In almost every sport, genes are essential, but this is especially true for strength training. About 40% to 60% of most things about your body are set by your genes. But many people use “poor genetics” to explain why they aren’t getting better. Can’t you drop the pounds? It’s because of bad genes, and my hormones no longer let me. Can’t you get stronger or build more muscle? Once more, bad genes. It makes it easy to explain why you aren’t getting results and takes the attention away from looking back and figuring out what’s wrong with your current program.
You are probably in the midst of a pack regarding your genetic ability for muscle growth. Yes, if you are an outlier, you could be in a bad chest genes or excellent genetic group, but that is rare. Science has helped us determine what makes us good or bad at strength sports and growing muscle based on our genes.
1. DNA
Let’s start with the DNA, which is the base of everything. DNA is like a plan for your body. Rest assured that you will be provided with all the essential information. For constructing your body. This could give us the most accurate information about each person’s abilities and prospects, but science isn’t even close to being ready to do this yet.
Today, a suitable DNA test looks at 20 genes, but our bodies have over 20,000. To make things even more complicated, the results depend on how these genes and many other things in your body (like enzymes) work together. So, looking at a single gene doesn’t show the whole picture. DNA testing is not used in the sports business to find talented people either because it is not developed enough.
2. Characteristics of the second sexes (man)
These are things that don’t show up until puberty. They can be a good sign of the male hormone levels known in your body, which are strongly linked to muscle growth. The face, arms, stomach, and chest are all covered in hair. The top of the head goes bald because of DHT, a byproduct of testosterone.
- Deep voice
- Square face
- Frame
When it’s about “frame,” it means your bones. More muscle can be put on a body of bones that is bigger. This has mostly to do with how thick your bones are. For example, Olympic weightlifters have very thick wrists and joints, which is a good sign of success. But most people have both weak and vital parts of their bodies. If you’d like to utilize this information determine your strength, and use the information below as a guide.
3. Wrist diameter size 2D: 4D Ratio
To figure out the ratio, divide the length of the right hand’s index finger by the length of the right hand’s ring finger. The more games there could be, the lower the ratio.
4. How long a muscle is
The length of a muscle affects how much you can do with that muscle group. One good example would be the length of the arms and the latissimus dorsi. As you can easily see in the two pictures below, there is a massive change between the two. In the first picture, the lats are way lower than in the second picture. This is primarily due to genetics since you can’t change your muscles’ length.
5. High attachment points on the lats
In the same way, the size and form of the biceps depend on how long the tendons are. You can easily find out by bending your arms to a 90-degree angle and counting how many fingers you can fit in the space between your biceps and your elbow. The less likely you have big arms because of your genes, the more fingers you can put on one hand.
6. Weight at birth
Being a heavy baby at birth can be a sign of better muscles in the future. We can use the average weight of a newborn, which is 3.4 kg, as a guide. Anything over this would be considered above average, and anything under 2.5 kg would be considered underweight.
7. Leverages
Your body type will depend on how you do big compound moves like bench presses, squats, and deadlifts. For example, someone with a short waist might find it easier to squat with a more forward lean to get the most power out of the move. People with long torsos, on the other hand, tend to squat more straight up. Some of you can go crazy if you’d like to.
8. compare two world record winners who do squats differently.
This is why you should never copy someone else’s technique and why I always say that a good technique is a “range” that relies on many things, like your training goals, body type, and injury history.
9. Forward lean versus standing squat
From working with hundreds of clients, trainers know genetics significantly affects how fast you grow muscle. Scientists have found this gap can be as much as seven times bigger. There are also similar results for how strength changes over time.
The most important question is how much we can do about it. The easy answer is, “A lot.” First, there are many things to consider, for example, different training plans, levels of effort, consistency, stress, sleep hygiene, etc.
Conclusion
If you only understand the things you can’t change, it can make you feel like you can’t do anything, leading to you not doing anything in the end. Some people are better at pulling weights because they have better genes and ways to use their bodies. But that’s true of almost everything in life. But that doesn’t mean you can’t change where you end up. You don’t have to hold the squat world record to look good and be healthy. You can be your competition and have a growth attitude instead of comparing yourself to others. These little changes make a big difference with time.
Instead of giving up and blaming your genes, you still have much control over how much you can change how you look.
