Discover more about your body type and how to make changes

This month, as a lead in to the Posture reset course coming up in March, I would like to address posture related topics. And for this week, we are revisiting the topic of body shape. 

We’re are all built differently and certain measurements such as height are determined by the end of puberty. However, our weight, shape and perhaps more importantly our body composition (lean verses fat) can vary throughout of life.

What can be the norm and unfortunately even expected is that as time goes on, we gain weight and lose height. I say expected because beliefs can shape our life. If you’ve witnessed elderly relatives and friends become hunched over, gain weight around the middle and look a lot shorter, then you might think that’s inevitable for you.

If you do have that belief, it could override or at least influence physiology and before you know it, you’re heading that way too. So before we even consider diet, exercise and postural awareness we need to do something I mention often…

to get on your own side and be positive about the future

It’s subtle, but time does brings change… sometimes for the better but sometimes not. When we consider longevity and overall health, it’s far more nuanced than time alone and daily lifestyle habits play a huge roll. So I’ll keep repeating this message over and over…

it’s your day to day life that determines health and with this week’s focus:

Your body type

A long time ago while studying health and fitness, I learned about the three main body shapes (somatotypes) of endomorph, mesomorph, and ectomorph. As a general idea, the concept is ok, but it is over simplified and rare that anybody is completely one type without elements of the other two. With the original design, personality traits were also involved.

In brief, endomorphs have more rounded and soft bodies, mesomorphs tend to be square and muscular and ectomorphs are slim with thiner bones. 

Your somatotype, as with many markers of health (such as illness, metabolism, muscle mass, joint strength, body composition, etc) is not set in stone or determined by genes. 

So we can’t blame relatives for our current health status. Diet, stress, hydration, exercise, sleep… these are the factors that denote whether or not genes are expressed (turned on).

No matter where we look, the secret to good health and longevity just keeps coming back to the same place…

lifestyle interventions and the environment you live in.

What’s your predominate type?

Most people fall predominately into one category with some traits from one or two of the others. Have a quick read through the below then take a moment to figure out where you land.

The endomorphic body:

• Has stockier bone structures with more weight around the torso and hips
• Wider shoulders and hips but limbs appear shorter 
• Tends to carry more fat throughout the body so underlying muscles aren’t so easily seen
• Often overweight
• Has a slower metabolism so finds it more difficult to lose fat weight
• Wrestlers and some rugby players and heavy weight boxers are more endomorphic 

The mesomorphic body:

• Has a medium to strong bone structure with wider shoulders but more narrow hips
• Is more musculature with well defined muscles so considered athletic
• Maintains normal weight well
• Has an efficient metabolism so burns fat and gains muscle more easily
• Gymnasts, weight lifters and sprinters have a more mesomorphic body  

The ectomorphic body:

• Has more narrow shoulders and hips
• Tends to be taller and more slender 
• Often under weight
• Has longer bones with smaller relative musculature 
• Has a faster metabolism so has lower body fat and finds it harder to gain muscle mass
• Long distance runners and high jumpers demonstrate good examples of ectomorphs 

Change in shape

It can be that with time, a reduction of exercise, miss managed stress and a less than optimal diet that your somatotype shifts. Those who were had a higher score in the mesomorphic range could go either way. They might lose muscle in limbs and shoulders (become more ectomorphic) yet gain fat around the torso (more endomorphic). 

Ectomorphs might remain slim yet add gradually experience more adipose around the middle. Endomorphic types who had muscle underneath the fat might lose that vital lean tissue. In other words your overall shape might remain similar but the body composition (muscle to fat ratio) changes.

However it’s entirely plausible that your body type maintains or returns to the natural human design of being lean and strong.

Ok, does one of the three types predominate for you?

Or maybe you are a stronger mix of two. Why not close your eyes for a moment to sense this?

You could re-read the above bullet -oints, then take just 30 - 60 seconds to ponder.

Then, next question to ponder… what if you did this experience as your 25 year old self? Close your eyes again and picture that time to notice if you discover any changes.

Final question. How would you like to see your body shape in the future? Mindfulness 59 has a video on all this with techniques to put you on the path to success.

Photo here

So where does this leave you?

Is there a more optimal body shape (composition) that you could work towards? Do you need to tweak your diet and perhaps:

• Reduce refined grains
• Remove vegetable (seed) oils
• Cut down the booze (more dry nights than wet)
• Gradually remove processed (package) foods that have an ingredients list
• Enjoy a longer fast one or two days a week
• Up your daily intake of protein (we need more as we age)

Or is it stress that you need to manage better? E.g. the fight or fight hormone, cortisol promotes storage of fat and muscle loss.

And of course, you may just need to up your strength training to help maintain and build lean tissue.

Summary - you can make changes

What ever your body type is (and was) maintaining or re-gaining muscle tissue is always possible and the primary key to keeping ‘in good shape’. (More on muscles in next weeks cluster).  

I’m always interested in how your body could be more optimal, stronger and healthier and I’m hoping the writings here will inspire you to maintain or if needed tweak your daily habits. Then, you can let your body discover its best.

Thanks for reading

Take care

Danny

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This week’s classes:

Sunday 2nd Feb 2025 - Mindfulness 59 - Good news, the shape of your body is not set in stone, or determined by genes. That means that it’s your day to day lifestyle habits are the key part in making change and that includes your thoughts. In this video, I have you see and sense your body-type in the present moment. We also use memory to recall what it was like in the past and then project forward to how you would like it to be.

Monday 3rd - Mini fitness 23 - A full body functional HIIT class with 8 intervals in 30 minutes. Behind the scenes we have concepts and conditioning from boxing and martial arts

Tuesday 4th - Mobility 117 - Seated and mat-work stretches for the deeper glutes.

Wednesday 5th - Meditation 81 - Our latest guided practice to help you experience the present moment directly.

Thursday 6th - Workout 82 - This class is more gentle than most of our strength workouts. We spend a good portion of the class on the mat with tone and activation of our more subtle muscles, but also include time for functional work with balance challenges, shoulder press and a walking bicep curl.

Friday 7th - Mobility 18 - This class pairs will with Tuesday’s session. It’s great for functional postural awareness, glute flexibility  and hip rotation.

Saturday 8th - Mini fitness 25 - Time to go for it with a final blast to complete the cluster… with eight rather dynamic intervals!