Changing your body with exercise.

In personal trainer training we are taught to describe people’s body types in three ways.

Ectomorph – Lean and slender build with slight muscular development.

Mesomorph – Athletic/muscular body build.

Endomorph – Heavy rounded body build with a tendency to become overweight.

Most people fit into one or two of these categories. Just because you are in one of these categories does not mean you can’t alter the way your body looks. But, you defiantly cant go from being a ruler to an hourglass or vice versa, it just won’t happen due to your genetics, build, your bone structure, despite what fitness industry marketing claims!

What you can do through exercise is change the size of your natural shape, as well as increase muscle and bone strength. For example, going from a large ectomorph to a slimmer toned one or vice versa. Either way the actual shape of your body will not change. I am telling you this, because I see so many people embark on a new training programme or coming in and asking Personal trainers to help them change their bodies. So often I would sit with a client and ask them their goals, only to be told that they want an hour glass figure, or a six pack! I am a good trainer, but I can’t out do your genetics, nobody can.

When fitness programmes or trainers allow people to believe that they can change their bodies aesthetically, they are setting clients up for disappointment. Too many people begin exercising purely to change the look of their bodies, which is why so many lose motivation so quickly. Changing your body through exercise takes a lot of time and dedication, ask any body builder, it is a slow and dedicated process that most won’t be able to achieve. Furthermore, we cannot physiologically change fat to muscle. For example, although doing lots of repetitions of an exercise creates a feeling of using this muscle group, it will not burn the fat deposits off the targeted area.

What will occur is that the muscles become stronger and larger, which may be contrary to what many women may be trying to achieve in attempting to sculpt leaner-looking physique. No amount of crunches will burn off abdominal fat directly. Increased physical activity in general, exercise and good nutrition are key to maintaining a healthy body.

Now, I am defiantly not saying that there is no point exercising. What I am trying to say is you should change your motives for exercising. Setting SMART goals will help you stay motivated and will help you feel more accomplished. For example, when I first started in the gym, I could not run. So, I set a goal to run for 30 seconds and slowly build this up over time. The sense of accomplishment I felt when I could finally run for a full 30 minutes and still breathe was amazing. It is the little fitness achievements like this that keep me going. Hitting a new PB, challenging yourself and felling fitter and healthier in the long run is really a great way to not only improve your overall health, but also improve your self-esteem and mental wellbeing. In addition, much research shows that when you exercise you improve your body confidence despite any physical changes! More research is needed as to why this happens, but it is thought that exercising gives you better body awareness and makes you feel more toned. From what I have learnt so far about body confidence is that it is all about perception, so it makes sense that exercise can improve your perception of your body and make you feel better about it.

So, if you are currently training purely to change you physical appearance, I encourage you to change your goals, believe me it’s for the greater good.

Tips on exercising healthily:

·        Exercise for health, not weight loss. Focus on feeling genuinely healthier, rather than on control and burning calories.

·        Don’t be too repetitive. Cycling for hours every day at gym, or running on a treadmill can lead to that control-based mindset. Try different types of exercise rather than the same thing each session.

·        Make exercise fun – exercise out of doors, with a friend or by dancing at a club to make exercise more fun. Toss a balloon at a friend. Take your dog for a walk.

·        Connect with your body. During eating disorders, we often cut ourselves off from our bodies. Getting reconnected to your body will help exercise to be more healthy. This can be scary at first, but it’s an important part of healthy exercise.

·        Don’t push too hard. Do enough exercise, but not too much. It may take a while to get the balance right, but over time it should start to fall into place. If you feel sick, sore or dizzy, then you know you’ve pushed it too far.

·        Do mindful exercise that helps you connect. Examples are yoga, Pilates and tai chi. All these focus on the body in a slow and careful way, so that you learn more about how your body moves and how to move it well.

·        If exercise starts to feel like it’s moving towards “unhealthy” mode, take some time out and think about what you really want to gain from exercise, and how you can approach things in a healthier way.

·        It’s not so much what you do, as how you do it. It’s about enjoyment, rather than just about doing the “right” type of exercise. Yoga can be unhealthy too, if you push yourself too far.