you and together we will get you to your goal of gaining muscle. You will even have to modify some exercise techniques in your workouts. Don’t worry, more information on this coming soon!
If you are skinny but your body is more like the one in the middle of the drawing then your problem is strictly diet. You don’t even have the excuse of being an ecto. Growing bigger will be easier for you though.
That’s it for now, hope this short post helped you gain some knowledge.
Cheers,
Adrian
I’m an ectomorph. I’m tall and thin, with every muscle being very obvious through the skin, similar to the picture.
I’ve always had a hard time gaining weight. I’ve tried everything from watching TV while eating Ice cream for several days to working out hard and eating plenty of meat. I remain around 120 pounds, and I have since early Highschool.
After I hit 21, I became pretty comfortable with it, because even though my general size and weight didn’t change, every muscle increased in size and my strength shot up thanks to my working out. I may not be a body builder, but I look good without clothes, even though I weigh so little and am so thin.
I don’t have time these days for much exercise, but I hope I can get back in a routine soon.
Hey mate,
get back to working out ASAP. I’m sure with info here you can start gaining. Everyone can contact me any time by emailing me or leaving a comment and I’m gonna help.
Cheers,
Adrian
What do you think about high intensity interval training? I like to run sprints to stay lean, while avoiding long distance jogging. Do you think this will hinder my muscle gains/ should i quit all cardio. Im 6′0 170, around 10 percent body fat. I really just want to get stronger/bigger but subconsciously i want to stay lean. If i make sure to eat a ton, can i keep doing my hiit?
Hey Jason,
personally, I haven’t tried it because I have heard that it’s too intense for skinny guys. Some succeed but most not. I can’t give you definitive answer on this. If you keep eating a lot and your scale will go up slowly (about 2lbs a month) then you should keep doing HIIT. But if you see that even with tons of food you aren’t gaining then stop or adjust to less intensity.
Let me know what you decide and how it goes for you, it would be interesting to see your results. I myself might do it if it works for ya! ;)
Cheers,
Adrian