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Your Fitness Profile – What Body Type are You?

By murray | June 10, 2009

There are two main structural components that combine to determine a person's body composition: body fat and lean body mass (which includes all non-fat tissues, including muscles, bone, blood, organs, etc.)

leslie1Many factors combine to determine a person's physique, and they can be divided into (i) factors that we can influence or alter (including the amount and type of physical activity, the quantity and quality of  food that you eat, your body's ability to store or burn calories), and (ii) those that cannot be changed at all (for example, bone structure, gender and genetics).

Generally, there are three main body types (called somatotypes): ENDOMORPH (fat), MESOMORPH (muscular), and ECTOMORPH (thin).  It is likely that most people will possess some characteristics of each of these three body types, rather than being categorized fully in one of the three extremes.  When considering somatotype, remember that only body shape or form should be taken into account, not body size.

Remember that you cannot change the skeletal structure that you were born with.  With hard work and discipline, however, you can lower your percentage of body fat by combining the right amount of exercise with improved eating habits.  A safe, well-designed program of lifting weights can help to significantly alter your somatotype, both directly by increasing your muscle mass and indirectly by raising your body's metabolism.

It is imoportant to note that somatotype should not be used as anything more than a very basic measure of health.  In order to obtain an accurate assessment of your physical fitness, we recommend that your visit Phoenix Fitness West Hamilton to have a fitness assessment done for you by their Fitness Consultant, Leslie.

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