Skeptoid #995: The Eugenic History of the Body Type Diet

July 1, 2025

Key Takeaways

The concept of somatotypes (ectomorph, mesomorph, endomorph) originated from eugenics and was used by William Sheldon to link physical appearance to personality traits, a practice now largely discredited due to racist undertones and fraudulent research methods.
While somatotypes are still used in exercise science as a shorthand and have shown some correlations with athletic performance and training responses, the differences are generally too small to warrant personalized diet and exercise plans for the average person.
Effective fitness strategies are primarily based on individual goals, consistent effort, and adherence to a balanced diet and regular exercise, rather than rigid adherence to body type classifications.

Segments

Origins of Somatotypes (00:00:20)

Key Takeaway: Somatotypes were initially developed by a eugenicist, William Sheldon, to predict personality traits from physical appearance, not for fitness.
Summary: The discussion delves into the historical origins of somatotypes, tracing them back to William Sheldon’s work, which was rooted in eugenics and aimed to link physical characteristics to personality and behavior.

Defining the Somatotypes (00:02:51)

Key Takeaway: Ectomorphs are thin and struggle to gain weight, mesomorphs have a balanced build and gain muscle easily, and endomorphs gain weight readily and struggle to lose it.
Summary: This segment provides detailed descriptions of the three somatotypes: ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph, outlining their typical physical characteristics and tendencies regarding weight gain and muscle development.

Sheldon’s Research and Downfall (00:06:07)

Key Takeaway: William Sheldon’s somatotype research was based on fraudulent methods and racist ideologies, leading to its discredit.
Summary: The conversation details William Sheldon’s academic career, his data collection methods involving nude photographs of students, and the eventual exposure of his fraudulent practices and racist views, which led to the downfall of his system.

Modern Relevance of Somatotypes (00:11:01)

Key Takeaway: While somatotypes are still used as a shorthand in exercise science, their influence on individual fitness outcomes is minimal compared to personal goals and consistent effort.
Summary: This segment explores the current use of somatotypes in scientific research, particularly in exercise science, and argues that while correlations exist, they do not dictate individual destiny or necessitate highly specialized training regimens.

The Goods

If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission.

📚 Just Your Type: The Ultimate Guide to Eating and Training Right for Your Body Type by Phil Catchetall (00:04:13) - Mentioned as a source for body type training recommendations.

Debug Information

Processing Details

VTT File: Skeptoid_BodyTypeDiet_Ep995.vtt
Processing Time: September 11, 2025 at 02:37 PM
Total Chunks: 1
Transcript Length: 19,439 characters
Caption Count: 149 captions

Prompts Used

Prompt 1: Context Setup

You are an expert data extractor tasked with analyzing a podcast transcript. 
I will provide you with part 1 of 1 from a podcast transcript. 
I will then ask you to extract different types of information from this content in subsequent messages. Please confirm you have received and understood the transcript content.

Transcript section:
[00:00:03.280 --> 00:00:08.480] Can you get fitter faster by eating and exercising according to your body type?
[00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:16.240] The body type diet relies on the idea that we all fall into one of three body types, also known as somatotypes.
[00:00:16.240 --> 00:00:19.760] Ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph.
[00:00:20.080 --> 00:00:27.600] These categories were first conceived by a eugenicist looking to predict personality traits from a person's physical appearance.
[00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:34.640] But they've since been embraced by the fitness world as a supposedly more effective approach to diet and exercise.
[00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:42.880] Just because somatotypes have a shady past doesn't mean they're nonsense now, as long as there's evidence to back them up.
[00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:44.160] Is there?
[00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:55.600] Join us for an exclusive three-day exploration of historic Death Valley.
[00:00:55.600 --> 00:01:02.960] From October 21st to 24th, we'll take you from Las Vegas deep into the heart of this rugged, otherworldly landscape.
[00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:06.800] All transportation, lodging, and meals are included.
[00:01:06.800 --> 00:01:09.280] Your guides will be Skeptoid's Brian Dunning.
[00:01:09.520 --> 00:01:14.640] Hey, I know that guy, he's me, and Death Valley expert geologist Andrew Dunning.
[00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:23.440] Together, they'll lead you to world-famous sites like Badwater Basin and the Artist's Palette, plus hidden gems that you won't find in any guidebook.
[00:01:23.440 --> 00:01:27.920] This year's trip features all new destinations with minimal overlap from last year.
[00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:33.120] And here's a bonus, Skepticamp Las Vegas begins the same evening we return to Las Vegas.
[00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:38.320] Make it a two-for-one trip and stick around to hear me talk about my visit to Area 51.
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[00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:55.200] Death Valley is calling.
[00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:57.840] Are you ready to answer?
[00:02:01.880 --> 00:02:03.800] You're listening to Skeptoid.
[00:02:03.800 --> 00:02:08.920] I'm Ashley Hamer, guest hosting for Brian Dunning from skeptoid.com.
[00:02:08.920 --> 00:02:12.600] The eugenic history of the body type diet.
[00:02:13.480 --> 00:02:25.560] Welcome to the show that separates fact from fiction, science from pseudoscience, real history from fake history, and helps us all make better life decisions by knowing what's real and what's not.
[00:02:25.880 --> 00:02:28.920] Getting fit is difficult.
[00:02:28.920 --> 00:02:36.840] Even when you cut out junk food and start working out regularly, it might still take a long time to see results, if you ever do.
[00:02:36.840 --> 00:02:45.080] So it's tempting to think that maybe those boring old rules about eating less and exercising more, they don't make sense for everyone.
[00:02:45.080 --> 00:02:50.200] Maybe you need a custom approach that fits your unique body type.
[00:02:51.160 --> 00:02:56.920] Here's how bodybuilding.com describes the three body types, or somatotypes.
[00:02:56.920 --> 00:03:02.440] An ectomorph tends to be thin and struggles to gain weight as either body fat or muscle.
[00:03:02.440 --> 00:03:08.440] They can eat piles of food and stay looking the same, even when gaining muscular weight is their biggest goal.
[00:03:08.440 --> 00:03:13.800] Ectomorphs tend to have a lean build, long limbs, and small muscle bellies.
[00:03:13.800 --> 00:03:17.240] The muscle belly is just the largest, thickest part of a muscle.
[00:03:17.240 --> 00:03:23.800] It's something bodybuilders obsess over because the shape you're born with affects how much your muscles can visibly pop.
[00:03:23.800 --> 00:03:28.760] The mesomorph has a middle-of-the-road build that includes the best of both worlds.
[00:03:28.760 --> 00:03:35.240] They tend to have wide shoulders, a narrow waist, relatively thin joints, and round muscle bellies.
[00:03:35.240 --> 00:03:41.080] In short, if you're a mesomorph, you have a natural tendency to be fit and relatively muscular.
[00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:44.920] An endomorph tends to gain weight easily and struggle to lose it.
[00:03:45.760 --> 00:03:53.040] Their build is a little wider than an ectomorph or mesomorph, with a thick rib cage, wide hips, and shorter limbs.
[00:03:53.040 --> 00:03:59.840] If you ever feel like you gain five pounds simply walking past a donut shop, you may be an endomorph.
[00:04:00.480 --> 00:04:07.120] These body types, it's said, mostly come down to genetics, but it's also possible to change them.
[00:04:07.440 --> 00:04:13.600] According to proponents of body type training, each type needs a different nutritional and exercise approach.
[00:04:13.600 --> 00:04:34.160] For example, according to Phil Catchetall, a celebrity trainer and co-author of the book Just Your Type: The Ultimate Guide to Eating and Training Right for Your Body Type, skinny ectomorphs should eat more carbs and less fat than stocky endomorphs, while muscular mesomorphs should aim for an even split between carbs, protein, and fat.
[00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:37.200] Exercise recommendations are similar.
[00:04:37.200 --> 00:04:48.640] TransparentLabs.com recommends that stocky endomorphs incorporate lots of cardio to shed fat, while skinny ectomorphs should avoid cardio and do mostly strength training to bulk up.
[00:04:48.640 --> 00:04:51.680] Mesomorphs can do a bit of both.
[00:04:52.640 --> 00:05:04.400] Before we start to hack through the dense thicket of nature versus nurture and correlation versus causation surrounding this idea, we first need to understand where these categories even came from.
[00:05:04.400 --> 00:05:06.320] After all, just look around.
[00:05:06.320 --> 00:05:09.440] There are way more than three types of bodies out there.
[00:05:09.440 --> 00:05:12.720] Who even decided on such narrow definitions?
[00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:15.040] His name was William H.
[00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:22.080] Sheldon, and he did it with nude pictures of Ivy League college students.
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[00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:18.840] William Sheldon was an American psychologist and physician born in 1898 who spent his life categorizing human bodies to predict personality traits and behaviors.
[00:06:19.160 --> 00:06:32.760] He was particularly interested in the work of a German psychiatrist named Ernst Kretschmer, who developed a classification system that associated different body types or somatotypes with different psychiatric disorders.
[00:06:33.080 --> 00:06:44.520] While Kretschmer only had three types, Sheldon dreamed of creating a holistic classification system that used multiple measurements to predict temperament in general, rather than just mental illness.
[00:06:44.520 --> 00:06:49.320] But to create this system, he was going to need data, lots of it.
[00:06:49.960 --> 00:06:59.000] While he was doing his doctoral studies at the University of Chicago in the 1920s, the American posture movement was in full swing.
[00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:06.600] There was a widespread belief that good posture was required for health and that America's youth were slouches.
[00:07:06.920 --> 00:07:17.200] Schools around the country began taking measurements of every student, including photographing them in the nude, to determine who needed special training to straighten back up.
[00:07:17.840 --> 00:07:24.400] As a result, there were thousands and thousands of photos Sheldon could use to create his classifications.
[00:07:24.400 --> 00:07:37.680] For his early research, he collected 4,000 photographs of white male students from the University of Chicago and developed a classification system similar to, but more in-depth, than the three somatotypes we know today.
[00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:45.040] Rather than slotting everyone into one of three body types, he measured the amount that each body corresponded to each type.
[00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:54.880] The amount of ectomorphy or thinness a person had got a score, as did the amount of endomorphy or fatness and mesomorphy or muscularity.
[00:07:55.520 --> 00:08:02.320] Interestingly, although he was using photographs from posture programs, his goals were opposite to theirs.
[00:08:02.640 --> 00:08:18.960] Eugenics was in vogue at the time, and Sheldon and posture educators all believed that a better-looking society would be a healthier society, and that certain races just had a more naturally erect posture than their less civilized counterparts.
[00:08:19.280 --> 00:08:25.440] But posture educators believed bad posture could be improved through training, no matter who you were.
[00:08:25.440 --> 00:08:29.760] Sheldon believed the body you were born with was your destiny.
[00:08:29.760 --> 00:08:39.520] He said that society becoming less beautiful, quote, was the result of modern medicines keeping people alive indiscriminately, end quote.
[00:08:39.520 --> 00:08:43.040] Improved exercise wouldn't fix it, in Sheldon's view.
[00:08:43.040 --> 00:08:45.600] Improved breeding would.
[00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:53.040] During his career, Sheldon collected tens of thousands of photographs and climbed the academic ladder.
[00:08:53.040 --> 00:09:05.640] He befriended psychiatric greats like Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, along with authors like Aldous Huxley, who wrote about his somatotypes in the magazine Harper's Weekly to make them household names.
[00:09:06.280 --> 00:09:13.880] But as World War II exposed the horrors of eugenics, Sheldon and his ideas faced mounting criticism.
[00:09:13.880 --> 00:09:16.600] His views were overtly racist.
[00:09:16.600 --> 00:09:25.000] His master's thesis compared the intelligence of Mexican and white children, and he called Jews and Italians vermin in his books.
[00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:30.360] He was also just difficult to work with and rarely finished any of the projects he started.
[00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:35.960] The final blow came from his own assistant, Barbara Honeyman Heath.
[00:09:35.960 --> 00:09:47.160] She exposed his fraudulent methods to his funders by revealing that Sheldon cherry-picked the photographs he included in his research to prove somatotypes didn't change throughout life.
[00:09:47.160 --> 00:09:54.840] He would trim photos based on subjects' memories of their height and weight at 18, not their actual measurements.
[00:09:55.160 --> 00:10:04.440] Combined with parent complaints over nude photos of students, especially young women, this led to Sheldon's professional downfall.
[00:10:04.440 --> 00:10:12.200] Heath went on to lead a successful career by modifying his techniques, but his original system was discredited.
[00:10:12.840 --> 00:10:18.680] It might surprise you that after all that, someone could still build a career on Sheldon's methods.
[00:10:18.680 --> 00:10:27.000] And it might surprise you further that there's still a whole active field of anthropometry, the study of measurements and proportions of the human body.
[00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:35.720] The truth is that a person's outward appearance can tell you something about them, just not their temperament, personality, or mental health status.
[00:10:36.360 --> 00:10:40.040] For example, BMI is an anthropometric measurement.
[00:10:40.040 --> 00:10:47.600] The ratio of your height to your weight can give some indication of body fat, which can gauge your risk for things like heart disease and diabetes.
[00:10:47.920 --> 00:10:55.600] When you take a baby to the pediatrician, measurements of their height, weight, and head circumference let the doctor know how well they're growing.
[00:10:55.600 --> 00:11:01.200] Anthropometric measurements in athletes can help them refine their training and performance.
[00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:09.840] Which brings us back to somatotype, a term that appears in thousands of academic papers, even from the last five years.
[00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:16.640] Scientists still use the three somatotypes as a handy shorthand, especially in exercise science.
[00:11:17.280 --> 00:11:23.680] Studies have found that a person's somatotype correlates with lots of different things, some more obvious than others.
[00:11:23.680 --> 00:11:33.360] For example, it should surprise no one that endomorphs tend to consume more calories, while ectomorphs tend to have more nutritional deficiencies.
[00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:39.200] And there are plenty of studies that simply describe the somatotypes of top performers.
[00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:48.560] For instance, one study found that the best elite female volleyball players in Spain were taller with more ectomorphy than lower-level players.
[00:11:48.880 --> 00:11:56.880] Another found that elite Italian gymnasts tended to be more mesomorphic and less endomorphic than other elite athletes.
[00:11:56.880 --> 00:12:02.800] And another study found the same thing to be true of Croatian track and field athletes at the national level.
[00:12:02.800 --> 00:12:10.160] Studies like this suggest that an athlete's body type can be a contributing factor toward reaching elite status.
[00:12:10.800 --> 00:12:16.720] And there are a few studies that suggest different somatotypes respond to exercise differently.
[00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:26.880] Research suggests that in an activity like weightlifting, about a third of strength performance comes down to your somatotype, with different somatotypes doing better with different lifts.
[00:12:26.880 --> 00:12:33.640] There's also some evidence that aerobic training has a greater effect in mesomorphs than in other somatotypes.
[00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:37.800] So, does this mean that you should train according to your body type?
[00:12:37.800 --> 00:12:41.480] Not in the way these books and websites suggest.
[00:12:42.440 --> 00:12:51.960] First of all, eating a diverse diet of whole foods in moderate portions and exercising regularly will benefit most people regardless of body type.
[00:12:51.960 --> 00:13:03.400] The differences these studies have found between somatotypes are tiny and more relevant for a professional athlete with Olympic goals than an office worker who wants to fit into their old genes.
[00:13:03.720 --> 00:13:21.160] But here's the biggest logical flaw in body type training: the science suggests that there are certain body types that do better in certain sports, yet these programs push everyone to become mesomorphs by doing exactly what their body type supposedly isn't suited for.
[00:13:22.120 --> 00:13:29.480] For example, elite marathoners tend to be ectomorphs, which suggests a lean frame is better for endurance running.
[00:13:29.480 --> 00:13:37.560] But the body type training approach would suggest that ectomorphs avoid cardio and instead hit the weights to increase their muscle mass.
[00:13:38.200 --> 00:13:45.800] And elite weightlifters tend to have some endomorphy, which suggests that extra weight on your frame is good for generating power.
[00:13:45.800 --> 00:13:51.720] But this approach would tell them to do more cardio and avoid carbs to shed excess fat.
[00:13:52.360 --> 00:13:56.680] Instead, it's better to assess your own goals and go from there.
[00:13:56.680 --> 00:14:02.280] If you're skinny and you want more muscle, by all means, pound the protein and lift heavy weights.
[00:14:02.280 --> 00:14:08.040] If you've got fat you want to lose, focus on diet and exercise plans designed to help you lose it.
[00:14:08.040 --> 00:14:13.240] If you know you do better with one exercise routine than another, do that routine.
[00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:17.600] Very little of this depends on the body type you were born with.
[00:14:18.560 --> 00:14:25.440] Your body type might have a small influence on how you respond to training, but it doesn't dictate your destiny.
[00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:32.880] Unlike Sheldon's eugenic vision, Modern fitness is about working with what you have, not being limited by it.
[00:14:32.880 --> 00:14:41.760] Remember, the most effective workout plan is the one you'll actually stick to, regardless of whether you're an ectomorph, mesomorph, or endomorph.
[00:14:41.760 --> 00:14:47.520] Your genetics might be the hand you're dealt, but how you play that hand is entirely up to you.
[00:14:48.800 --> 00:14:54.560] We continue with more about William Sheldon's downfall in the ad-free and extended premium feed.
[00:14:54.560 --> 00:14:59.840] To access it, become a supporter at skeptoid.com/slash go premium.
[00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:06.640] This has been guest host Ashley Hamer.
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Prompt 2: Key Takeaways

Now please extract the key takeaways from the transcript content I provided.

Extract the most important key takeaways from this part of the conversation. Use a single sentence statement (the key takeaway) rather than milquetoast descriptions like "the hosts discuss...". 

Limit the key takeaways to a maximum of 3. The key takeaways should be insightful and knowledge-additive. 

IMPORTANT: Return ONLY valid JSON, no explanations or markdown. Ensure:
- All strings are properly quoted and escaped
- No trailing commas
- All braces and brackets are balanced
Format: {"key_takeaways": ["takeaway 1", "takeaway 2"]}

Prompt 3: Segments


Now identify 2-4 distinct topical segments from this part of the conversation.

For each segment, identify:
- Descriptive title (3-6 words)  
- START timestamp when this topic begins (HH:MM:SS format)
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Most important Key takeaway from that segment. Key takeaway must be specific and knowledge-additive.
- Brief summary of the discussion

IMPORTANT: The timestamp should mark when the topic/segment STARTS, not a range. Look for topic transitions and conversation shifts.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted, no trailing commas:
{
  "segments": [
    {
      "segment_title": "Topic Discussion", 
      "timestamp": "01:15:30",
      "key_takeaway": "main point from this segment",
      "segment_summary": "brief description of what was discussed"
    }
  ]
}

Timestamp format: HH:MM:SS (e.g., 00:05:30, 01:22:45) marking the START of each segment.

Prompt 4: Media Mentions

Now scan the transcript content I provided for ACTUAL mentions of specific media titles:

Find explicit mentions of:
- Books (with specific titles)
- Movies (with specific titles)  
- TV Shows (with specific titles)
- Music/Songs (with specific titles)

DO NOT include:
- Websites, URLs, or web services
- Other podcasts or podcast names

IMPORTANT: 
- Only include items explicitly mentioned by name. Do not invent titles.
- Valid categories are: "Book", "Movie", "TV Show", "Music"
- Include the exact phrase where each item was mentioned
- Find the nearest proximate timestamp where it appears in the conversation
- THE TIMESTAMP OF THE MEDIA MENTION IS IMPORTANT - DO NOT INVENT TIMESTAMPS AND DO NOT MISATTRIBUTE TIMESTAMPS
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Timestamps are given as ranges, e.g. 01:13:42.520 --> 01:13:46.720. Use the EARLIER of the 2 timestamps in the range.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted and escaped, no trailing commas:
{
  "media_mentions": [
    {
      "title": "Exact Title as Mentioned",
      "category": "Book",
      "author_artist": "N/A",
      "context": "Brief context of why it was mentioned",
      "context_phrase": "The exact sentence or phrase where it was mentioned",
      "timestamp": "estimated time like 01:15:30"
    }
  ]
}

If no media is mentioned, return: {"media_mentions": []}

Full Transcript

[00:00:03.280 --> 00:00:08.480] Can you get fitter faster by eating and exercising according to your body type?
[00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:16.240] The body type diet relies on the idea that we all fall into one of three body types, also known as somatotypes.
[00:00:16.240 --> 00:00:19.760] Ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph.
[00:00:20.080 --> 00:00:27.600] These categories were first conceived by a eugenicist looking to predict personality traits from a person's physical appearance.
[00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:34.640] But they've since been embraced by the fitness world as a supposedly more effective approach to diet and exercise.
[00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:42.880] Just because somatotypes have a shady past doesn't mean they're nonsense now, as long as there's evidence to back them up.
[00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:44.160] Is there?
[00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:55.600] Join us for an exclusive three-day exploration of historic Death Valley.
[00:00:55.600 --> 00:01:02.960] From October 21st to 24th, we'll take you from Las Vegas deep into the heart of this rugged, otherworldly landscape.
[00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:06.800] All transportation, lodging, and meals are included.
[00:01:06.800 --> 00:01:09.280] Your guides will be Skeptoid's Brian Dunning.
[00:01:09.520 --> 00:01:14.640] Hey, I know that guy, he's me, and Death Valley expert geologist Andrew Dunning.
[00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:23.440] Together, they'll lead you to world-famous sites like Badwater Basin and the Artist's Palette, plus hidden gems that you won't find in any guidebook.
[00:01:23.440 --> 00:01:27.920] This year's trip features all new destinations with minimal overlap from last year.
[00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:33.120] And here's a bonus, Skepticamp Las Vegas begins the same evening we return to Las Vegas.
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[00:02:03.800 --> 00:02:08.920] I'm Ashley Hamer, guest hosting for Brian Dunning from skeptoid.com.
[00:02:08.920 --> 00:02:12.600] The eugenic history of the body type diet.
[00:02:13.480 --> 00:02:25.560] Welcome to the show that separates fact from fiction, science from pseudoscience, real history from fake history, and helps us all make better life decisions by knowing what's real and what's not.
[00:02:25.880 --> 00:02:28.920] Getting fit is difficult.
[00:02:28.920 --> 00:02:36.840] Even when you cut out junk food and start working out regularly, it might still take a long time to see results, if you ever do.
[00:02:36.840 --> 00:02:45.080] So it's tempting to think that maybe those boring old rules about eating less and exercising more, they don't make sense for everyone.
[00:02:45.080 --> 00:02:50.200] Maybe you need a custom approach that fits your unique body type.
[00:02:51.160 --> 00:02:56.920] Here's how bodybuilding.com describes the three body types, or somatotypes.
[00:02:56.920 --> 00:03:02.440] An ectomorph tends to be thin and struggles to gain weight as either body fat or muscle.
[00:03:02.440 --> 00:03:08.440] They can eat piles of food and stay looking the same, even when gaining muscular weight is their biggest goal.
[00:03:08.440 --> 00:03:13.800] Ectomorphs tend to have a lean build, long limbs, and small muscle bellies.
[00:03:13.800 --> 00:03:17.240] The muscle belly is just the largest, thickest part of a muscle.
[00:03:17.240 --> 00:03:23.800] It's something bodybuilders obsess over because the shape you're born with affects how much your muscles can visibly pop.
[00:03:23.800 --> 00:03:28.760] The mesomorph has a middle-of-the-road build that includes the best of both worlds.
[00:03:28.760 --> 00:03:35.240] They tend to have wide shoulders, a narrow waist, relatively thin joints, and round muscle bellies.
[00:03:35.240 --> 00:03:41.080] In short, if you're a mesomorph, you have a natural tendency to be fit and relatively muscular.
[00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:44.920] An endomorph tends to gain weight easily and struggle to lose it.
[00:03:45.760 --> 00:03:53.040] Their build is a little wider than an ectomorph or mesomorph, with a thick rib cage, wide hips, and shorter limbs.
[00:03:53.040 --> 00:03:59.840] If you ever feel like you gain five pounds simply walking past a donut shop, you may be an endomorph.
[00:04:00.480 --> 00:04:07.120] These body types, it's said, mostly come down to genetics, but it's also possible to change them.
[00:04:07.440 --> 00:04:13.600] According to proponents of body type training, each type needs a different nutritional and exercise approach.
[00:04:13.600 --> 00:04:34.160] For example, according to Phil Catchetall, a celebrity trainer and co-author of the book Just Your Type: The Ultimate Guide to Eating and Training Right for Your Body Type, skinny ectomorphs should eat more carbs and less fat than stocky endomorphs, while muscular mesomorphs should aim for an even split between carbs, protein, and fat.
[00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:37.200] Exercise recommendations are similar.
[00:04:37.200 --> 00:04:48.640] TransparentLabs.com recommends that stocky endomorphs incorporate lots of cardio to shed fat, while skinny ectomorphs should avoid cardio and do mostly strength training to bulk up.
[00:04:48.640 --> 00:04:51.680] Mesomorphs can do a bit of both.
[00:04:52.640 --> 00:05:04.400] Before we start to hack through the dense thicket of nature versus nurture and correlation versus causation surrounding this idea, we first need to understand where these categories even came from.
[00:05:04.400 --> 00:05:06.320] After all, just look around.
[00:05:06.320 --> 00:05:09.440] There are way more than three types of bodies out there.
[00:05:09.440 --> 00:05:12.720] Who even decided on such narrow definitions?
[00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:15.040] His name was William H.
[00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:22.080] Sheldon, and he did it with nude pictures of Ivy League college students.
[00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:28.960] Fall is here and Skeptoid has you covered.
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[00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:18.840] William Sheldon was an American psychologist and physician born in 1898 who spent his life categorizing human bodies to predict personality traits and behaviors.
[00:06:19.160 --> 00:06:32.760] He was particularly interested in the work of a German psychiatrist named Ernst Kretschmer, who developed a classification system that associated different body types or somatotypes with different psychiatric disorders.
[00:06:33.080 --> 00:06:44.520] While Kretschmer only had three types, Sheldon dreamed of creating a holistic classification system that used multiple measurements to predict temperament in general, rather than just mental illness.
[00:06:44.520 --> 00:06:49.320] But to create this system, he was going to need data, lots of it.
[00:06:49.960 --> 00:06:59.000] While he was doing his doctoral studies at the University of Chicago in the 1920s, the American posture movement was in full swing.
[00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:06.600] There was a widespread belief that good posture was required for health and that America's youth were slouches.
[00:07:06.920 --> 00:07:17.200] Schools around the country began taking measurements of every student, including photographing them in the nude, to determine who needed special training to straighten back up.
[00:07:17.840 --> 00:07:24.400] As a result, there were thousands and thousands of photos Sheldon could use to create his classifications.
[00:07:24.400 --> 00:07:37.680] For his early research, he collected 4,000 photographs of white male students from the University of Chicago and developed a classification system similar to, but more in-depth, than the three somatotypes we know today.
[00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:45.040] Rather than slotting everyone into one of three body types, he measured the amount that each body corresponded to each type.
[00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:54.880] The amount of ectomorphy or thinness a person had got a score, as did the amount of endomorphy or fatness and mesomorphy or muscularity.
[00:07:55.520 --> 00:08:02.320] Interestingly, although he was using photographs from posture programs, his goals were opposite to theirs.
[00:08:02.640 --> 00:08:18.960] Eugenics was in vogue at the time, and Sheldon and posture educators all believed that a better-looking society would be a healthier society, and that certain races just had a more naturally erect posture than their less civilized counterparts.
[00:08:19.280 --> 00:08:25.440] But posture educators believed bad posture could be improved through training, no matter who you were.
[00:08:25.440 --> 00:08:29.760] Sheldon believed the body you were born with was your destiny.
[00:08:29.760 --> 00:08:39.520] He said that society becoming less beautiful, quote, was the result of modern medicines keeping people alive indiscriminately, end quote.
[00:08:39.520 --> 00:08:43.040] Improved exercise wouldn't fix it, in Sheldon's view.
[00:08:43.040 --> 00:08:45.600] Improved breeding would.
[00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:53.040] During his career, Sheldon collected tens of thousands of photographs and climbed the academic ladder.
[00:08:53.040 --> 00:09:05.640] He befriended psychiatric greats like Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, along with authors like Aldous Huxley, who wrote about his somatotypes in the magazine Harper's Weekly to make them household names.
[00:09:06.280 --> 00:09:13.880] But as World War II exposed the horrors of eugenics, Sheldon and his ideas faced mounting criticism.
[00:09:13.880 --> 00:09:16.600] His views were overtly racist.
[00:09:16.600 --> 00:09:25.000] His master's thesis compared the intelligence of Mexican and white children, and he called Jews and Italians vermin in his books.
[00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:30.360] He was also just difficult to work with and rarely finished any of the projects he started.
[00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:35.960] The final blow came from his own assistant, Barbara Honeyman Heath.
[00:09:35.960 --> 00:09:47.160] She exposed his fraudulent methods to his funders by revealing that Sheldon cherry-picked the photographs he included in his research to prove somatotypes didn't change throughout life.
[00:09:47.160 --> 00:09:54.840] He would trim photos based on subjects' memories of their height and weight at 18, not their actual measurements.
[00:09:55.160 --> 00:10:04.440] Combined with parent complaints over nude photos of students, especially young women, this led to Sheldon's professional downfall.
[00:10:04.440 --> 00:10:12.200] Heath went on to lead a successful career by modifying his techniques, but his original system was discredited.
[00:10:12.840 --> 00:10:18.680] It might surprise you that after all that, someone could still build a career on Sheldon's methods.
[00:10:18.680 --> 00:10:27.000] And it might surprise you further that there's still a whole active field of anthropometry, the study of measurements and proportions of the human body.
[00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:35.720] The truth is that a person's outward appearance can tell you something about them, just not their temperament, personality, or mental health status.
[00:10:36.360 --> 00:10:40.040] For example, BMI is an anthropometric measurement.
[00:10:40.040 --> 00:10:47.600] The ratio of your height to your weight can give some indication of body fat, which can gauge your risk for things like heart disease and diabetes.
[00:10:47.920 --> 00:10:55.600] When you take a baby to the pediatrician, measurements of their height, weight, and head circumference let the doctor know how well they're growing.
[00:10:55.600 --> 00:11:01.200] Anthropometric measurements in athletes can help them refine their training and performance.
[00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:09.840] Which brings us back to somatotype, a term that appears in thousands of academic papers, even from the last five years.
[00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:16.640] Scientists still use the three somatotypes as a handy shorthand, especially in exercise science.
[00:11:17.280 --> 00:11:23.680] Studies have found that a person's somatotype correlates with lots of different things, some more obvious than others.
[00:11:23.680 --> 00:11:33.360] For example, it should surprise no one that endomorphs tend to consume more calories, while ectomorphs tend to have more nutritional deficiencies.
[00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:39.200] And there are plenty of studies that simply describe the somatotypes of top performers.
[00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:48.560] For instance, one study found that the best elite female volleyball players in Spain were taller with more ectomorphy than lower-level players.
[00:11:48.880 --> 00:11:56.880] Another found that elite Italian gymnasts tended to be more mesomorphic and less endomorphic than other elite athletes.
[00:11:56.880 --> 00:12:02.800] And another study found the same thing to be true of Croatian track and field athletes at the national level.
[00:12:02.800 --> 00:12:10.160] Studies like this suggest that an athlete's body type can be a contributing factor toward reaching elite status.
[00:12:10.800 --> 00:12:16.720] And there are a few studies that suggest different somatotypes respond to exercise differently.
[00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:26.880] Research suggests that in an activity like weightlifting, about a third of strength performance comes down to your somatotype, with different somatotypes doing better with different lifts.
[00:12:26.880 --> 00:12:33.640] There's also some evidence that aerobic training has a greater effect in mesomorphs than in other somatotypes.
[00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:37.800] So, does this mean that you should train according to your body type?
[00:12:37.800 --> 00:12:41.480] Not in the way these books and websites suggest.
[00:12:42.440 --> 00:12:51.960] First of all, eating a diverse diet of whole foods in moderate portions and exercising regularly will benefit most people regardless of body type.
[00:12:51.960 --> 00:13:03.400] The differences these studies have found between somatotypes are tiny and more relevant for a professional athlete with Olympic goals than an office worker who wants to fit into their old genes.
[00:13:03.720 --> 00:13:21.160] But here's the biggest logical flaw in body type training: the science suggests that there are certain body types that do better in certain sports, yet these programs push everyone to become mesomorphs by doing exactly what their body type supposedly isn't suited for.
[00:13:22.120 --> 00:13:29.480] For example, elite marathoners tend to be ectomorphs, which suggests a lean frame is better for endurance running.
[00:13:29.480 --> 00:13:37.560] But the body type training approach would suggest that ectomorphs avoid cardio and instead hit the weights to increase their muscle mass.
[00:13:38.200 --> 00:13:45.800] And elite weightlifters tend to have some endomorphy, which suggests that extra weight on your frame is good for generating power.
[00:13:45.800 --> 00:13:51.720] But this approach would tell them to do more cardio and avoid carbs to shed excess fat.
[00:13:52.360 --> 00:13:56.680] Instead, it's better to assess your own goals and go from there.
[00:13:56.680 --> 00:14:02.280] If you're skinny and you want more muscle, by all means, pound the protein and lift heavy weights.
[00:14:02.280 --> 00:14:08.040] If you've got fat you want to lose, focus on diet and exercise plans designed to help you lose it.
[00:14:08.040 --> 00:14:13.240] If you know you do better with one exercise routine than another, do that routine.
[00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:17.600] Very little of this depends on the body type you were born with.
[00:14:18.560 --> 00:14:25.440] Your body type might have a small influence on how you respond to training, but it doesn't dictate your destiny.
[00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:32.880] Unlike Sheldon's eugenic vision, Modern fitness is about working with what you have, not being limited by it.
[00:14:32.880 --> 00:14:41.760] Remember, the most effective workout plan is the one you'll actually stick to, regardless of whether you're an ectomorph, mesomorph, or endomorph.
[00:14:41.760 --> 00:14:47.520] Your genetics might be the hand you're dealt, but how you play that hand is entirely up to you.
[00:14:48.800 --> 00:14:54.560] We continue with more about William Sheldon's downfall in the ad-free and extended premium feed.
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[00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:06.640] This has been guest host Ashley Hamer.
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