Building Lean Muscle for the Mesomorph Body Type

The naturally athletic and strong person with good muscularity describes the mesomorph body type. The mesomorph body type is the most genetically gifted and desirable body type physically for body building. They are able to add lean muscle quickly and gain or lose weight easily. They are envied by friends because of this and desired by the opposite sex. Building lean muscle for the mesomorph body type appears to be easy but they too also have their challenges.

When they are first starting to train they will be encouraged by their fairly quick results achieved. These guys and ladies can also train more often then say an ectomorph body type and for longer. But mesomorphs have to be careful that they don’t over train, thinking more will mean bigger muscles. We know however that this is not the case. In fact over training can result in injuries due to fatigue, or lack of any visible progress due to burnout which can prove disheartening for you.

#1 You can train 4-5 times a week, focusing initially on basic compound movements, and then later isolation exercises.

TIP Train with someone more experienced then you if your a beginner, and even if your a more advanced trainer.

#2 Always warm up and stretch for 10-15mins before starting your workout ensuring you have a light sweat up.

#3 Workout with both high intensity and heavy weights in the 8-12rep range.

#4 Vary your rest periods between sets from 30secs to 2mins.

TIP You may want to start with your weakest body part in your workout, or one you want to develop and/or strengthen more.

#5 Do cardio 3-5 times a week depending if you want to keep lean or burn off extra fat but minimise it to 30mins each time.

TIP The 2 best times to do cardio training is;

i) Ideally first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, or

ii) Right after your gym workout.

#6 Remember to get a good 6-8 hours sleep every night.

TIP Every 4-6 weeks it pays to change up your program.

TIP Also at this time take a week off to rest and recover.

Depending on your goals whether building lean muscle or to burn fat fast and be shredded you want a good nutrition program to support your training goals.

#1 Ensure you are eating 5-6 small meals a day every 2-3 hours

#2 Focus on eating whole foods, organic even better. The less processed food you eat the better.

#3 Now you will have to find the right protein, carbs and fat balance for you, but generally up to 35% protein, 45% carbs and 20% fats.

TIP Focus having your carbs in the morning, pre-workout and post-workout.

TIP Post-workout it is recommended to not eat any fats

#4 Drinking lots of water cannot be stressed enough to aid building lean muscle and flushing your body of impurities. Especially in summer and on your workout days recommend to drink at least 4-5L a day.

TIP Drink 2-3 glasses of water a few minutes prior to every meal

The importance of tracking and recording your workouts and nutrition can not be underestimated. This will clearly highlight your progress and see where gains have been made in weight lost, arm size, chest and so forth. What exercises give you the best results together with your nutrition. What other factors such as general health and well being affect or enhance your development.

Once you mesomorphs have reached a level of lean muscle and body fat% that you are happy with, you can then train for maintenance. If however you are focused and determined to always improve and push yourself you will want to continually switch it up! The challenge for you mesomorphs is trying to control your enthusiasm for wanting to train to much, and hence inadvertently slow your progress.