Fun and Fitness: Good genes means looking good in jeans

Thin females and muscular males are seen as the ideal in our society and because we have come to believe that body size and shape are totally under a person's control, most people enter diet and exercise programs with unrealistic goals and expectations. If you continually strive to achieve a socially imposed ideal, you will never be free of your insecurities or your self-consciousness. You must truly realize and then learn to accept that we are not all meant to be fashion-sized models or Calvin Klein poster boys.

Our size and structure reflects not only our eating and exercise habits but also our genetics. The role this latter factor plays in determining weight varies greatly between individuals. We are all born with a certain body type inherited from our parents; although hardly anyone is a pure body type, there are three different applicable categories: ectomorphs, mesomorphs and endomorphs.

Ectomorphs have a light build with slight muscular development. They are usually tall and thin with small frames and narrow hips and shoulders. Mesomorphs have a husky, muscular build. They often have broad shoulders and their weight is concentrated in the upper body, making them look compact or stocky. Endomorphs are characterized by a heavy, rounded build with shoulders usually narrower then their hips. They have a round, soft appearance and are more often overweight or obese.

When we understand and appreciate our bodies we are able to work with them, not against them. Although many of us are a combination of two body types, we cannot become what we are not. I, for example am an ecto-meso. Growing up, I've always had a light muscular build like a typical basketball player giving me some of those ectomorph traits. Yet, I have broad shoulders, and now that I am older and have trained with weights, my body has matured and that ‘young basketball player' look I once had is now a tad exaggerated in size. I have grown to appreciate this ecto-meso combination and continue to utilize it to the best of my abilities.

Now that I think about it, it's kind of ironic that basketball and bodybuilding happen to be my two favorite sports. I ain't that tall shredded basketball player I wish I could be ala Lebron James. I also don't have the genetics to put on mass amounts of muscle like some of my favorite body builders from the seventies. It'd be nice to be one extreme or the other, that way I could exploit the gifts to their max potential. I guess I didn't pick the right parents.

But in all honesty, I'm very happy to be right down the middle of the two. I'll never be Allen Iverson and I'll never be Arnold Schwarzenegger, but I'm having the time of my life being a blend of the two. Sorry ‘bout that Mom, sorry Dad; it looks like I know how to pick ‘em after all.

Rick knows a bit about looking good in jeans. Email him for advice at rmelo@fanshawec.ca