© Folens 2009FOR EDEXCEL 1.2.1a Physical activity and your healthy mind and body

Somatotypes 1

Somatotypes

© Folens 2009FOR EDEXCEL 1.2.1a Physical activity and your healthy mind and body

What you will learn about in this topic:

1. Body types (somatotypes)

2. How somatotypes are determined

3. Which somatotypes suit which sports

Somatotypes 2

© Folens 2009FOR EDEXCEL 1.2.1a Physical activity and your healthy mind and body

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Learning objectives

By the end of this presentation you should be able to:

•Understand what somatotypes are

•Describe each somatotype

•Explain why different somatotypes are suited to certain sports

© Folens 2009FOR EDEXCEL 1.2.1a Physical activity and your healthy mind and body

Somatotypes

Somatotyping is a method of identifying people by their body shape. There are three extreme categories of somatotypes:

• Endomorphic

• Mesomorphic

• Ectomorphic

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© Folens 2009FOR EDEXCEL 1.2.1a Physical activity and your healthy mind and body

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A person with an endomorphic body type has a tendency to put on fat, has a soft roundness of shape, short tapering limbs, small bones and wide hips.

© Folens 2009FOR EDEXCEL 1.2.1a Physical activity and your healthy mind and body

A person with a mesomorphic body shape usually has a high proportion of muscle and bone, a large trunk, a heavy chest, broad shoulders and narrow hips.

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© Folens 2009FOR EDEXCEL 1.2.1a Physical activity and your healthy mind and body

A person with an ectomorphic body shape has a lean, fragile, delicate body, small bones and is narrow at the shoulders and hips.

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© Folens 2009FOR EDEXCEL 1.2.1a Physical activity and your healthy mind and body

Each somatotype has a 1 to 7 score where 1 is low and 7 is high.

Each person is measured to find their personal mark.

A non-sportsperson may have the following combination: 4, 3, 3 (4 = medium endomorphy, 3 = low mesomorphy, 3 = low ectomorphy).

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© Folens 2009FOR EDEXCEL 1.2.1a Physical activity and your healthy mind and body

There are very few people with the extreme examples of these body type. Most people have a combination of all three.

Sportspeople generally have more mesomorphic (muscle) and ectomorphic (thinness) than endomorphic (fatness) characteristics.

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© Folens 2009FOR EDEXCEL 1.2.1a Physical activity and your healthy mind and body

A top-class sport, however, will attract the best extremes of body type suitable to that game.

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For example, basketball will attract players who are all very tall and thin with sinewy muscles, falling into the ectomorph/mesomorph category.

© Folens 2009FOR EDEXCEL 1.2.1a Physical activity and your healthy mind and body

Jockeys, swimmers and marathon runners fall into the ectomorph (relatively thin) category.

A centre in netball, a gymnast and a sprinter are all mesmorph types (relatively muscled).

A prop in rugby would be the mesomorph/endomorph type.

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© Folens 2009FOR EDEXCEL 1.2.1a Physical activity and your healthy mind and body

Task

What would you say is your somatotype?

Make a poster to show the different types of bodies sportspeople have. Use photos from magazines or the Internet to illustrate a range of types.

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© Folens 2009FOR EDEXCEL 1.2.1a Physical activity and your healthy mind and body

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Exam questions

1. What somatotype do sumo wrestlers tend towards? Explain your answer.

2. Using a sporting example, describe what an extreme mesomorphic person would look like.

© Folens 2009FOR EDEXCEL 1.2.1a Physical activity and your healthy mind and body

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What you have learntin this topic:

1. Body types (somatotypes)

2. How somatotypes are shown

3. Which somatotypes suit which sports

© Folens 2009FOR EDEXCEL 1.2.1a Physical activity and your healthy mind and body

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Learning objectives

You should now be able to:

•Understand what somatotypes are

•Describe each somatotype

•Explain why different somatotypes are suited to certain sports