Is your local gym too far away? Or it may be too expensive. If that’s the case then you probably think that you’re never gonna be able to build muscles as an Ectomorph. Luckily for you, muscles aren’t smart enough to know if you’re training at the gym or you’re just at home lifting a heavy table. Therefore, It’s not impossible to be in shape in the comfort of your own home.
Assuming you have no equipment, the perfect Ectomorph home workout consists of push-ups, pull-ups, squats, lunges, and all their different variations. This will give your muscles enough resistance training in order to grow.
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What Does an Ectomorph Home Workout Consist Of?
When you expose your muscles to any sort of resistance, whether it’s free weights, bodyweight, training machines, or resistance bands, they are bound to grow and get bigger over time, especially with the right workout and the right nutrition plan. Here are some of the best exercises you can do at home and their benefits to your body.
Push-ups
Pushups are exercises that are done by laying on the floor or any flat surface while pushing negatively against gravity all depending on your core and upper body strength. Pushups can greatly improve your core strength, they work the triceps and shoulders, they can also strengthen the lower back region especially if they’re performed correctly. And what’s great about pushups, is that they can pretty much be done from anywhere and at any time because they don’t really require any sort of equipment. In my opinion, pushups are the best Ectomorph home workout exercise. They don’t require much and they provide the best results.
And doing them every day will greatly improve your muscle growth.
And beside the standard pushup form, here are some great variations that you can do to change your workout routine:
Knee Pushups:
These are great for beginners. If you are still unable to do a proper standard pushup, then this is the optimal exercise for you. It’ll slowly build your upper body strength to make it ready for the standard pushup.
If you still can’t do a single standard pushup, then I guarantee you that doing knee pushups every day for a week will make you able to do at least one.
Wide Hands Pushups:
These are great if you want to focus heavily on your chest muscles instead of the overall chest/triceps/shoulders. You can perform them just like the standard pushup but instead, increase the distance between your hands. I highly recommend implementing them on your home workout.
Diamond Pushups
These are a little bit harder than your regular pushups. Instead of focusing more on your chest, diamond pushups will primarily strengthen your triceps. You can perform them by getting into a plank position while forming a diamond or triangle shape with your hands.
Pull-ups
Pull-ups are considered compound exercises. That means they target more than one muscle group which is great for the Ectomorph body type. These muscle groups include the back, biceps, shoulders, abdominal muscles, and core. Pull-ups can strengthen your grip, your back muscles and improve your overall posture. And just like pushups, they can be performed from anywhere, all you need is to invest in a simple pull bar (Here is the best and cheapest one I found on amazon).
Here are some amazing variations of pull-ups that you can do to maximize your muscle growth:
Wide Grip Pull-Ups:
These are great if you want to focus more on your lats giving you that nice-looking V-shape. But they are slightly harder and their range of motion isn’t as great as the traditional one.
Narrow Grip Pull-Ups:
Just like their name indicates, these types of pull-ups are performed by gripping the bar with a close grip. So the distance between your hands should be right about your ears. These also focus primarily on the lats but can also work the chest, rear delts, arms, and forearms.
Neutral Grip Pull-Ups:
These are the most comfortable pull-ups to do since your arms are gripped in a neutral way which will boost your strength and capability to do more. And when you perform these, you’ll actually focus on the majority of your back and upper body muscles in general, like the lats, biceps, and triceps.
You can play around with different grips during your workouts to focus on different muscle parts and thus, improve your overall growth potential.
Squats
Squats are the ultimate bodyweight leg exercise you can do at home. Yes, they are painful but trust me it’s definitely worth it. Not only does it train legs but it also focuses on the glutes, hamstrings, hips, and calves. It’s a full workout by itself! And just like all the other exercises mentioned in this article, squats can be done anywhere and without any sort of equipment.
Here are some great variations you can implement on your home workouts:
Prisoner Squats:
This is one of the best squats variations and it’s pretty straightforward too. Just act like you’re getting arrested by placing your hand behind your head and doing normal squats. This is great for working those glutes, quads, and hamstrings.
Bulgarian Split Squat
If you’re looking for a challenge and a way to push your quad muscles to the fullest when it comes to training your legs, then this is the best exercise for you. Place one of your legs on an elevated surface and squat normally with the other one. This will put all your body weight stress into one leg. It’s a lot more difficult but it’s also very rewarding in terms of leg muscles growth.
Box Squats
This is one of my absolute favorite leg home exercises. All you need is a medium-height box that can handle your weight, or simply a chair or even a sofa. Stand in front of it and do a normal squat, but instead of getting up like you would usually do, jump to the box in front of you and repeat. The explosiveness of the jump will fully work your quads and push them to their max.
The Perfect Ectomorph Home Workout
Here is what a perfect Ectomorph home workout would look like using all the variations mentioned in this article:
And if you ever decide to join the gym, here is a great Ectomorph workout plan that you can implement to maximize your results.