What is your body and blood type?

What is your body and blood type?

July 8, 2012

By: Gina Yoryet Roman

 

 

After 17 years of a love hate relationship with health and fitness, doing hard core competition for 11+ years, pulling through multiple injuries, one of them sarcopenia, playing co-ed indoor soccer and outdoor soccer in a female team, three-four years of body conditioning and countless fitness courses, four-five years of working as a personal trainer, aerobics instructor and a health and fitness advisor and one step away from getting certified in Sports Nutrition, little did I know that I was not quite close to being a know it all in this area, I feel like a babe in the woods in this matter now more than ever.

 

I generally workout intensely complementing that with reading and getting in as much about health and fitness as possible to get more toned up or for better results– I am not for gaining too much muscle mass anymore, it is more so to maintain a healthy persona and lifestyle.

 

Dieting has always been a huge issue though because I’ve always been ill willed when it comes to food. While competing in college I progressed a whole lot since I was pushed by my coach. During those years, not only did I train very intensely but I was forced to lead a healthy diet that I quickly got accustomed to…

 

 

Since I graduated from college my diet has been shaky and that episode with Cross Country and Track & Field were left behind moving on to long distance running, 21 and 42.1k´s until three years ago after that fatal accident put a halt to my long term high rendering competition.

 

One of the most important rules when losing weight and/or gaining more muscle, is: 1) DIET, 2) DIET, 3) DIET, I cannot emphasize the importance of diet anymore than with this word.

 

That is where most of us fail:

1)     We don’t know our body

2)     We start trying every single diet failing after 4, 5, 6 weeks.

3)     We don’t even break a sweat at the gym

4)     We do the wrong routines

5)     We eat the wrong food.

 

 

These and other mistakes are on the top failing list when losing weight. Two of them I just learned while completing my Sports Nutrition Certification and by reading a book called, “What is your blood type?The 4 blood types, Eat right for/4 your type” By Peter D’Adamo, Exercise, lose weight, exercise right, build muscle and strength,according to your blood type.

For instance according to my blood type, I’d have to follow a strict diet which I am compatible with to get better and speedier results. I was like WOOOOW! When I read that! How come am I finding out about these things 17 years later?

With my blood type being 0-, that would make me “The Hunter,” a great memory, incredibly strong, energized, resistant, daring, intuitive, optimistic and self-confident, a natural meat consumer (Not anymore, looking at red meat makes me feel queasy) with a very active immune system, a resistant digestive tube, intolerable to diet environmental adaptations, responds better to stress with an intense physical activity (This latter one is VERY best describes me), needs an efficient metabolism in order to stay trim and energized.

Therefore, according to Peter J. D´Adamo, I’d have to follow a diet based on: Wheat, corn, beans, lentils, lettuce, soy, etc. for weight gain. For weight loss, something like this: sea weed, fish and sea food, liver, iodized salt, red meat, cauliflower, spinach, broccoli, green vegetables, skinless chicken, turkey, egg whites, etc.

Most of these are already included in my diet with the exception of frequency, portion and discipline. Like I said many times, I don’t necessarily eat meat but I wouldn’t call myself a vegetarian either. I need a lot more discipline like Steve Jobs who I’ll post about later.

Continuing with fitness, I also read another book called, “Brain Training for runners,” By Matt Fitzgerald where I found out all these things that opened my mind to a whole new scenario about running finally making me understand why I ended up severely injured so soon. Had I read it before, perhaps I would’ve listened to my body earlier and followed the rules.

And last but not least, I pondered on this for many years, “Why is it so hard to make my stubborn body gain muscle? For years I worked out insanely time after time never getting the desired results.

What reason or excuse can I use to back that up? I’ve always neglected to know my body, realize what it’s needed all along and nurture it with the right food and exercise according to its type.

Photo taken on April 12, 2012

Sgfitness taught me about the different body types, and how to diet and exercise which I’d been oblivious to, throughout 17 years:

I am between The Mesomorph and the Endomorph because I am not genetically athletic nor do I have the ability to perform well at every sport because I lack coordination. On top of that, I’ve had to work extremely hard to barely get lean. On the other hand I have resistance that is one of the reasons I chose running and soccer.

Let’s say I’ve never been round physiqued but I did have 10-12 extra pounds (according to my perspective) when I was younger. I have a tendency to put on weight very easily and most of my body fat is indeed stored in my muffin top.

What is your body type?

In general terms, there are basically three distinctive body types although most people are a cross between them.

The Ectomorph – Ectomorphs are people who are thin, fragile and even lanky at times. They are called the hardgainers in the bodybuilding industry.

Some people consider them as blessed because it is rather difficult for ectomorphs to put on weight while many ectomorphs themselves are unhappy in their situation because of precisely the same reason.

However, with the right nutrition and proper training, ectomorphs can and do put on muscle weight. In fact, one very great advantage ectomorphs have over others on bodybuilding is that because of their low body fat, they will have very attractive visible defined muscles once they built them. This is because they do not have body fat to cover their nice muscularly toned body.

For more information on how naturally thin and skinny people can put on weight and build handsome muscle mass.

The Mesomorph – If you are a mesomorph, you are genetically blessed with an athletic body shape and ability. You will generally perform well in whatever sports you choose to participate in.

In bodybuilding, you are able to build muscle mass faster than other body types and can even become a competitive bodybuilder or a fitness model if you choose to be. Of course, with the correct training methods and nutrition, your results will come even faster. For some of you, your result will be so fast that you can visibly see your body grow week after week.

The Endomorph – The endomorph generally has a round physique that tends to put on weight and fat easily. Their physiques present the illusion that much of the body fat is accumulated in abdominal area which may or may not be true.

Many endomorphs mistakenly believe that in order to get rid of their abdominal fat, they have to do plenty of abdominal exercises like crunches and sit-ups. To my endomorph friends, these exercises do not get rid of your belly fat. You have to do weight bearing compound exercises and adhere to a proper diet to build your muscles and lose your fat so that your muscles can show up fabulously. As a matter of fact, the more muscles you build up, the more fat you can burn because muscle mass raise your metabolism to burn more fat.

Knowing your body type will therefore give you an indication that how your body will react to weight training and how fast you can build up your muscle mass.