We live in a wonderfully adverse world filled with people of all different colors, languages, and shapes. With this adversity comes the need for many things to be customized. If you speak Spanish it would be tough for you to converse with someone who only spoke French. We also buy clothes that will best fit our varying body types. So in saying all of that it seems only practical that our diet and exercise routines should reflect what is best for our specific body type.

Before we figure out what type of body shape you are I’d like to go over the 2 main types of fat stored in the human body. Understanding this will help you understand why certain body shapes are more prone to certain diseases than others.

1. Subcutaneous Fat: This fat is situated between the skin and the muscle. It is the culprit for you not getting that 6 pack you’ve always wanted.
2. Visceral Fat: This fat is located behind the muscles of the torso and covers the organs. If you have an excessive amount of fat it can cause stomach distention and firming. (not the good kind of firming) This type of fat is linked to higher risk of heart disease because of its location. It literally hangs all over the heart, liver, pancreas, etc…

Now to transfer that into body shape types would be to say there are people who are apples and people who are pears.. Here’s how you can spend 10 seconds to see which one you are.

• Apples: are typically larger around the midsection with very limited fat on the arms and legs. AKA the “Beer Belly.” This type of body shape is at a much higher risk of heart disease since it is primarily composed of visceral fat.
• Pears: have smaller waists in comparison to their hips and legs. This body shape is composed mainly of subcutaneous fat and is of a much less risk of heart disease than apples.
• Banana: If you are skinny all over then you may not make a connection between the shapes above. The truth is that most banana’s, if they ever put on any weight, are apples.

Now that you know what body shape you are then it’s time to figure out what kind of diet and exercise you should be doing to help keep you in shape.

If you are an Apple then you have to be careful on the amount of simple sugars that you intake. Simple sugars are those found in fruits, candy, non-whole grain breads, alcohol, pasta’s, etc… Now I’m not suggesting that you go on a NO-carb diet but look into healthy alternatives like the South Beach and focus on veggies and lean meats. For your exercise program you will need to really hone in on cardiovascular training and keep your intensity at a rate in which you can keep up the activity for at least 30 minutes. Do total body strength training 2-3 days a week and cardio 4-5 days a week.

If you are a pear then focus on the amount of simple sugars and saturated fats that you are in-taking. You diet should be composed of, similarly to the apples, lots of vegetables and lean meats. Now the difference is that for apples you HAVE to stay away from those sweets and for pears you HAVE to stay away from those saturated fats. Pears should focus on putting on plenty of Lean Body Mass through weight training and a solid cardiovascular program. I suggest strength training 3-4 days a week alternating between lower and upper body (or push and pull muscles) and cardiovascular training 4 days a week using interval training. An example of interval training would be running lightly on a treadmill for 2 minutes then cranking up the intensity and running hard for 1 minute, then slowing it back down to a slow jog for 2 more minutes. Alternate back and forth until 30 minutes is up.

Understanding what type of diet and exercise your body needs is a critical component to being successful on a fitness regiment. It’s difficult to give you any real customized information without talking to you individually and I hope that the information above will at least give you an idea of what you should be doing.

If you would like to try out a 100% customizable at home online workout system that I designed and use everyday then visit www.therpmsystem.com and put in the code: 376255532 to try it free for 1 week.

If you have any questions be sure to email me at justin<at>therpmsystem.com