Ectomorph
Naturally slim, often tall, fast metabolism, lightly muscled, flat chest, lean, small shoulders, and finds it difficult to build muscle.
Ectomorphs have a very fast metabolisms and naturally burn off a lot of calories. As a result of this it can be hard for an ectomorph to gain muscle or weight.
The balance
Imagine a triangle whereby the top point is training, the lower left point is nutrition and the lower right point is rest. These three are all vital to building muscle and successfully reaching your goals.
Training
Cardio
Cardio is vital for our health and wellbeing; it has been demonstraighted that some of the most muscular men who look great have actually had numerous health issues due to neglecting their cardiovascular system.
As an ectomorph you do need to limit cardio though, personally I think that a 10-15minute light/moderate jog or rowing machine session 3 times a week before a weights session is perfect balance.
Weights
From all of my research and personal experience it is quality and not quantity for us ectomorphs. Only train each muscle group once each week, this is more than enough to see growth.
I recommend a 5-day split, and each session should not last more than 45 minutes. Rest periods in between each set should be 1-2 minutes max.
In my experience heavy lifting seems to be of the most benefit to ectomorphs, and the key is to continually increase the weight each week to ensure that your muscles are continually challenged to grow. Keeping a diary of your training helps to keep track and beat your previous best every session, it also is a big motivational tool.
A sample plan:
Day 1 – Back and upper abs
Exercise Sets Repetitions per set Lat pull down 4 4-8 Row 4 4-8 Deadlift 4 4-8 Inner grip lat pull down 3 4-8 Fitball curl with weight 4 25 Ab Ups 2 25Day 2 – Chest and lower abs
Exercise Sets Repetitions per set Bench press 4 6-10 Dunbell flys 4 4-8 Incline dunbell press 4 4-8 Press ups 3 30 or till failure Leg raises with fitball between legs 4 25Day 3 – Legs
Exercise Sets Repetitions per set Squats 4 6-10 Calf press 4 4-8 Stiff legged dead lift 4 4-8Day 4 – Shoulders and upper abs
Exercise Sets Repetitions per set Military Press 4 4-8 Lateral raises 4 4-8 Shrugs 4 4-8 Fitball curl with weight 4 25 Ab ups 2 25Day 5 – Arms
Exercise Sets Repetitions per set Hammer Curl 4 4-8 Skull Crushers 4 4-8 4 4-8 Leg raises with fitball between legs 4 25Nutrition
A solid diet is what will make the difference to reaching your goals. Eating every 2-3hours is vital for ectomorphs to fuel the body for muscle growth and recovery. Without adequate nutrition you will not have the energy for those heavy workouts and your muscles will not grow.
There are many tools to determine the amount of calories that you should be eating each day to maintain your weight, a basic one is to take your body weight in pounds and multiply it by 15. Example: 165lbs person x 15 = 2475kcals per day.
What we want though is to increase your muscle and body weight. Add 500 calories to this for growth. Giving a daily intake requirement of 2975kcals per day to increase muscle and size.
The trick is to monitor your weight at the end of each week, in the morning before eating or drinking anything to see if you are increasing. Generally you only want to increase by 1-2lbs each week as anything over this may be fat. The body can typically produce only 1-2lbs of new muscle per week.
A good split for your daily calorie intake is 50:30:20. That means 50% carbs, 30% protein and 20% good fats.
1 gram of carbs = 4kcals
1 gram of protein = 4kcals
1 gram of fat = 8kcals
So based on the 165lbs man eating 2975kcals per day he would need:
1487kcals from carbs (371g)
892kcals from protein (223g)
595kcals from fats (74g)
As we discussed before it is good to eat every 2-3 hours this means having 6-7 medium sized meals a day instead of 3 large ones.
A sample meal plan:
Time Meal Kcals Carbs Protein Fat 8am Oats, 3 poached eggs and 1 slice of brown bread 640kcals 65g 39g 25g 10am Protein Shake 515kcals 69g 38g 10g 1pm Turkey steak, sweet potato mash, salad and an apple 590kcals 105g 43g 1g 3pm Pre-training Protein Shake 130kcals 9g 22g 1g 4pm Post-training Protein Shake 515kcals 69g 38g 10g 7pm Rice, chicken breast with tomato, onion and garlic sauce 410kcals 56g 40g 3g 10pm Protein Shake 130kcals 9g 22g 1g Totals 2930kcals 382g Carbs 242g Protein 51g Fats
Tips:
- A cheat meal once a week won’t hurt
- Prepare in advance so that you always have food available. Take lunch in a box to work, cook extra in the evenings.
- Protein in every meal is important! It is the building blocks for growth.
- You need good fats in your diet, don’t cut is out completely.
Rest
It is important to get your 8 hours sleep each night, this is when the majority of muscle growth occurs. It is also very important to reduce stress levels. When we get stressed our body releases a chemical called Cortisol. There is a lot of research and science behind the effects but simply it causes muscle break down and prevents progression.
This week we will also be giving you the low down on the only vital suppliments you need!
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