Mahler's Monday Morning Motivator # 72 - Tipping the Scales

[Mahler]

Mahler’s Monday Morning Motivator # 72 – Tipping the Scales

Good Morning, Guys,
To all of you in the path of Dennis, my thoughts and prayers go out to you for your safety.

I did some eye opening tests this past week and found out that I am truly an ectomorph. Why this would be a surprise is beyond me. All I have to do is look at my high school pictures and the evidence is plain. That tall, thin wisp of a boy looking back just screams ectomorph. The tests, however, proved this beyond any doubt and came from the new book “Scrawny to Brawny” by Mike Mejia and John Berardi.

My shoulder to hip ratio 13/12 revealed only a one inch difference or a ratio of 1.08. A difference of 5 inches or a ratio around 1.46 is optimal for building muscle and is the territory of those gifted mesomorphs.

My femur length to torso length was another revelation. This proved to be 18/17 or 1.06. Big deal. What does this mean? Well, for one, it means that I should not be able to squat or Deadlift as well as other lifters because my long femur will cause me to lean forward too much. Of course, this combined with a shorter lower leg or tibial length of 16 just complicates matters further. Ass to grass squatting is going to be difficult.

The icing on the cake is the shoulder to height ratio. The greater the difference, the more ectomorphic you are. Incidentally, in doing this test, I found that I am shrinking. Oh, joy. I am about an inch and a half shorter than my former self. According to the book, Berardi’s ratio is .206. Mine? A mere .186. The lower it is, the more ectomorphic one finds oneself.

Add to the above that I have long arms which compromise bench press ability and you have before you an ectomorphic nightmare.

All right, before we begin the pity party, lets take a look at some other tests. These were designed to reveal weaknesses in Posture, Flexibility and Muscular Strength. Without going into a lot of detail, I highly recommend that every one do such an assessment. A score of 14 is a disaster waiting to happen. A score of 0 is the best. Surprisingly, this 56 year old scored 1 which revealed a little weakness in core strength on the unanchored sit-up. This was very encouraging and made me feel that I have, at least, been doing something right for the last 4 years.

What all of this ultimately reveals is the genius behind the program. You can change your body, regardless of the hand that nature has dealt you. It’s not easy, but it is possible. The right program for lifting and eating and a lot of determination will get you there. I am pretty much where I want to be at 180 and 11% body fat, but plan to do Mike’s lifting program anyway. The whole point is, if I can do it, then what the hell are you sitting on your hands for? It’s easy to make excuses, citing our weaknesses or disadvantages. Who wouldn’t like to be the perfect specimen, the gifted mesomorph, who can practically sneeze and gain muscle, as Mike jokingly points out? But, for most of us, that just isn’t going to happen regardless of what end of the genetic continuum we find ourselves, unless we do something to tip the scales. It’s time to tip the scales, my friends and to tip them in your favor. The only benefit in knowing what you are is that it helps you to prepare for what you will become.

= = = = = = = = = =

Have a great week.

In Fitness & Friendship,
Mahler

[JMR]

It's good to see useful information coming out. Everyone can make incredible improvements to their body but you do have to work with the hand that you were dealt. Fighting genetics has been my lot in life and I did it way wrong for a long time. Realizing that you're never gonna be hyyooooggee can be rough on some people but you can only be the best YOU...

[UpNorth]

Its nice to see one of the veterans on the board learning from S2B as well. The corrective tests and body type measurements were quite an eye opener for me as well.

Thanks for sharing.

[igunick]

my shoulder to hip ratio is about somewhere around 1.9-2. Guess I did something wrong!

edit: I was reading the numbers upside down it's 1.15

[CAchief]

now im interested what my ratios are. I think i'll pick up the nook to read while I recoop. Thanks for the motivation, John!

[Bond007]

Wow! What a great motivator this morning, John!

I did that "Measure Of A Man" thing as well. At first I did the measurements myself, and I simply couldn't believe the numbers. So, I asked my wife to make the measurements herself. She's much more "realistic" than I am, according to her. Interestingly enough, she did come up with the same numbers as I did.

Now, I'm gonna share because I wanna. Fair warning!!!

My shoulder to hip ratio is 17:11 giving me a value of 1.55. Man, was I excited! In fact, I still am!!! My femur to torso length relationship was 16:16, or 1:1, pretty ideal for squatting and deadlifting. Then, toss in my tibial length, and I'm 16:16:15.5. Lastly, my shoulder width to height relationship turned out to be 17:69, or a whopping .246. I also did the "jump test" to assess overall muscle fiber and discovered that I was able to achieve a decent 25" without trying all that hard. Next, I moved on the flexibility phase of the assessment where I scored a nice number of 4,
with almost all of that being in the "pencil test". Yeah, my shoulders are almost completely screwed!

So, then all that begged the question for me "if I'm so damned mesomorphic that I can 'practically sneeze and gain muscle', what the hell have I been doing wrong in the gym over my last 15 years of training?" All that assessment and the subsequent "high" after discovering my results created an incredible self-examination. Why am I not exactly where I want to be, or even could be for that matter? I mean, I received the "genetic wildcard", so to speak, and I've just tossed it away all these years. I pulled out my training logs that I've created and saved over the last 15 years and discovered something pretty amazing. I couldn't lay my hands on every one, and I couldn't explain gaps in my training. I realized one major holdback for me was inconsistency in the gym. Of the logs I did find, I realized that I'd actually set a routine and stick with it through thick and thin for months, even years in some cases. No wonder I wasn't growing. I started seeing that from time-to-time I'd also latch on to some "new and improved" method of training from any number of fitness mags, get bored or not see any desired results, and toss it after a few weeks of
training. Error # 1.

Now, here's where it got even more interesting. I could only find a couple of occassions throughout that 15-year history where I ever even
recorded my measurements. So, how in the hell could I have even known that I was increasing in size? Yeah, I could see strength gains from
the logs that I had, but I couldn't tell if I'd actually gained any size. I could also only lay my hands on 2 sets of pictures that I'd taken to compare changes in my overall physique. I realized that mentally over all the years, I'd been comparing myself to OTHER people, and not myself to myself. Errors # 2 & 3.

The next thought that came to mind was my nutrition. I quickly discovered Error # 4! While I'd normally watched what I ate, I also realized that I had this mentality that I was working out so that "I could eat what I wanted to without getting fat". Over the years I'd never considered proper pre & post workout nutrition, nor had I really cared about what else I ate during the course of the day. And, yeah, while I'd eat a lot during the day, the food wasn't the healthiest I could have eaten, nor in most cases was I even eating enough to grow. I thought back about 10 years and recalled what my average daily nutritional intake was and discovered that I was barely eating enough calories to sustain the physique I had, not to mention trying to GROW!

Ok, so I thought I was all done when the last thought popped into my head....."What about my screwed up shoulders?" Yeah, I was a competitive swimmer from the age of about 5 until 18, so overuse injuries just made sense. For the last several years, I'd just accepted that reason. When all of a sudden it dawned on me that I was sitting on the sofa with my back rounded and my shoulders pulling so far forward that
I was actually getting a headache. I started examining my "normal" sitting posture. It was deplorable. Could I have prevented my shoulder impingement disease? I'm beginning to think that even though I swam, if I would also have always sat and stood up straight with my shoulders pulled back, I could definitely have prevented the impingement disease. Here I was, having suffered through 4 shoulder surgeries, still hunching my shoulders forward. Have I not learned anything?! It was then I also realized that my training should have been adjusted over the years to compensate for what I knew I was doing to my shoulders. You see, my shoulder pain didn't just "start" one fateful day in June 2000. I'd actually started noticing it when I was a teenager, but didn't think anything of it. Who knew?! Error # 5.

Now, today, I've opened my eyes, started listening to others, found a great support group (that's all you guys), gained the knowlege to put
together one awesome nutritional plan coupled with a great workout plan that is somewhat tailored to my specific needs and abilities, and
I'm ready to go forward and put my genetics to work for me!

I've got only one fear that I'm trying desparately to overcome.......at 37, have I waited too long? Am I still close enough to my prime that I can achieve the physique that I've always wanted? Then, I look at John. 56-years-young and he's still actively pursuing a goal with FEWER years of experience in the gym as I have!!! For now, I say "Hell, YES! I've got all that I need to achieve what I want." Besides, I'm still voted the "Best Husband" among all my wife's friends, even over their own husbands. Sheesh!!! Of course, she does ask me to keep my shirt on around her divorced friends......I wonder why??????? [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Lost Dog]

I'm pretty curious to try these test, myself, just to find out... something.

I've been fat, husky, heavy, plump, "big-boned," etc. for all of my life (sans the last year and a half).

I've recently been called skinny (I'm 6'1", 180lbs, 12% body fat). I certainly don't feel skinny, as I'm up from 165lbs at 16% from last year at this time.

The folks calling me skinny are people that have known me for ages. Obviously, I'm a lot skinnier than before, but I just don't feel skinny.

Now, if you look at most of the previous books, articles, web-sites, etc. that discuss body types, it's mostly based on anecdotal evidence and opinions about how easily you put on or lose weight, etc. If I test myself now, I'm all over the place. When fat, I'd say "endomorph." Who knows, now?

Will the tests in "Scrawny to Brawny" tell me which type I am? Or, does it really just assume that you're an ecto and show you how to compensate?

This post has opened my eyes in a couple of ways, so thanks Mahler and Bond007 for the detailed posts. I realized as I read (although, not for the first time), that I've got bad posture! I get a physical exam from my doctor every year. I use a trainer to periodically check my lifting form. Time to expand into this area and take care of business.

Thanks again!

[Kaiser]

I bought S2B (and even had it signed by JB) and then promptly gave it as a gift to my 18 year old cousin. Can somebody be kind enough to quickly describe how to take the measurements mentioned in Mahler's MMM? It would be great for those of us who don't have the book handy, and would finally tell me which body type category I fit into,

[igunick]

you could just buy the book again, you know

even though I haven't got the book yet (somewhere this week), I would like to know this too

[Mahler]

Originally posted by UpNorth:
Its nice to see one of the veterans on the board learning from S2B as well. The corrective tests and body type measurements were quite an eye opener for me as well.

Thanks for sharing.

UpNorth,
The more I learn, the more I realize that I am still a novice. When I stop learning it won't be because I know it all, it will be because I am dead. And the greatest gift in learning is in the sharing of what you have learned.

Thanks for the comments.

In Fitness & Friendship,
Mahler

[UpNorth]

Originally posted by Lost_Dog:
Will the tests in "Scrawny to Brawny" tell me which type I am? Or, does it really just assume that you're an ecto and show you how to compensate?

The tests in the book will tell you what body type you are most like (endo, ecto or mesomorph), but the content of the book itself is written for the ectomorph. One other thing: the "body type tests" and the tests for finding imbalances and/or weaknesses as well as the corrective measures will work for any body type. Frankly I think the corrective stuff alone is worth the price of the book.

Kaiser -- my book is with a friend right now but if no one responds, I'll post the tests up tomorrow.

[laxcdn]

The book is about $12 from Amazon. Well worth the money for the nutrition and assessment.

[BamaDave]

I checked the book out from the library and somehow managed to miss this test when browsing through it. I need to buy it or check it out again.

I honestly don't think I would fit strictly into one of those categories, no matter what the test results tell me. I really think I have a very mixed frame, almost as though I was pieced together from two people joined at the waist. My legs have always been large, much like those of the men in my biological mother's family. Yet my upper body has always been a mismatch to my legs -- narrow shoulders, thin wrists, no natural muscle to speak of. This is much like my biological father, who is small-framed. This corresponds well with how I fare in weight training -- a lot easier for me to make gains in squats and deadlifts than upper body exercises...

Are these tests still accurate for people who have been working out for several years?? I'm sure my shoulder to hip ratio is far different now than it was almost 4 years ago when I started getting my act together.

[Mahler]

Dave,
Your basic proportions which are determined by bone size and spacing don't change that much in your adult years, so your shoulder to hip ratio should be pretty much the same.

Mahler

[UpNorth]

Originally posted by Kaiser:
I bought S2B (and even had it signed by JB) and then promptly gave it as a gift to my 18 year old cousin. Can somebody be kind enough to quickly describe how to take the measurements mentioned in Mahler's MMM? It would be great for those of us who don't have the book handy, and would finally tell me which body type category I fit into,

Now that I've got my book back and I've looked back at the "Measure of a Man" section I'm not sure it's going to give you the answers you're looking for. Basically it gives an overview of the three standard body types (ectomorph, mesomorph and endomorph) and describes the typical attributes of each -- I'll leave that out here as I'm sure we've all seen that before. It also explains that no one is typically one type but rather a combination.

It then provides measurements and some ratios, which John mentioned at the top of the post, which can be used, in combination with other methods (left unspecified in the book), to help identify aspects of the various body types.

OK, now that I've set the proper expectations here is a synopsis of that section:

First the measurements:

1. Height

2. Torso Length: Measure from the bony prominent area at the top of your shoulder to the bony prominent area at the top of your hip.

3. Femur Length: Measure from the bony prominent area on the outside of your leg a couple of inches below your hip to to the bony prominent area on the outside of the knee.

4. Tibal Length: Measure from the bony prominent area on the inside of the knee ot the bony prominent area on the inside of the ankle.

5. Bi-acromial Breadth: Measure the distance between the bony and prominent area at the top of the shoulders.

6. Bi-iliac Breadth: Measure the distance between the bony and prominent area at the top of the hip.

Then the ratios:

1. Shoulder to hip ratio: bi-acromial breadth / bi-iliac breadth. The larger the ratio the more muscle mass you'll be able to carry. Values greater than 1.46 are optimal for muscle building.

2. Femur to torso length: A femur that is longer than your torso can compromise your ability to squat. Also, with an equal femur to torso ratio but a short tibial length, you may also have trouble squating.

3. Shoulder width to height: bi-acromial breadth / height. The larger the disparity between your shoulder and your height the more ectomorph you are. e.g. A 6'4" individual with 14.5" shouder width is more ectomorph than a 5'8" individual with the same shoulder width. The examples in the book are ratios of .197 vs. .206 demonstrating that .197 is more ectomorph.

Have fun and I hope this isn't considered a major copyright violation!

[Kevin T.]

Mahler:

Great MMMM again. You always come up with the best.

Bond:

Great stuff as well-really eye opening stuff.

I'll have to check out that measure of a man stuff. I used to think that i was somewhat ectomorhpic, but then i realized that after cutting all the cardio of basketball and getting my diet and lifting in order, i've grown 2.5" in height and gone up 25 pounds. Then, again basketball did have me 10 pounds less than my normal weight, but 15 pounds in 6 months is still pretty good