Healthy Living Sac FtMThe holistic health project of the Sacramento FtM community
Archive #1: March 21st, 2009 March 22, 2009
 When lifting weights, keep your torso stationary, your shoulders back and your neck straight. |
 Fresh young coconuts, smoothies and hot chocolate were served at the first meeting in March. |
Topics:
- Exercise for your body type
- Weight training basics - build muscle, lose fat, work your core
- Keep a personal health journal - how and why
Body Types Info & Links:
Exercise for Ectomorphs:- Ectomorph characteristics include a thin, narrow bone structure, high metabolism and sensitive digestion; they do not gain weight or muscle easily.
- Because of the high metabolism, the ectomorph must take care not to over-exercise. If they do, they will burn off the muscle they're trying to gain.
- To gain muscle, ectomorphs should not do cardio exercise more often than 3 times per week; should work each muscle group (with weights) no more than once per week; and should rest more than other body types in between weight lifting sets.
- Link: Ectomorph exercise
[NOTE: From surfing the web, I've noticed that the words "endomorph" and "mesomorph" are sometimes used interchangably for the thick body type. Where three body types are discussed, it seems that "endomorph" is more often used for the thickest body type, so I will use that designation here, instead of "mesomorph," which I used at the meeting. - Jordan]
Exercise for Endomorphs:
- Endomorph characteristics include a thick, wide bone structure, low metabolism and strong digestion; they are often overweight and do not lose fat easily.
- Endomorphs cannot exercise too much. They naturally have thick, dense muscles even without working out.
- To lose weight, endomorphs should focus on cardio and cardio-core exercises, as often as six days per week.
- Link: Endomorph exercise
Exercise for People in the Middle (Ecto-Mesomorph or Mesomorph):
- Ecto-Mesomorphs have a medium build and metabolism and are usually not very tall or big-boned; they tend to see results relatively quickly when trying to gain muscle or lose fat.
- To gain muscle, focus on heavy weight training; to lose weight, focus on cardio and cardio-core workouts.
Weight Training Info & Links:
Form & Order:
- To protect your neck and shoulders, and effectively isolate muscles, keep your torso stationary, your shoulders back and your neck straight. When performing a lateral pull-down, do not pull the bar behind your neck.
- Perform double-jointed exercises first, then single-jointed exercises starting from your torso outward. In other words, when working the chest muscle group, start with chest presses (double-jointed), then the fly (shoulder joint), triceps (elbow joint), and finally the forearm (wrist joint).
- To gain muscle, set the weight to the maximum you can lift 8 times and do 3-4 sets, resting for 1-2 minutes between sets.
- To lose fat (tone), set the weight to the maximum you can lift about 15 times and do 3-4 sets; OR do your exercises on a circuit course, without stopping between machines.
- To work your core, perform toning exercises while supporting your own weight, i.e. use cable or pulley machines, or free weights, without sitting on a seat or bench.
- When you reach a plateau in your progress, which will be about every six weeks, create "muscle confusion" by changing up your routine.
- Muscle confusion can be created by changing machines, or angle of motion or grip, for every exercise you do.
- Create muscle confusion by maxing out the weights; at the end of your three muscle building sets, increase the weight, resting between sets, until you can lift it only once.
- Create muscle confusion by "stepping down," or decreasing the weight lifted; after the three muscle building sets, do three more, without resting in between, decreasing the weight and completely fatiguing the muscles during each set.
Keeping a Health Journal:
- Set goals for your exercise, diet and health, and track your progress. This can be a daily, weekly or biweekly practice.
- Get more in tune with your health and improvement, especially when it's being effected on a more subtle, gradual way. Ask yourself the same specific questions during every check-in.
- Link: Sample Journal Questions
- Link: Baby Steps to Health - some places to start
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