In physiology class, i.e., sports physiology, theres the so-called "somatotypes in sports", classifying people into endomorphs, mesonorphs, and ectomorphs.
Endomorphs are those that have large abdominal viscera and digest, absorb and store food efficiently so with tendency to become obese. They are not muscular and are seldom seen in advanced class of athletes.I do engage in sports like soccer and biking and mountaineering. And you can guess by my big skeletal frame... and my defined (or rather, big) gastrocnemius muscles that I'm the mesonorph type. And I hate it... One time, some stupid stranger shouted that I'm macho daw.. wtf.. anyway..
Mesonorphs are those with much bone, muscle, and connective tissues and they tend to be a muscular athlete with a large body frame. most athletes fall into this category They are by nature, competitive and aggressive.
While ectomporphs have high proportion of skin and nerve tissue with small skeletal frame. They tend to be good marathon runners and tend to avoid contact sports.
While I am that, Toper is an ectomorph (peace, love). hahaha
Toper and I, when time permits, go cycling. While I choose the higher gears (higher resistance, with longer distance covered in one cycle), he uses the lower gears (lower resistance, with shorter distance covered in one cycle). By the cyclists' vocabulary, I am a masher while he is a spinner.
He encourages me to put my gears on low; he reasons that by putting the gears on lighter mode, the tendency is that there's continuous movement/cycling. He thinks that there's more "exercise" in it and hence more fats burned when doing such.
I've given much thought into it. And if I want to lose muscle mass, I think I should shift to be a spinner. See, when you are a spinner, the tendency is that you do aerobic exercise as opposed to being a masher that does more of an anaerobic exercise. And if you would google aerobic vs anaerobic exercise most of the sites will give you these:
Again, being a masher is like power lifting, there's greater resistance so that with each pedal, tendency is that the muscles bulk... which I am trying to avoid.. so then, will be shifting to low gears next time =)The benefits of aerobic activity are...
- Increased Cardiovascular Function
- Decrease in Body Fat
The negatives of aerobic activity are.
- Decreased Muscle Mass
- Decreased Strength
- Decreased Power
- Decreased Speed
- Decreased Anaerobic Capacity
The benefits of anaerobic activity are...
- Increased Cardiovascular Function
- Decrease in Body Fat
- Increased Muscle Mass
- Improved Strength
- Improved Power
- Improved Speed
- Increased Aerobic Capacity
The negatives of anaerobic activity are...
- Anaerobic activity requires an aerobic foundation
Lactic acid build-up
OKphotos courtesy of Toper
