A Workout Plan For Your Body Type: "Skinny Girl"
As I was browsing Pinterest for gallery wall inspirations to more attractively display our family photos, I saw these body type fitness graphics (no surprise my Pinterest feed is filled with fitness and nutrition pins), and the graphics caught my eye.
I liked it because too few fitness programs take into consideration a women's body type. So I read each body type graphic carefully and wanted to share them with you (with additional commentary) as they have a number of consistent concepts to how we train women at Sisters In Shape.
"Skinny Girl": The Ectomorph
Oh baby, this was my favourite of the three graphics. Why? It was bang on with putting strength-training (aka lifting weights) front and centre for this body type.
Sisters In Shape Additional Notes for Ectomorphs:
Real results come when you line up nutrition + workouts. So we must talk about nutrition for this body type to make the workouts the "most effective". The most typical nutrition approach we take with ectomorphs is helping them to eat MORE.
With a quicker metabolism, it's about eating more total calories with a smart balance of proteins, fats, carbs & fiber. Eating more sounds like a dream right? As a busy woman, you know more of anything, including eating, is a challenge to fit in time-wise. So we brainstorm ideas with our ectomorph clients to fit in eating more like retraining their eye to serve themselves larger portions of their healthy foods (not easy with diet-culture thinking), as well as incorporating nutrient dense foods like nuts & dried fruit into their regular food choices.
For those ectomorphs with a serious muscle building goal, we often suggest an intra-workout carb like honey or a carb endurance supplement to take part-way through her workouts. Why? More smart calories at the right time to put towards the task at hand (building muscle for a body type that is challenging to build muscle).
A common goal we find with an ectomorph is her desire to create a healthy, strong yet more curvy physique. This can be achieved by adding lean muscle to the legs + glutes, as well as, through her back & shoulders. By building up these specific areas the physique looks more "hourglass" and "curvy".
Therefore a typical ectomorph client would have a workout program like this:
A workout plan for your body type: “Skinny Girl”
Focus is on weight-lifting training
Day 1: Leg day #1 (quad focus) + 20 min HIIT
Day 2: Back + core
Day 3: Shoulders (yup, just shoulders for 40 mins of weight lifting) + core
Day 4: Leg day (hamstring/glute focus) + 20 min HIIT
Day 5: Arm/chest day + core
Give this SCULPTED SHOULDER WORKOUT a try if you're an ectomorph looking to build out some curves! (yup, shoulders are super important for a "curvy" or "hourglass" look for an ectomorph)
Applying these techniques, here's a recent SiS transformation of an ectomorph client, trained by SiS Coach Leah Larson. Notice in the "after" photo her shoulders and butt are more built and "round" to create a fit hourglass shape.
Graphic Sources: Carla Sottovia, PhD, personal trainer and director of fitness and personal training education at the Cooper Fitness Center in Dallas, Texas, and Jacque Crockford CSCS, exercise physiologist with the American Council on Exercise. Illustration by David Wyffels
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