How should an ectomorph train?

Who is an ectomorph

He is a thin, lean man of asthenic build. Visually it is very easy to identify. He is usually tall and slightly out of proportion. The arms and legs are long, the bones are thin, the chest is sunken, and the stomach is completely flat. They often say about him “skin and bones.” And all because he does not have enough body fat.

Disadvantages of an ectomorphic body shape

Such people have a very fragile skeletal system. Problems with tendons and ligaments are common. In general, they are more susceptible to injury than others. To get better and gain weight, ectomorphs need to regularly absorb calories and train hard. Nutrition for an ectomorph is an eternal problem.

Ectomorph is one of the three most common body types.

Advantages of an ectomorph

A fast metabolism is an advantage of this body type. These people are incredibly lucky: they can eat a lot and whenever they want. Calories are not harmful to their figure, but on the contrary, they are beneficial. Ectomorphs do not tend to be overweight. This means their risk of cardiovascular disease is minimal.

Despite their obvious grace and frailty, ectomorphs are very hardy and strong. They are very mobile and flexible. If the training process is structured correctly, then such people become the owners of a chic, sculpted body. They are used to make fitness models and even bodybuilders.

Basic rules of training

To gain weight, an ectomorph needs to follow certain rules during training:

1) Less is more

Ectomorphs do not need to exercise for a long time, spending several hours in the gym.

The duration of strength training is no more than 40-60 minutes. During this time, 5-6 of the most effective exercises are performed.

For muscle growth and strength, this strategy will be more effective.

Volume training with a large number of exercises can negatively affect progress.

2) Basic exercises

Mostly basic multi-joint exercises are performed on the main muscle groups.

This is due to their ability to engage the maximum number of muscles, which in turn provokes faster muscle growth.

It is basic exercises that stimulate the production of testosterone, the main hormone responsible for muscle growth.

3) Load progression

From physiology it is known that the strength of a muscle is directly proportional to its cross-section. That is, the stronger the muscle, the greater its volume.

Of course, there are exceptions to the rules, but they are quite rare and are determined by genetics or training style.

People with an ectomorphic body type need to work on developing not only muscle mass, but also strength.

To improve your strength, gradually and regularly increase your training load.

It is better to do this by increasing the working weight in the approaches.

But remember, in this case the execution technique must be very good! Otherwise, injury will inevitably occur.

There is no need to break records if, under such a load, your knees fall inward and your back resembles a question mark.

Practice the movement first, adding weight gradually.

4) Longer rest between sets

Strength-oriented training requires more recovery time, so the pauses between approaches are increased.

For large muscle groups, such as legs, chest, and back, the recommended rest time is about 2-3 minutes, and for small ones (shoulders, arms, lower legs, abs) - 1.5-2 minutes.

Distinctive features of the training program for an ectomorph

The ectomorph training program is compiled by the instructor according to an individual plan. Exercises should be:

• relatively short;
• moderately intense;
• mainly by force;
• regular, subject to the rules of rest.

In addition, the training system must be built in full accordance with the nutritional program for an ectomorph.

The main characteristics of the ectomorphic component of a person are tall stature and a tendency to be thin.

Duration of classes

It is recommended to start with 30-40 minutes. After a month of classes, increase to 50 minutes. Afterwards - an hour and a half. This schedule will allow you to recover and not lose precious calories.

Frequency of training

It’s better to start with two classes a week. If you successfully get into the training rhythm, increase up to three times. When muscle mass grows steadily, you can begin a five-time ectomorph training program. As a rule, experienced instructors resort to a three-day mass split for the ectomorph.

Muscle development

The rule should work here: a specific muscle group is pumped once a week, no more. Otherwise, there will be no effect, as well as no time for recovery. And since gaining muscle mass is a priority for an ectomorph, every muscle needs to be worked out.

Number of approaches

To prevent damage to muscle fibers, it is better to start with two. Then the number of approaches should be increased to three. The upper limit is four. It is categorically impossible to go beyond these limits; the process of thinning muscle tissue will reverse.

Naturally plump endomorphs easily increase body weight (most often due to fat), while athletic mesomorphs have a genetic predisposition to gain muscle mass.

Rest between sets

A time out is necessary. You definitely need to restore your breathing and relax your muscles. For beginners, the rest time should be at least 150 seconds. Subsequently, the mandatory minimum is a minute. There is no need to turn training into a marathon: exercises should be performed in doses, with breaks.

Basic and isolated exercises

The majority of your workout (about 80%) should be compound exercises. They will help pump up the main muscle groups and shape the body faster. With them, strength indicators increase. This could be squats, lunges, barbell presses. Isolated exercises, on the contrary, are single-joint exercises and use specific muscles. They are good for diluting basic exercises and correcting problem areas. For example, flexion of the limbs at the joints, lifts on the feet, and swings work locally. Exercises for ectomorphs are the responsibility of the trainer.

Number of exercises

For starters, two or three types will be enough. As your body improves, you should add one exercise per week. The total number should not exceed five exercises. Excess is permissible for split. An ectomorph bodybuilder is also capable of more. But these are exceptions to the rule; we recommend focusing on the average.

The main advantage of an ectomorph can be considered a high metabolic rate and low level of subcutaneous fat.

Goal of training

This is achieved if one or two muscle groups have been worked out. To achieve this, they often choose a two-day weight split (a three-day split also works great). In general, a split for an ectomorph is the best solution. Of course, all efforts are aimed at building muscle mass.

Ectomorph training for mass gain

The correct training strategy for ectomorphs involves fairly infrequent, but at the same time difficult, strength training. For muscle growth, functional training, soccer, crossfit, swimming, running or other cardio should be reduced to a minimum. The most effective mass gain strategy for an ectomorph is to choose a mass training program.

The multi-joint compound barbell exercises that make up this program work every major muscle in the body, thereby triggering hormonal changes in the body and naturally increasing testosterone and growth hormone levels. Separately, it should be noted that a triple split with the division of training into different muscle groups in most cases is not effective for ectomorphs.

Basic exercises for rapid muscle growth:

• Deadlift (legs, glutes, back)
• Squats with a barbell (legs, abs, buttocks)
• Bench press (chest, shoulders, triceps)
• Bent-over barbell row (back, shoulders, abs)
• Standing barbell press (shoulders, abs)

The importance of proper technique

Another problem with gaining mass is that ectomorphs who begin to train often do not know that it is important not only to perform exercises with heavy weights, but also to constantly and consciously feel the involvement of certain muscles in the work. Only this guarantees that the exercise technique will not be impaired, and the load will fall on exactly those muscles that require it.

Otherwise, there is a high risk of sports injuries and the development of chronic problems with lower back and neck pain. It is also necessary to exercise no more than two or three times a week (the duration of the workout should be no more than 45-60 minutes) and sleep at least 8 hours a day - muscles do not grow during strength training, but during recovery and, especially, during sleep.

Diet for an ectomorph

Should be like this:

• Proteins 15%
• Fat 15%
• Carbohydrates 70%

Carbohydrates are the basis of an ectomorph’s diet. First of all, these are cereals and vegetables. Animal protein is preferable, but you can’t do without vegetable protein either. Fat is just as important. Especially omega - 3, 6, 9. It is unlikely to make you fat, but it will help build your body.

• Calculation of the daily diet (excluding training) is carried out according to the formula: weight *40+200 Kcal.
• On training days we count as follows: weight*40 + 500Kcal.

Obviously, an ectomorph’s diet should be high in calories. There is no need to be afraid of nutritious, fatty foods. It is worth targeting sports nutrition (primarily protein and bcaa).

Fast metabolism fundamentally distinguishes thin ectomorphs from overweight endomorphs and muscular mesomorphs.

Squirrels

They are the main building material. Therefore, the menu for an ectomorph must include all types of meat, fish, and dairy products. The ideal proportion is 2 grams of high quality protein per kilogram of weight.

Fats

They energize and normalize hormonal levels. Nutrition for an ectomorph to gain weight is unthinkable without them. The classic version is yolks, peanuts, avocado. Avoid saturated and trans fats.

Carbohydrates

The diet is based on them. The daily norm is 5 grams per 1 kilogram of weight. Lightly processed cereals, pasta, and starchy vegetables are rich in slow carbohydrates. They are best consumed during the day before training. After training – fast carbohydrates. There are many of them in sweet drinks and fruits.

Nutrition tips

More than half of your success in gaining weight depends on your nutrition. Yes, it’s hard to keep track of it, carry containers in your bag and overeat. But if you gain, it’s mostly muscle!

Below are some effective tips, remember or write them down.

Calorie food

If it’s food, then it’s high in calories. You shouldn’t waste your money on low-fat cottage cheese or vegetable salads. Vegetables are certainly good, but don’t forget to season them with olive oil and add meat and side dishes to the dish.

In general, don't be afraid of high-calorie foods, but I don't mean fast food. Choose good sources of animal and plant proteins, healthy fats and slow carbohydrates. For meat you can eat fish (cod, pollock, tilapia, trout, salmon), turkey or beef. And for a side dish: pasta, buckwheat, rice or potatoes.

Don't turn your back on oatmeal, especially for breakfast. For taste, throw in a couple of dried fruits.

Make scrambled eggs from several eggs with yolks and toast from bread.

If you buy cottage cheese, then do not strive for zero fat content. Take 5 percent or 9 percent.

Eat nuts as a snack; they are not only filling, but also healthy!

The calorie content of your diet should exceed your daily caloric expenditure. Exactly how much you need to look at on the scale. If your weight increases by 1 kg in 2 weeks, then you are on the right track.

Meal frequency

The more often you eat, the better, but don't overdo it. Food needs time to be digested and absorbed. Therefore, I suggest eating every 2.5 – 3 hours. Thus, you will have 5-7 meals a day. Of these, 3-4 main and 2-3 snacks.

Snack on nuts, or make toast with whole grain bread and cheese. And this is far from the limit of culinary imagination.

Meals throughout the day

After waking up, the body requires amino acids and energy. Therefore, you can eat a couple of eggs for breakfast as a source of valuable protein. Draw energy from fruits and cereals (flaxseed, oatmeal, pearl barley). Toasts with jam are welcome, but only one or two.

Training programs for girls

Of course, they are strong. True, the severity here is moderate and feasible. The task is not limited to gaining muscle mass: it is important to prevent injuries to the ligamentous apparatus. Squats with a barbell and heavy deadlifts are contraindicated for graceful young ladies. Axial overloads on the spinal column are also unacceptable. In all other respects, the weaker sex is not given any concessions.

Nutrition is the main secret of how an ectomorph can quickly build muscle and gain weight.

Exercises in the gym

Recommended under strict coaching guidance. How to pump up the arms of an ectomorph is well known. At the initial stage - dumbbells. They need to be pressed from a lying position, bent over, sitting on a bench, statically and dynamically. Mandatory minimum – “butterfly”, lunges, bends. There are many options here. Bench exercises and deadlifts will be equally useful. Twisting, kickbacks, calf raises - all this will have to be mastered. Having mastered the simplest apparatuses, you can safely take on the barbell. Everything is allowed except squats and excessive weight.

Workout at home

It is more difficult to achieve a pumped-up body at home. However, it is real. Push-ups and planks are performed without sports equipment. For serious work, it is better to have dumbbells. They won’t take up much space, but the results will be noticeable. In addition, there are countless variations with them: bending the elbow and shoulder joints, raising the arms to the sides and bringing them behind the head, squats, lunges, presses. It is better to train sequentially: first the upper body, then the lower part, and finally the body.

9 Week Advanced Mass Gaining Training Program

The program I want to share with you was developed by Derek Charlebois, a bodybuilding expert and writer for bodybuilding.com.

Once he was also thin, but he managed to develop muscles, gain weight and achieve amazing muscle definition.

Below is his photo. Very impressive.

A selection of exercises for ectomorphs during the mass-gaining phase (4-8 weeks)

“Push” A – Mon.

• Bench press 3*4-8
• Army press 3*4-8
• Close grip bench press 3*4-8
• Squat 3*4-8
• Seated calf raise 3*4-8

“Pull” A – Tue.

• Bent over row 3*4-8
• Wide-grip pull-down 3*4-8
• Shrugs with dumbbells 3*4-8
• Lifting dumbbells for biceps 3*4-8
• Deadlift 3*4-8

“Push” B – Thu.

• Incline dumbbell press with head up 3*4-8
• Dumbbell press up 3*4-8
• French bench press 3*4-8
• Leg press 3*4-8
• Platform toe press 3*4-8

“Pull” B – Fri.

• Deadlift (from the floor or in a power rack) 3*4-8
• Pull-ups 3*4-8
• Shrugs with barbell 3*4-8
• Biceps barbell lift 3*4-8
• Lying leg curl 3*4-8

*** You can train every other day plus one workout on the weekend.

Recommendations

1. Aim to do no more than 4-8 repetitions of one exercise, otherwise you should switch to heavier equipment.
2. Separate your sets with a two-minute break.
3. You can swap exercises for one muscle group.
4. Work in this mode for 4-8 weeks, then reduce the load for a week (delayed recovery).
5. During the fasting week, limit yourself to 2 sets of 10 repetitions of each exercise.

Recovery after training

This is a very important stage on the path to your dream body. If after training the body does not rest, then muscle growth is out of the question. Therefore, physical activity should alternate with well-deserved rest. On training days, it is better to forget about jogging, outdoor games, and late bedtime. To get the desired result, you will have to limit yourself to unnecessary body movements during this period. On the contrary, the calorie intake needs to be increased. It is also worth paying attention to healthy sleep (at least 8 hours at night).

In order for an ectomorph to be able to pump up sculpted muscles, and not just gain weight from fat, an increase in caloric intake must occur along with the rejection of empty calories.

Distinctive characteristics

To understand and determine that you are an ectomorph, you need to know the distinctive characteristics of your somato-group, which will allow you to more accurately plan your own training and nutrition. It is quite possible that it is precisely because of the incorrect definition of key characteristics that have been modified due to the modern pace of life that you cannot achieve significant results.

To understand who you are, look at the table of typical expressed characteristics of an ectomorph.

Note: the editors remind you that in the modern world there are practically no pure somatotypes. And this may well mean that you are a half-ectomorph and half-mesomorph, and it’s far from a fact that you took the best from each somatotype. Therefore, training and diet planning should still be done taking into account metabolic rate and susceptibility to stress, and not based on stereotypes about what an ectomorph looks like.

What happens if you don't follow the diet?

An ectomorph needs to eat often and on a schedule. At least four times, and ideally 6-7 times a day. Skipping meals is contraindicated. Low-carb foods are also strictly prohibited. If an ectomorph does not reach the daily calorie intake, then the probability of success quickly goes to zero. The tendency to be thin will do its job and all efforts will be in vain. You can’t go to the other extreme - lean on trans fats and sweets. In this case, volume will appear, but not sculpted muscle, but shapeless fat. And then problems with the gastrointestinal tract cannot be avoided. A diet for an ectomorph is the key to success.

Sports nutrition for ectomorph

Sports nutrition for an ectomorph is salvation. It allows you to make up for the lack of natural calories and balance your daily diet. Essentially, this is a synthetic nutrition for gaining weight for an ectomorph. You should not abuse it and it is better to resort to it in case of emergency. Sports nutrition for an ectomorph should be selected wisely and competently.

Protein

Helps replenish protein deficiency. For an asthenic build, fast proteins like isolate are more suitable. Casein and hydrolyzate will also work. The choice of proteins should be based on the recommendations of the trainer, in accordance with the characteristics of the body and financial capabilities.

Gainer

It is a mixture of proteins (usually whey protein) and carbohydrates (sugar, dextrose, amylopectin). This is the most controversial product. It contains only a third of protein, and a lot of fast carbohydrates. The main disadvantage is a possible increase in insulin and metabolic failure. Of course, famous athletes are actively promoting gainer on the shelves, and bodybuilding has formally recognized it. However, trainers trust practice more than celebrities, and are not fooled by marketing ploys.

The main rule for gaining weight for naturally thin ectomorphs is fairly infrequent, but at the same time difficult, strength training.

BCAAs and amino acids

Affect protein synthesis and insulin levels. The usefulness doesn't end there. They allow the ectomorph to recover faster and slow down catabolism. BCAAs and amino acids quickly break down fat cells and help strengthen muscle tissue. The dosage is considerable: on average 30 grams per day. Should be taken during the day and at night.

Pre-workout supplements

Only those that contain some stimulants such as arginine and caffeine are allowed. The benefit of these supplements is that they improve blood flow that nourishes muscle tissue. Accordingly, muscles grow by leaps and bounds. Their disadvantage is that they are usually taken on an empty stomach and not eaten for 3-4 hours. And for ectomorphs, long breaks between snacks are undesirable.

Vitamin-mineral complex

Recommended for enhancing immunity and saturating the body with useful microelements. You shouldn’t neglect it - training takes a lot of energy and requires full recovery. But you shouldn’t swallow vitamins thoughtlessly or at random either. Take the time to get examined and get advice from a doctor. It is better to choose a vitamin complex based on the needs of the body.

Ectomorphs have their own strengths that allow them to outperform people with other body types in some sports, such as athletics.

Creatine

Creatine is able to accumulate adenosine triphosphoric acid (ATP) molecules in muscle tissue. Its effect is powerful, so it is better to limit yourself to five grams per day.

General information

Ectomorph is one of the main pronounced somatotypes. According to its evolutionary structure, it is adapted for long-term uniform loads and a constant influx of calories and energy. Therefore, the answer to the question of who is an ectomorph is a farmer, a typical farmer who grows wheat. Due to this, he developed an accelerated metabolism and a low tendency to store fat. However, this is evolutionary. In the modern world, such evolutionary adaptation has rather disadvantages than advantages. But at the same time, all the main characteristics of an ectomorph can be used as advantages in sports:

1. Metabolic rate. The ability to increase exclusively dry mass.
2. Independence from the glycemic index. Allows you to complete your diet with fast carbohydrates, in particular sweet ones.
3. Low content of red muscle fibers. Allows you to get a long-lasting figure due to non-destructible white muscle tissue that is resistant to catabolic processes.
4. Low anabolic background. Better preparedness.
5. Low cholesterol content. Less risk of getting “athlete’s heart”.

And this is not a complete list of the advantages of this somato-group.

How to avoid burning muscle mass

In theory, everything is simple. An ectomorph needs special nutrition to gain muscle mass, a regimen, and proper training. In practice, the task becomes more complicated: you have to not skip a single meal, strictly follow the instructor’s instructions, immerse yourself in the intricacies of the fitness industry, master split and crossfit. Cutting is not a problem for an ectomorph: to avoid loss of muscle mass, it is better not to get carried away with it. Finally, the most important thing is not to swing to the detriment of your health. If you feel the slightest discomfort, you should stop exercising and give your body a chance to recover.

Pharmaceutical support to help the ectomorph

If your efforts yield indecently modest results, it makes sense to use anabolic steroids. It is better to take them comprehensively: orally and by injection. The following schemes are considered relatively harmless: Nandrolone + Methandrostenolone, as well as Sustanon together with Anadrol. You should rely on pharmaceuticals only in exceptional cases. Frequent use of medications can disrupt your metabolism and cause a hormonal surge.

It’s difficult to say how quickly the ectomorph will reach the desired condition. It all depends on age, lifestyle, body properties. Ectomorph before and after training is a big difference. Perseverance, endurance, and discipline work wonders.