Help identifying my body type

[magickarl]

I wasn't really sure where to post this at, but I suppose knowing my body type is pretty well related to effective training.

My mothers family are all pretty obvious endo's with maybe some meso. All my uncles on her side are burly-barrel chested type guys. Lumberjacks, construction workers, concrete guys. They tend to carry weight in their stomach areas -- some worse than others, but all of them have massive forearms, tree-trunk legs, and huge shoulders. Short, stocky guys. Like 5'8 - 5'11 and around 225 - 250.

My dads family are ectomorphic. They aren't pencil thin or anything, but most of them stay pretty skinny and are fairly tall. On average they are 6" + and weigh 175 - 200 lbs.

I have two brothers and a sister. My sister has always been really tiny. Both of my younger brothers are around 5'11 and weigh 150 and 160. They are definite ectomorphs. They can eat whatever they want and never gain a pound. They have a decently athletic physique, but aren't really muscular. Both were pretty good at track and baseball.

I clearly was given a different genetic card though. I'm 5'9 and weigh around 180 lbs. I've never really done a lot of weightlifting, but have always been somewhat muscular. Have been described as stocky. I guess naturally strong, I could bench 215 without ever having picked up a set of weights before. I was a successful highschool wrestler -- never much of a runner or stamina oriented athlete.

My arms are bigger than most people I run across, but aren't really awe-inspiring. Triceps are much more developed than biceps. I've got a muscular back, and my traps are huge in proportion to the rest of my body. I also have a fairly thick neck.

I carry my fat in my stomach, and admittedly I have a bit of a gut. However, this took a long while to accumulate (like 3 years of low-activity + crappy diet), and I lose fat quickly.

Here is recent picture:

EDIT: I guess I can't post links until I have three or more posts, but copy+paste this and backspace before the // and again before com


http: //c2.ac-images.myspacecdn. com/images01/74/l_291d876081983bdd4d0104eecbf870cd.jpg

I have some more if it helps.

Anyway, any idea on my body type?

I know the first guess is probably endo, but I just don't seem to carry THAT much fat. I do have some gut, but it took a ridiculous amount of time to accumulate and it dissipates with minimal effort.

When those pictures were taken the closest thing to resistance training I had ever done was bodyweight exercise for wrestling -- pushups, pullups, chinups. Nothing really meant to build mass.

Do I have the potential to get freaky huge?

 

[T_man]

cant see your whole body

you could be either meso or endo or both.

 

[wylie]

I read an interesting test from interesting book a while ago about bodytypes and muscle cell types and how they should be trained etc. First try your maximum lift for any given muscle or exercise then after good amount of rest, pick up 80% of that and do as many repetitions as possible. That's roughly the amount of repetitions ideal for you and/or that muscle/movement, divide it by two and you will train more for power and multiply it by two and you will built muscle and endurance power, or maybe do both, low reps on the first workout and higher on the next. Anyway the testing like this for diffirent exercises and muscles is a fairly good workout allready in itself. Ultimately,move the weight up,move it down, thats the only way to do it. And sorry this post didn't quite relate to your question. My bad, wrote it anyway..

 

[Gazhole]

The real question is - why does it matter what your body type is?

Sure some people have a genetic presupposition to putting on muscle, but the only sure way you'll find out if you're that guy is to train and eat right.

 

[T_man]

I think anyone can put on muscle if they train & eat right & rest right Gaz.

I was the biggest ecto you knew but now you would say I'm more of a meso

 

[Gazhole]

I think anyone can put on muscle if they train & eat right & rest right Gaz.

I was the biggest ecto you knew but now you would say I'm more of a meso

Thats exactly what im saying - body type doesnt really matter so long as you train and eat right. There are a small % of the population which have vastly higher potential than you or me, but that doesn't mean we CANT put on a lot of muscle.

A lot of the members here are really big, strong guys who've never used drugs, and aren't gifted by nature, but still have high levels of physical size, strength, and wellbeing.

 

[Merkaba]

I agree. Screw the body type crap. Worry about something else more important.