Exercise program for increasing muscle volume for ectomorphs

Many stan­dard pro­grams with strength exer­cis­es are cat­e­gor­i­cal­ly not suit­able for ecto­morph peo­ple because of their phys­i­o­log­i­cal char­ac­ter­is­tics. Those who are prone to thin­ness have a hard­er time gain­ing mus­cle mass than those who are inclined to be over­weight. That is why ecto­morphs should adhere to spe­cial com­plex­es that will save the body from gen­er­al dishar­mo­ny, as well as devel­op mus­cles effi­cient­ly and effi­cient­ly.

Who are ectomorphs?

The con­cept of “ecto­morph” includes both men and women — those who are nat­u­ral­ly slen­der and have long, thin, and rather weak limbs. As a rule, such peo­ple have a very fast metab­o­lism, which is why the mus­cle fibers do not increase, but remain the same weak­ened and unde­vel­oped. How­ev­er, con­trary to myths, the sit­u­a­tion can be cor­rect­ed. The best assis­tant for a lean per­son to gain weight is a prop­er­ly struc­tured fit­ness train­ing sched­ule, a clear train­ing pro­gram and a bal­anced diet.

The main aes­thet­ic prob­lems of any ecto­morph are nar­row shoul­ders, a flat chest, weak mus­cle tone, thin hips and a very small per­cent­age of body fat. All these and oth­er fea­tures can be effec­tive­ly cor­rect­ed, but some effort will have to be made.

You can even work out at home, but to con­sol­i­date the results and improve per­for­mance, it is rec­om­mend­ed to pur­chase a sub­scrip­tion to the gym. If nec­es­sary, the coach will help to cor­rect the pro­gram, cor­rect typ­i­cal mis­takes in the exe­cu­tion tech­nique and give appro­pri­ate rec­om­men­da­tions on both exer­cis­es and diet.

Ectomorph Fitness Training Rules

Ecto­morphs when con­duct­ing fit­ness train­ing for mass must take into account a num­ber of impor­tant nuances. They will help increase the effec­tive­ness of strength train­ing and addi­tion­al­ly secure it: due to phys­i­o­log­i­cal char­ac­ter­is­tics, it is thin peo­ple who most often receive var­i­ous types of injuries and sprains, espe­cial­ly when per­form­ing phys­i­cal exer­cis­es with heavy shells.

1. Con­cen­trate on the inten­si­ty of the set of exer­cis­es, and not on the amount of phys­i­cal activ­i­ty per­formed. To increase the vol­ume, it is the ten­sion and the degree of resis­tance with which a per­son per­forms pow­er work that is impor­tant. For the same rea­son, it is rec­om­mend­ed to prac­tice a small num­ber of rep­e­ti­tions with an increased num­ber of sets (for exam­ple, 7–8 sets of 6 rep­e­ti­tions or 4–5 sets of 10 rep­e­ti­tions). All move­ments should be per­formed slow­ly but rhyth­mi­cal­ly. At the moments of over­com­ing, you should strain the tar­get mus­cles and inhale, and at the moments of relax­ation, exhale.
2. For ecto­morphs, the ide­al exer­cise reg­i­men is a super­set. First, 3–5 exer­cis­es are per­formed one after anoth­er, then a 30-sec­ond pause is observed, then anoth­er 3–4 phys­i­cal loads are per­formed, and after them the super­set ends with a 60-sec­ond rest. Such a cycle is per­formed in 3–4 calls.
3. It is extreme­ly unde­sir­able for ecto­morphs to over­load mus­cles, so fit­ness train­ing should not last more than 40 min­utes. This is due to anoth­er impor­tant fea­ture of their phys­i­ol­o­gy. The longer the strength train­ing, the more pow­er­ful the heart rate begins to accel­er­ate, pro­vok­ing the launch of meta­bol­ic process­es and fat burn­ing. Since the goal of an ecto­morph with a fast metab­o­lism is to increase mus­cle size, and not burn calo­ries, just 30 min­utes of strength work will be enough to sub­se­quent­ly get both volu­mi­nous mus­cles and beau­ti­ful ath­let­ic relief.

Basic set of exercises for mass

The stan­dard set of exer­cis­es for an ecto­morph is rep­re­sent­ed by a vari­ety of phys­i­cal activ­i­ties that ensure the har­mo­nious devel­op­ment of all areas of the body.

It is impor­tant for peo­ple with ecto­mor­phic body types to focus on the basic move­ments so as not to waste time on iso­lat­ed exer­cis­es. This approach will save not only time, but also mon­ey on unnec­es­sary shells or on an addi­tion­al sub­scrip­tion to the gym.

The list of the most effec­tive phys­i­cal exer­cis­es for an ecto­morph can include:

• dead­lift.

It acti­vates a huge num­ber of mus­cle fibers, simul­ta­ne­ous­ly pump­ing the back, legs, trapez­ius mus­cles. Also, a sta­t­ic load involves the upper shoul­der gir­dle;

• squats on a sup­port (box, bench).

The advan­tage of this vari­ant of squats is that the sup­port allows you to con­trol the depth of the squat and not sit low­er than nec­es­sary. Such an exer­cise to the max­i­mum involves the femoral and gluteal mus­cles, and also works out the upper bun­dles of the calf mus­cles;

• bench press lying on the floor.

The posi­tion lying on the floor, and not on a hor­i­zon­tal bench, allows thin peo­ple to suc­cess­ful­ly con­trol the posi­tion of the elbows at the time of low­er­ing the bar: they can­not be phys­i­cal­ly low­ered low­er than nec­es­sary for pump­ing the chest, biceps and tri­ceps;

• army bench press pro­jec­tile in a pow­er rack.

Phys­i­cal activ­i­ty in this sim­u­la­tor allows even an ecto­morph to take more weight than a work­er. The move­ment involves a larg­er vol­ume of mus­cle fibers, forc­ing them to con­tract to the lim­it already in 1–2 sets. Per­fect­ly pumps the upper shoul­der gir­dle.

Weight training program

For suc­cess­ful mass gain, ecto­morphs should use a 4‑week pro­gram that includes a high-per­for­mance set of exer­cis­es. Loads are con­sid­ered basic, so even begin­ners will not have ques­tions when they are per­formed.

The pro­gram is designed for a month with 3 class­es per week. The load is even­ly dis­trib­uted over all the main zones, thanks to which the mus­cles of the whole body are pumped as har­mo­nious­ly as pos­si­ble.

To increase the effec­tive­ness of this pro­gram, you should grad­u­al­ly increase the pow­er load. To do this, you need to increase the weight of the shells every week or add addi­tion­al weights to the ele­ments. In the con­di­tions of the hall, they can serve as weight­ing belts or spe­cial cuffs with weights on the ankles. The rep­e­ti­tion of each exer­cise must be per­formed in full ampli­tude — until the elbows or knees are ful­ly extend­ed.

Between the days of class­es, 1–2 days should pass, so that dur­ing this peri­od the mus­cle fibers have time to recov­er and pre­pare for the upcom­ing load.

Day 1:

• dead­lift;
• pull-ups with reverse grip of the hor­i­zon­tal bar;
• lift­ing the neck in an incline.

Each ele­ment is per­formed in 2 sets and 5 rep­e­ti­tions (for the first week of class­es). Every sev­en days, the num­ber of approach­es must be increased by one, and the num­ber of rep­e­ti­tions by 1–2, up to the fourth week of train­ing.

Day 2:

• neck press, lying on the floor;
• army bar­bell bench press in a frame;
• dumb­bell bench press with nar­row arms.

Each exer­cise is prac­ticed in 3 sets of 5–6 rep­e­ti­tions for the first and sec­ond weeks of train­ing, and in 4 sets of 8 rep­e­ti­tions for the third and fourth train­ing weeks.

Day 3:

• squats on a sup­port;
• Bul­gar­i­an squats;
• neck dead­lift.

Each ele­ment of the com­plex is per­formed in 3 sets of 5–6 rep­e­ti­tions — for the first week of train­ing, in 4 sets of 7–8 rep­e­ti­tions — for the sec­ond and third train­ing weeks, and in 3 sets of 10 rep­e­ti­tions — for the last, fourth week of train­ing.

One of the most impor­tant suc­cess fac­tors for any ecto­morph is bal­anced sports nutri­tion. You need to include in your dai­ly diet a wide vari­ety of pro­tein foods (eggs, meat, fish, legumes, dairy prod­ucts), as well as fiber and healthy fats.

It must be remem­bered that it is pro­tein that allows you to qual­i­ta­tive­ly thick­en and build mus­cle fibers, so in addi­tion to the main diet, do not neglect high-qual­i­ty gain­ers — pro­tein shakes to main­tain the nec­es­sary ath­let­ic shape.