Endomorph Body Type Workout and Diet Guide

There are many different ways to describe body type. In fitness, it’s less about looks and more about how your body responds to diet and exercise. If you’re an endomorph, you might carry more body fat, struggle to lose weight, and tend to gain weight when you eat too many carbs. 

This can be frustrating, but understanding your natural body type is empowering. It unlocks information about how you lose fat, gain muscle, and respond to certain foods. Eating and exercising for body type can give you better results. 

What is the Endomorph Body Type?

There are three main body types discussed in fitness and nutrition: 

• Endomorph body type – carries more body fat, slower metabolism

• Mesomorph body type – muscular, efficient metabolism

• Ectomorph body type – skinny, carries less body fat, fast metabolism

FREE eBook! Learn How to Properly Train and Build Perfect Glutes!

There are more detailed differences between the body types, but it’s mostly all about body composition and metabolism. It’s also important to know that you probably don’t fit completely into one type. These are useful guidelines for how you eat and exercise, not hard and fast rules. 

Most endomorph body types consist of a pear-shaped figure. The majority of their bodyweight is stored in the lower half or abdomen and hip region. Clients with this body type might still have a very small waist, but struggle with their round body. This weight distribution that endomorphs experience is quite adverse when it comes to losing weight.

In addition to having a wider body type, endomorphs also have a greater appetite than an ectomorph or mesomorph. This doesn’t help those seeking weight loss. Instead, it leads to higher calorie consumption, which means more stored or excess body fat. If your clients have an endomorph body type, they will often experience fatigue or tiredness. It is important to address their eating patterns and workouts to prevent this from worsening.

An additional benefit to exercise and healthy eating for endomorphs is injury prevention. Clients might carry around excess weight, which causes stress injuries throughout the body. With this is mind, start clients with low-impact exercise, such as walking. Slowly improve their metabolism and progress them to more challenging exercises. There are many factors that affect body composition—training for your body type is one of them. 

If you are mostly an endomorph body type, you probably: 

• Tend to have more body fat

• Gain fat quickly and struggle to lose it

• Have a curvy or stocky figure

• Have a slow metabolism

• Have some degree of impaired insulin sensitivity

Some of these traits are likely inherent in your physiology. But, some of the characteristics can be caused by your lifestyle. For instance, if you are largely sedentary or have a poor diet, you will naturally have a body composition with more fat and less muscle. 

Are you more of an ectomorph body type? Here’s a diet and workout guide for naturally slim ectomorphs. 

Benefits of an Endomorph Workout and Diet

There can be some benefits to eating and exercising according to your body type, but don’t expect any miracles. Everyone benefits from an overall healthy diet and regular exercise. 

Change Body Composition

Endomorphs carry more fat, gain fat easily, and have a harder time losing it. If you can address these issues, you can shift your body composition, losing some fat and adding muscle. 

Boost Weight Loss

The same goes for weight loss and maintenance. Endomorphs tend to gain weight quickly and lose it slowly. Some shifts in how you eat and work out can make it a little easier to shed pounds or maintain a healthy weight. 

Improve Health

Impaired insulin sensitivity in endomorphs puts them at greater risk for blood sugar spikes and all the resulting health problems. When your body doesn’t control sugar efficiently, you are at a higher risk for metabolic syndrome, type II diabetes, and other chronic health problems. Managing this issue can greatly improve your long-term health and lower the risks of chronic illness. 

Are There Any Risks of an Endomorph Workout and Diet? 

An important risk to consider is that it can be easy to admit defeat if you assume your body type defines you. Body type, or somatotype, originated in the 1940s with Dr. W.H. Sheldon. He promoted the idea that your somatotype could not change, that it defined you always. 

According to Dr. Sheldon, if you are an endomorph, you’ll always have higher body fat and be soft and round in shape. This is an outdated and disproven idea. While identifying body type can be useful, it is not a hard and fast rule. Appropriate changes to diet and exercise can help you change your body composition and improve your health. 

How to Exercise as an Endomorph

Low-intensity training or steady-state cardio is not enough to burn fat for clients with an endomorphic body type. Building muscle and getting rid of excess fat requires a combination of cardio and weight training. When it comes to cardio, consider including a HIIT workout. For endomorphs, strength training and high-intensity exercises are most effective for fat loss. 

If you want to lose fat, be sure to include compound exercises in your workout plan. Compound exercises don’t just include squats, deadlifts, presses, and rows. They also include sled pushes, sprints, and even activities like swimming. You not only want to burn a lot of calories during your workout but also maximize calorie burn throughout the entire day. 

This is where weight training plays a major role. During each workout, target mainly large muscle groups. Muscle groups such as the legs and back have the greatest fat-burning effect. This is because they are made up of some of the largest muscles in the body. Perform each exercise with high repetitions and incorporate circuit training into your workouts. Use timed work periods and rest periods to maximize calorie burn and results.

Because endomorphs tend to hold on to fat with an iron grip, workouts should be focused on maximizing fat loss. Here are more workout considerations for the endomorph body type: 

Build Muscle

Muscle tissue burns more calories than fat. Everyone should engage in strength training, but for an endomorph it is critical to add muscle. Increased muscle mass helps reduce fat through calorie burning and shifts body composition. 

To build muscle, you should aim for at least two full-body strength training sessions per week. Focus on compound exercises like push-ups and squats. These types of movements are efficient because they hit more muscles all at once than isolation exercises. They also elevate the heart rate more, which increases calorie burn and fat loss. 

Check out this ISSA blog with more information about how strength training helps you lose weight. 

Include High-Intensity Interval Training

Cardio workouts are also important for endomorphs. They burn calories and fat and also improve cardiovascular and overall health. Because endomorphs are at a greater risk for certain chronic illnesses, doing cardio several times per week is essential. 

HIIT (high-intensity interval training) is a great option for endomorphs. Research has shown that HIIT boosts metabolism, boosts fat loss, and even improves insulin sensitivity (1). HIIT involves doing short periods of high-intensity cardio with periods of rest in between. Stick with just one or two HIIT sessions per week to avoid overtraining and injuries. 

Increase NEAT

NEAT is non-exercise activity thermogenesis. This is all the movement you do throughout the day that doesn’t strictly count as exercise. Endomorphs in particular benefit from increasing NEAT on a day-to-day basis. 

Moving more and being less sedentary helps battle fat gain and shifts the body toward a healthier body composition. Increasing NEAT means making lots of small changes: 

• Taking a walk for lunch instead of sitting

• Doing chores around the house

• Taking the stairs instead of the elevator

• Stretching while watching TV

• Standing instead of sitting at a desk to work

How to Eat as an Endomorph

Exercise is especially important for endomorphs who struggle to lose weight and body fat with diet alone. However, how you eat will impact your goals. Make a few dietary changes to get big results. 

Unfortunately, the endomorph body type has a difficult time maintaining muscle mass. This makes diet and nutrition even more important. You must modify eating and workout programs for endomorphs to help increase muscle mass and limit fat gain. When it comes to nutrition, not only do endomorphs have a slow metabolism, but they do not process carbohydrates efficiently. 

Endomorphs should eat more protein to promote muscle growth, lower total calorie intake to lose fat, and reduce unhealthy carbs. The goal is to keep the body in a fat-burning state rather than a fat-storing state. This will keep endomorphs' body fat percentage low and decrease their risk for health issues. Keep the total daily carbohydrate intake lower than 30% of your total calories. For protein, consume 35% or more, and for fat intake consume closer to 35%.

Lean Proteins

Balancing macros is essential for an endomorph. Shift away from carbs and eat more protein. Protein helps build muscle, which boosts metabolism and fat loss. Aim for 35% or more of daily calories from lean protein sources like lean beef, chicken, fish, and some plant-based proteins. 

Healthy Fats

Every body type should focus on health fats in the diet. Round out your calories with nuts and seeds, natural nut butters, and healthy vegetable oils, like olive oil. 

The Problem with Carbs

A hallmark of the endomorph somatotype is some insulin resistance. In simple terms, your body is very good at taking sugar and turning it into fat. Consuming carbohydrates of any type can lead to faster weight gain more quickly than for other body types. 

This doesn’t mean an endomorph cannot eat carbs. However, they will get better results by limiting carbs and sticking with more nutritious sources rich in fiber: 

• Whole grains, like brown rice, quinoa, and oats

• Sweet potatoes

• Squash

• Beans, peas, and other legumes

• Whole fruits

• Whole vegetables

Endomorphs should avoid or limit the carbohydrate sources that are lower in fiber, have less nutrition, and are more likely to spike blood sugar: 

• White bread and pasta

• White rice

• Crackers

• Chips

• Soda

• Fruit juice

• Candy, cookies, and other desserts

In processed foods, look out for added sugars. You want to avoid these as much as possible. Nutrition labels include total sugar and added sugar. 

Calorie Deficit

A small calorie deficit helps endomorphs lose weight. Don’t go overboard on this. Restricting calorie intake too much can be unhealthy. It also makes it more difficult to work out. It’s a good idea to talk to your doctor before making these changes. They can recommend a safe calorie deficit goal. 

Putting it All Together: Diet and Exercise for Endomorphs

For your endomorph clients, use these guidelines but don’t get too caught up in body type. No single type can define anyone. The body shifts and changes with diet, exercise, age, illness, and more. Use body type as a guideline to improve health and change body composition.

When considering a training and nutrition plan for clients with an endomorph body type, remember the overall picture. The biggest obstacle for endomorphs is often losing weight, especially in the lower body. When it comes to being in the gym, focus on compound weight lifting movements with high reps. In the kitchen, eat lots of protein and healthy fats while limiting carbohydrate intake.

Strength training and limiting calorie intake can help overcome an endomorph’s slow metabolism. Combining this type of workout program with a high protein diet promotes muscle growth and improves one’s body composition. Ultimately, you’ll need to find a diet plan and workout plan that fits your client’s unique body type and fitness goals best. 

Fitness is more technical than most people realize. Learn all about it in the ISSA’s Certified Personal Trainer – Self-Guided Study Program. 

References

1. Boutcher S. H. (2011). High-intensity intermittent exercise and fat loss. Journal of Obesity, 2011, 868305. https://doi.org/10.1155/2011/868305