“Everybody is different and everyone needs a different workout.” This statement is quite popular on the internet. Is everyone truly different? If yes then what are the differences? Which of them matter and which ones are insignificant when it comes to designing a fitness plan?

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1: Gender

There are many differences between men and women. The big one is the hormone testosterone which helps in muscle building. On average men have 280-1,100 ng/dl and women have 15-70 ng/dl of testosterone. High levels of testosterone give men the advantage of packing on more muscle than women. Women also have a very low amount of muscle mass, by birth. This is why women never get bulky like men, no matter what they do. Men and women also store fat differently. Generally, men store more fat on the lower belly, also known as the love handles, and women store more fat on their extremities which are the arms and legs. However, none of these differences impact workout programming. There is no special workout for low testosterone or reducing fat on arms. Despite the different fat storage areas, fat loss is still the same, a caloric deficit.

2: Anthropometry

Also known as the bone structure, anthropometry does impact the workout. People will have to choose exercises that work best for their bone structure. People with longer torsos and smaller legs will prefer high bar squatting while people with longer legs and shorter torsos will prefer low bar squatting. Depending upon the length of the arms, the deadlift form will also be different. People with short arms will have to bend over more. The length of the arms will also affect the grip during bench press and pushups. People with longer arms will prefer a wide grip. This might look dangerous to the people on the internet due to the fear-mongering by YouTubers that wide grip causes pec tear. But, it does not, a wide grip is alright. Although the workout might not be drastically different, the execution of the movements will be different.

3: Somatotypes

Also known as body types of which there are 3, endomorph, mesomorph, and ectomorph. According to this theory, an endomorph is a person with high body fat, large bone structure, able to pack on muscle and fat easily. An ectomorph is a person with less fat and muscle, narrow bone structure, struggles to put on both muscle and fat. Lastly, the mesomorph is very muscular, with wide shoulders, a narrow waist, and low body fat. Accordingly, Louis Cyr would be an endomorph, Eugene Sandow would be a mesomorph, Bruce Lee would be an ectomorph.

According to internet experts and doctors, this does affect the workout design and depending upon the body type, every person will need a different workout and diet. An endomorph would need to be in a caloric deficit to lose the fat, an ectomorph would have to eat more food to gain muscle and the mesomorph has to do nothing as that is the ideal physique. However, this is complete nonsense as the workout and diet should depend upon how the person wants to look and not how the person currently looks. What if the ectomorph wants to become more skinny like Christian Bale did for a film role. What if the endomorph wants to put on more fat because he is a sumo wrestler or a strongman. What if the mesomorph wants to lose that muscle for some reason like Arnold lost a few pounds for Predator.

Another thing is that an ectomorph would find it difficult to put on muscle mass, the endomorph would struggle to lose fat, and the mesomorph would struggle at nothing. But, this does not change the method of fat loss or muscle gain, it just makes it more difficult or easy. The workouts will remain the same. The biggest drawback of this theory is that it is impossible to put all people on earth in just 3 categories as many people will be a combination of these 3 categories.

4: History/Lifestyle

This includes the individual’s age, training history, medical conditions, injuries, allergies, likes/dislikes, lifestyle, etc. All of this has to be considered to create a safe workout and also help the person recover from an injury if there is any. The level of a person is important as well. An advanced athlete will require a different workout compared to a beginner. But, the difference will be in the number of weights, reps, sets, and not the exercises. An advanced athlete will require heavier weights compared to a beginner but the exercises performed will be traditional and not from planet Zog. In calisthenics, the advanced athlete will prefer harder variations like pistol squats while the beginner will perform normal squats.

How much time the person has to spend in the gym and the lifestyle of the person matter. A busy person will have to implement supersets, myoreps, drop sets, and train close to failure while doing fewer sets. Culture also matters as the diet plan has to be based on the culture of the person. A British person cannot be given french food, simply because the food ingredients may not be accessible and also because it because stupid. Individual food preferences also matter but not always. If all a person likes is ice cream, chocolates, and burgers, then these should be excluded from most of the diet, included only on a few days while keeping macros and calories on track.

Finally, people claim that every person is different, every cell in that person is different, so the workout and diet should be drastically different for everyone. They use this to justify stupid workouts. On YouTube, there are tons of nonsense, idiotic workouts like the oxygen curls, hand waving, dancing around the room to build muscle. According to them, one person will build biceps with dumbbells and the other person can build the same muscle with oxygen curls. The fact is, resistance training is the only way to build muscle naturally. Whether it is free weight or bodyweight, there has to be some resistance for the muscles to grow. Oxygen curls and all other idiocracies on YouTube will not build muscle, tone the body, or do anything at all. They are completely useless and these channels with millions of subscribers are just scamming people. If you have been following such channels then it is time to boycott them and stand up against them. These workouts are a complete waste of time. The only reason one should do these workouts is if the person is extremely obese. In that case, simple hand movements will be difficult as the person’s arms are fat. 99.99% of the people have no business following such workouts as it will only make them look stupid. Stop justifying such scam channels by saying everyone needs a different workout.

5: Goals

The workout a person does should be designed according to the goals of the person and not the body type or fat distribution. This is the most important point, the goals of the person. If a person is training for a sport that requires a lot of arm strength then arm training should be emphasized. If a person requires high endurance for the arms for sports like rowing or endurance for legs for running a marathon then the workout should be built around that. But, the exercises used to build strength or endurance for sports are the traditional ones, like squat, bench, deadlift, and not what Joel Seedman promotes on Instagram. Sports training will be different from average gym training but it is not insanely different. For example, Wrestlers will be performing neck bridges which normal people at the gym never do, so it will look weird, still, it works for developing the neck. But, what Joel Seedman and other people on Instagram promote is just for click-baiting and scamming people. It does not give results, and real sportsmen or fitness models never train that way. Some sports require a person to not have a lot of muscle mass so the training for these will differ. Some people do not want to train their legs so the workout should not force these people to train their legs. Their preferences should be considered but not always. Some people might want to look like Chris Bumstead naturally. In their case, the bitter truth has to be told.

If you have friends that are following such useless workouts then share this article with them and tell them to subscribe to Brawny King Fitness to get correct information about training and diet.