Body Types (AQA GCSE Physical Education (PE))

Revision Note

Author

Expertise

Biology

There are three different types of body shapes, also known as somatotypes
These are:
- ectomorph
- mesomorph
- endomorph
Although generally the same across men and women, there are some slight differences in how they present due to differences in anatomy

Somatotype Example	Description of Somatotype
Endomorph	Broader core body - shoulders, middle, hips and thighs, and higher fat content
Mesomorph	High muscle content Broad shoulders in men and wide hips and thighs in women (hourglass shape)
Ectomorph	Thin and often tall, narrow body shape Long arms and legs, small hips and shoulder-width

Somatotype Example

Description of Somatotype

Endomorph

Broader core body - shoulders, middle, hips and thighs, and higher fat content

Mesomorph

High muscle content

Broad shoulders in men and wide hips and thighs in women (hourglass shape)

Ectomorph

Thin and often tall, narrow body shape

Long arms and legs, small hips and shoulder-width

The body shapes of both men and women showing the three somatotypes: ectomorph, mesomorph and endomorph

Different body types provide competitive advantages for athletes in different types of sports
Endomorphs have more muscle and 'bulk' and therefore succeed at sports that require brute strength like rugby, powerlifting, and heavyweight boxing
Ectomorphs have a thin, lean body shape which makes them suited for sports that do not require a lot of brute strength but more delicate finesse, such as tennis or netball
Mesomorphs have characteristics of both endomorphs and ectomorphs and so have high strength and power but are not weighed down by a large body mass, this makes them suited to sports such as sprinting, swimming and gymnastics

In an exam, you may be asked to match the sports type with the most suitable body type for that sport.

Note that not everyone fits into one of the three body types as there is often overlap between the categories.

to absolutely everything:

the (exam) results speak for themselves:

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