Do you have a short upper torso, long arms and legs, narrow chest, shoulders, and hands, and long, thin muscles? Do you find it hard to put on size? You should know that your body type is categorized by professionals as ectomorph. Here is a short article to read on. It is abstracted from Training for the Ectomorph by Bob Wolff from Muscle and Fitness.

USE POWER MOVEMENTS & TRAIN HEAVY
[Skip the isolation work]

• Legs: squats, stiff-legged deadlifts, donkey calf raises.
• Chest: dumbbell or barbell incline presses.
• Back: chin-ups, barbell, dumbbell or T-bar rows.
• Shoulders: dumbbell or barbell front presses.
• Biceps: barbell or dumbbell curls.
• Triceps: close-grip bench presses, dips or lying EZ-bar french presses.

TAKE LONGER REST PERIODS
[And get a good night's sleep]

• Taking longer rest periods between sets to ensure greater muscular recovery for maximum intensity and strength for each set.
• Give their bodies adequate rest between workouts. The absolute minimum rest an ectomorph needs is 48 hours between the same bodypart workouts.

THE NUTRITION FACTOR
[Eat, eat, eat]

• Eat 5-7 small meals daily.
• Increase your daily protein intake to 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight.
• Aim to get protein intake to no less than 25% of your daily total caloric intake.
• Have a protein shake 90 minutes before bedtime.
• Carbs should be 50-60% of daily dietary intake.
• Increase your daily intake of fibrous carbs (cauliflower, broccoli) while limiting your intake of simple sugars (fruits, honey).
• Keep your fat intake to roughly 20% of your daily dietary intake.
• Eat slower-burning glycemic index foods such as beans, sweet corn, lentils, yams, peas, nonfat dairy products, porridge, oats and pasta.
• Supplement with a good multivitamin/mineral.
• Drink lots of water throughout the day, at least 80 ounces.

KEEP STRESS LEVELS LOW
[Meditate to relax]

• Practice slowing things down and relaxing.
• Slow your pace and take at least 10 minutes a day to be off alone and away from people and noise, and be relaxed.

MINIMIZE OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES
[Don't get run down]

• Minimize all other activities outside of weight training.
• Or, be sure to take in extra calories above those you are taking in for bodybuilding and get plenty of rest.

From Muscle & Fitness.