Super Skinny Me The Skinny on Health, Diet, Fitness & Weight Loss
Your body shape is based upon the size of your physical features and the overall balance of your body. These four shapes are spoon, cone, ruler and hourglass and describe skeletal structure. Knowing your body shape can help you determine which areas of your body you need to target with resistance training to improve the overall balance of your body. For example, pear-shapes have a smaller upper body compared to their lower body. Pear shapes can boast amazing abs, but tend to struggle with larger thighs. Once pear shapes have lost weight, resistance training targeting the upper body will help balance body shape. Cone/ apple shapes have a bigger upper body compared to their lower body. Therefore apple shapes have amazing legs, but struggle with belly fat.
Don’t forget to read about your body type.
Ruler Body Shape (Rectangle/ Banana Shape)
- Tend to be waif-like and slim.
- Shoulders, hips, waist almost same size.
- Very little indentation at waist.
- Tend to put on weight in stomach and bottom, while maintaining slender arms and legs. Usually are ectomorphs.
- E.g. 34-30-35, 36-33-37, 40-36-42.
Hourglass Body Shape
- Well-proportioned upper and lower body.
- Shoulders and hips (almost) same size
- Dramatic indentation (> 6″) at waistline
- Tend to gain weight all over your body, especially hip and chest area.
- Tend to be endomorphs or mesomorphs.
- Strictly female shape.
- E.g. 32-26-33, 33-27-35, 36-30-38.
Spoon Body Shape (Pear Shape)
- Larger lower bodies and smaller upper bodies.
- Shoulders narrower than hips (commonly found in women).
- Tend to gain weight below your waist.
- Small chests and flat stomachs, great abs.
- Usually are mesomorphs.
- E.g. 32-28-39, 34-30-38, 36-30-44
Cone Body Shape (Apple Shape)
- Wider shoulders than hips (usually found in men).
- Bigger on the top half of their bodies than on the bottom half.
- Slim hips and legs
- Large chest and stomach.
- Tend to gain weight above the waist or bottom.
- Usually are mesomorphs or endomorphs.
- E.g. 40-36-33, 36-32-30, 34-30-29
They forgot upside down triangle, or strawberry (or cone). My measurements read 34-26-39, which looks like I should be a pear…however my shoulders are very broad, they appear wider than my hips in silhouette! That-I believe- has no classification!
which equipment that can i use to exercise to get a smaller thigh?because m pear shape
Read this on how to slim your thighs.
Hmm…Im 34-26.5 36.5….I wonder what that would be.
Hourglass I think!
em’ 32-26-36.. i don’t know what i would be.. reply
stupse, all ya trying to get flattery or what, or people with those figures cant read and understand, which is it
I’m 33-27-33.5. So what body shape do I have?
How do you do the measurements? I’m new to this and was wondering how exactly do you get those three measurements to determine your body shape? Help?
Hi Lucy,
Check out this page on how to take your body measurements, which explains where to take your measurements. The measurements you need to determine your body shape are bust, waist and hips. These numbers traditionally are then written in the following sequence bust-waist-hips, e.g. 35-29-35, which would mean 35 inch bust, 29 inch waist and 35 inch hips.
Hi, please tell me what’s my body shape? I am 4’11, my body measurements is 38-33-41.
You sound as though you might be an hourglass shape!
Okay! Thank you
Oh..thank you! All along I thought I was a pear shape
So I have always known I have an hour glass figure. My husband is very adamant that I am a pear. Even though I took my measurements in front of him. Explained how it is calculated but he argues that my shoulders are too narrow and that my breast size does not matter. I have always been very small boned and have very slender shoulders but they really are not much more narrow than my hips. I have seen some places where it comments on shoulders being part of your body shape on some of the body shapes. But in general I always figured if your breast and hips measurements are fairly close with a very narrow waist that is a hour glass. Also everything I have ready describes pears as typically having a small chest I wear a D cup, I don’t think this would be considered “small”. Any comments to help with this dispute. I am a healthy weight and do not mind too much which shape I am. But find it frustrating that my husband listens to some radio show that described body shapes one day and now he thinks he is an expert! Grrrrr! I know he of anyone would know my body almost as well as I do, but I would think I know my self best, well maybe…
Thanks
Hi Naomi,
I know what you mean – and also where your husband is coming from. Shoulders do exaggerate a body shape, think of Halle Berry with those wide straight shoulders. They make her waist look even smaller. But generally body shape is determined by bust, waist and hip measurements. It’s also why some women are hourglass or pear shape, but don’t “look it”, as they appear to have very little hips – it’s because they have a shapely derrière.
Also, there are hourglass shapes like Sophia Loren, Marilyn Monroe, Anita Ekberg and Diana Dors (seriously hourglass) and then there are hourglass shapes like the Original Supermodels (Cindy Crawford et al), who are small-boned and tall, making their hourglass shape more subtle. The point is they’re all hourglasseses, just like there are tall people and very tall people. Your husband probably thinks of the Marilyn Monroe body shape as the “true hourglass”. But to have that exaggerated hourglass shape you have to be shorter and have an endomorphic body type. See these examples of endomorphic hourglasses and here for female ectomorphs who are small-boned and have more subtle body shapes. Here’s hoping you win this argument!
I am trying to find out my “shape” too…
I am 5’6.5 or 168.91 cm. My Body Measurements are 31DD-28-35
I have normal shoulders, and very thin arms, with muscular legs….I think that I am just straight up and down.
Hi Anne,
you need to take your bust measurements, by measuring all the way around your bust and back (see how to take body measurements here).
hey my bwh is 36 32 41..plz let mi kw my body shape…and whtr its is ok or i need to take efforts to get ideal figur
Hi Sandhya,
You sound as though you’re pear-shape. Every body shape is beautiful. It just helps to know what you are when you make a workout plan. For example, pear shapes will want to avoid lower-body strength training exercises such as lunges and squats, as they build muscle in the legs, making the lower body bigger, and focus more on upper body exercises to balance body shape more.
hi please help me I’m 41-32-40 i don’t know what am i.
Hi Missy, you should as though you might be have an hourglass shape.