Despite the ease of weight gain, the endomorph male body type boasts a strong powerlifter-style build. Let’s talk about fashion, nutrition, and the general lifestyle of this mighty build.
I have a good friend who, after helping me with research on body shape categories during grad school, was disappointed to find out his. He was and is a male endomorph body type. He thought it meant he was naturally fat.
If you have an endomorph body shape, you may have had a similar concern. First of all, this isn’t necessarily true. Second, being prone to fatness isn’t actually a bad thing. As with any natural body type, diseases aside, it comes with tremendous pros as well as cons.
Growing up naturally scrawny, I would have loved to be able to store fat more easily. The endomorph male body type is also strong, brawny, and prone to being good at a lot of Olympic sports.
Today, since this is TMM, I’m going to go overdressing your best as an endomorph. Beyond that, I’ll also go over nutrition and general lifestyle as well. I want you to know that it’s a body type to be proud of.
But first, what is an endomorph male body type?
Endomorph Body Type Male
The endomorph body type male is, of course, different from the female counterpart in a lot of ways. As usual, we’ll be focusing on this type from a male perspective.
People with endomorph body types are stout or stout-looking even when they’re tall. They’re broad, either stocky or brawny, and often boast a strong overall build. This is why they tend to excel in football and rugby, especially as linemen and forwards.
Yes, the endomorph body shape has a propensity for being round. This is because they also often, but not always, have wider waists and hips. At least, they tend to be wider relative to the shoulders. You may not have narrow shoulders, but they may look narrow depending on what you’re focusing on diet or exercise-wise.
Let’s say you’re looking to be an offensive tackle on a football team, for example. That being the case, you may eat and work out to ensure you have a solid foundation of strength. If you’re an endomorph, the result may be a stronger waist and hips, which makes your shoulders look less broad.
However, just because endomorphs are naturally round doesn’t mean that they’re all prone to being unhealthily fat. The body type simply stores fat more easily than most other body types. Depending on your health goals, this can be good or bad.
Again, it’s not that bad if you’re a football tackle or a rugby forward.
The big challenge in everyday life is the fact that not a lot of men’s clothes are tailored to every iteration of this body type. For example, you may be thick and round but not necessarily overweight, so you can’t shop in the XXL sections.
Admittedly, it’s not the easiest body shape to dress for outside of a professional athletic uniform. However, it’s not impossible.
How To Dress an Endomorph
Here are a few tips to help you put your best sartorial foot forward if you have an endomorph body type or endomorph characteristics.
If your shoulders do indeed look narrow, go for well-structured outerwear. You can go for a utility jacket, a blazer with subtle shoulder pads, or even a broad-shouldered flannel shirt. In fact, if you want to go that extra mile, feel free to add subtle pads to most heavily woven tops.
You absolutely must avoid skinny-fit pants. They’ll make your hips look extra wide, even if you’ve worked out and dieted to even out your shoulder-to-waist ratio. Instead, go for a fuller cut pant or even those with a subtle flare.
Well-fitting button-ups and button-downs are your friend. And anytime you wear a piece of outerwear, whether that’s a suit jacket or an open workwear button-down, go for a darker shirt underneath.
The outerwear will bring balance to your shape and show off your natural strength. Meanwhile, the dark shirt will slim down your waist.
All that to say, two-layer outfits are flattering. Obvious three-layer outfits aren’t so flattering. They’ll start to add unnecessary bulk in the wrong places and slim your shoulders down again. So, don’t wear a suit vest with your suit.
A lighter open shirt under an open jacket with a black shirt underneath? That would work because it creates vertical lines.
And if you can, avoid a belt and go for some old-fashioned suspenders. Not only will the suspenders be stylishly unique, but the vertical lines, again, are slimming.
Wear your trousers further up instead of just above your hip. Fortunately, this look is in style as of the mid-2020s. Still, subtly moving it a little further up will always look good on an endomorph body. This is especially true of endomorphs with particularly large waists.
If your pants are too low, you may muffin over them, even if you’re perfectly fit.
In addition to higher waists, you should go for solid colors or small patterns and overall specifically-tailored garments whenever you can. Make sure you know your chest measurements, neck measurements, waist measurements, and your inseam.
Tailoring For Guys With an Endomorph Body Type
Personalized tailoring is particularly important for endomorph body types. Unfortunately, off-the-rack clothes tend to be built for rectangular-shaped guys.
The big-and-tall section often just caters to really tall guys or really fat guys. If you’re one or the other or both, that’s great! You’ll have an easier time finding clothes in that section (though they’re often limited in style). But just because you’re an endomorph doesn’t mean you’re either of those.
If you’re an endomorph body type, you have excellent and attractive features to show off; a strong foundation, a masculine thigh area, and an overall Olympic level vibe.
With the right tailoring, these will shine through. With the wrong tailoring, they’ll be hidden by less flattering features — and we all have those.
Styles To Consider
We actually mention this in our big guy style guide. However, here are some great genres of style that work for the endomorph body type in general.
- Workwear
- Streetwear
- Formal
- Western
- Military
- Outdoorsy
- Nautical
- Grunge
These are all classic and tried and true menswear staples. Notice how structure plays a big role in all of these genres? And, of course, you can always mix and match to express yourself through your own distinct personal style.
Endomorph Male Body Type: Health and Nutrition
While I’m a well-read enthusiast, I’m not a health expert. I just want to go over this because there are some easy, universal things you can consider for your body type.
Even more, how you approach exercise, nutrition, and your overall lifestyle fully affects how your clothes fall on you.
We know that endomorphs tend to be great at muscle growth but also have slower metabolisms. Lean muscle mass is more of a mesomorph and ectomorph thing.
I always point out how NFL linemen and tackles tend to have endomorph characteristics. Along with football, this sturdy body type lends itself to rugby, weightlifting, track and field throwing, rowing, and even swimming.
By doing both body-weight training, such as pull-ups and push-ups, along with your free weights, you can balance your weight and your strength.
Now, let’s talk about burning fat if that’s what you want to do. It’s not as easy for an endomorph body type. Also, I don’t want to give in-depth diet advice. But in an endomorph body type diet, protein and healthy fats are your friends.
I used to avoid fats when I was trying to lose weight. However, my nutritionist advised that healthy fats play a role in metabolic functions. They also help you absorb other nutrients in your meals. So, add some olive oil and avocado to that salad.
And, of course, keep the sweet and sugary foods to a minimum.
While lifting, keep your rest periods brief. Think no more than half a minute per set. If you find this difficult to do with your weights, just lower them temporarily.
If you’re training constantly and find you’re getting stronger, but you aren’t seeing the definition, it’s because fat needs to be burned. This is just if you want a definition, though. Soft-bodied strength is nothing to be ashamed of.
Heck, I know a lot of ladies who would rather date a sturdy tackle rather than a hard-biceped wide receiver.
Endomorph Body Type Celebrities
Here’s a list of famous men who are either endomorphs or have endomorph characteristics:
- Chris Pratt
- Jason Kelce
- Jonah Hill
- Tom Hardy
- Nick Carter
- Russell Crowe
- Gerard Butler
Notice that even among these guys, there’s a wide range of looks? Gerard Butler could easily be mistaken for a mesomorph in the movie 300. The same goes for Russell Crowe in Gladiator — to a lesser extent.
But without a restrictively strict diet, Butler starts to show plenty of endomorphic characteristics, which don’t necessarily make him less attractive.
And they don’t necessarily mean he’s unhealthily overweight either, trust me. I used to work on Hollywood Boulevard, and Gerard and I used to go to the same coffee shop. He always looked great.
Conclusion: A Sturdy Body Type To Be Proud Of
Some of the world’s strongest men had the endomorph body type.
Sure, it’s not the easiest body when it comes to losing fat, but you can gain muscle almost as easily as the Superman-esque mesomorph. And as mentioned, fat isn’t a bad thing, depending on your lifestyle.
And now that you know how to dress for this body type, you’re golden.
Do you have a mesomorph body type? How do you make sure your clothes are flattering? Let’s start a conversation in the comments!
