Bodybuilding Genetics
May 11th, 2007 by Paul JohnsonAmong all the marketing gimmicks, magic supplements and the people pushing you books for the magic routine, I have to say point blank: bodybuilding results is mostly genetics. If you’re a bodybuilding “newbie” (or maybe even a veteran) your going to hate to read those words, but it’s the truth. It’s ingrained in our psychology that we hate to admit that anything is mostly genetics. It took me a while myself, before I finally came to terms with that.
If you are a “hardgainer” you will never acheive close to what a easygainer gets, at least not naturally. Just like some people are smarter then others, look better, some people are more nervous, some are introverted, genetics plays a role in everything so why not bodybuilding? Bodybuilding is an ego driven sport, so people are not going to want to admit that they can’t look like Arnold or the buff gym rat if the weigh 140 lbs soaking wet. They will convince themselves if they just try a little bit harder on their diet or routine, they will eventually be the biggest in their gym.
Even steroids are not a magical drug. They give you a boost and get you through plateaus, but watch what happens when you get off them after a year or two. You will drastically shrink, often back to your previous size before steroids. And you don’t want to be relying on them indefinitely because of the negative effects on your heart, liver, kidneys, prostate, and sexual health.
So what genetic factors are in place?
The answer is mainly due to muscle fiber type and the amount of each type. The more gifted larger bodybuilders often have more fibers and more of them fast twitch on average. Myostatin is another one. When myostatin was manipulated in mice they grew muscle at unbelievable rates. Testosterone levels play a huge role also. People with large testosterone levels should have a easier time building more muscle and keeping lean /losing fat. Metabolism of course is another big one. If you have a fast metabolism you will have a hard time building muscle.
Did I give up? of course not I still train hard. I just realized I needed a more realistic perspective about my abilities. It is unhealthy to obsess and have unrealistic expectations. So if you have been following a strict diet and weight lifting routine for a few months and still don’t look that great, just accept that because of your genetics, the gains will be probably slow. You may have to accept you’ll never reach your ideal goal in your mind. However, you will look a heck of a lot better than if you did nothing! And that is all that matters in the end.
If you found this article interesting, you may want to read this other article I wrote: Does body type dictate muscle gains?
I have to admit, you’re 100% on the money with genetics. In high school when I was playing competitive sports no matter how much I tried to “bulk up” and gain weight, I was never successful. However, 20 years later in my late 30’s I now have the build I was trying to get at back then and all my friends who succcessfully “bulked up” back in high school are no mostly obese and out of shape.
My dad (and my doctor) always told me that it just wasn’t in the genes for me to get that body mass so young. Regardless, I still always made an effort to tone my muscles as much as possible and it’s paid off in the long run, although I’d never be a professional bodybuilder no matter what.
This is exactly what I expected to find out after reading the title uilding Genetics. Thanks for informative article
I have a body type if compared to an IFBB pro would look mostly like dennis wolf\’s(not saying i look like a pro), you know tall slim looking and long torso. I first tried body when i was almost 14, and i did get bigger arms but mostly i didnt put on much weight with just eating normal food together with adding protein powder after workouts. I actually stopped working out due to guitar addiction which was almost all day long.
alittle over 3 months ago i started lifting again and i my weight was 68 kilos(150 pounds) and around 178 cm tall(around 5.8). Now currently after 3 months of hard training and better nutrition than before i weight 30 pounds heavier, I look more defined and ofc feel much better.
I know that genetics play a great role in body building but im just saying just because you look more like an olympic runner doesnt prove that you cant be a great body builder or even build muscle, I know not many will be as freaky as markus ruhl but just look at Jay Cutler or Ronnie coleman they\’re not as freaky as him but still are considered better all in all, but hey winning most muscular alone wont make you a champion will it? just look at dexter jackson he was a lightweight before and even if he isnt the biggest out there compared to his height he definately has done well in bb. One last example is Dennis Wolf look how small and tiny his waist is, look how great shape his body has right, I\’d think he was some olympic contestant of some sort that suddenly went on roids….Anyway these are just my opponions and experiences So im not saying anyone can look like a pro since it infact is probably the opposite but for those of you who know Arnold Schwarzenegger did not look big before he started bb he had a more tall and skinny body type and ofc not saying anyone who\’s skinny and tall has arnold genes either but Why not TRY a couple of years of healthy diet and proper workouts and see then instead of just giving up when in high school when your dad tells you that you\’re a wuss because there are so many ignorant people who think just that they\’re naturally slim looking they will never have a change to build muscle or be big or look beef or whatever, you dont get big by the 3 meals a day diet, if you want to be a big boy you HAVE to eat like a big boy, ofc you main gain some extra fat aswell even if you play the game correctly but thats normal and you can strip that fat of later on. Mostly the people who deny that this will not work no matter what they do or how much protein they eat and so on how good their diet is etc…those people have most likely never tried it and are generally those who fail in other aspects of life. I dont think bodybuilding is about training the hardest but training the smartest. that was all I had to say and im not in anyway saying genetics dont play a big role in professional bodybuilding competition at all, nor am i denying it im simply pointing out that you are not going to see a difference unless you eat and train different.
Thomas thanks for your interesting comment. I actually agree with what you said. You could have great muscle building genetics when you don’t even look you may have them, before you start lifting weights. In this article I just wrote recently http://www.bodybuildingweb.net/blog/body-type-dictate-muscle-gains/ I mention that just cause you are an ectomorph, doesn’t mean you necessarily have bad muscle building genetics. It is only after you start getting into bodybuilding will you realize your bodybuilding genetics compared to others.
I’m Endomorphic, that means naturally large boned and prone to fat/overweight. I’ve been training on/off since I was 20, at first my muscles {especially my arms) exploded but that seemed to have stopped a year later.
I’m now 42 and notice many people use expensive roids or HGH which has its side effects and other risks such as fakes. The bottom line is that the bodybuilding industry is a farce, the products like creatine or whey-protein isolate costs outweigh the overall benefits, but thats something you won’t hear from the bodybuilding industry as they dont want you to know that otherwise they lose money!
20-30 minutes on a treadmill for cardio coupled with 20-30 minutes of intensive resistance training 3 times a week is all you need.
Cardio to keep the fat off which will make the waist small and make everything else look bigger. It makes sense as a big gut doesn’t make your delts and arms look big!
Ultimately the most important muscle in the body is your heart.
Should be required reading for anyone considering bodybuilding.
It IS true that not everyone’s potential is apparent at first. Some cannot know what their body’s ability for muscle growth is until having maintained a consistent, intelligent program of training, nutrition, and recuperation for about a year or so. Many, due to unrealistic expectations and impatience, prematurely drop out of training and miss the gains they would in fact have made.
Unfortunately, however, most who do keep training are seeking goals impossible for them genetically. For, as unfair as it may be, genetics DO decide bodybuilding success. It certainly does take hard, disciplined, determined effort; it does demand proper food, eating schedules, and rest; it requires focus and sacrifice, and pushing oneself far above convenience and comfort, and making bodybuilding not merely a hobby, but rather a lifestyle. But even with all those factors in place, no one can build even a state-level physique without the right musclebuilding genetics. Bone structure, joint size, muscle-body length, testosterone and myostatin levels, muscle-fiber type and quantity, neurological efficency, metabolism, and somatype are virtually set at birth, and, without a favorable set of genes, most of us cannot look like the builders in the magazines.
For the majority of us, even an obsessive love of bodybuilding cannot get us to how we want to look. But, each of us can, at least, look better than we will if we don’t train, sit on the couch, and eat potato chips.
Altough I agree on some point with your post I dont think its the whole truth. People tend to focus so much on their genetic abilitys that they forget what really matters, hard work, discipline and mind power. When I first started lifting weights I wasent more then 90-95 pounds, u can say I looked as if just been released out of a concentration camp, I have never had any good genes for building mass I always used to run for hours that was sorda my thing. But I started weight lifting and here I am couple of years later weighn at 180-182 mabye about 7-10 % bodyfat and looking better and feeling stronger then I ever thought was possible. So im telling all of u guys, yes genetics do play a factor but no matter who u are u can always build yourself up good if you have the desire to.
John you said you run everyday. Naturally you aren’t going to get big if your a natuarl hardgainer and do that. Thats why when you quit running you could gain mass easier. It was hard to tell your genetic potential if you were running all the time.
John, it is certainly possible for almost anyone to improve their musculature. But the key word is “improve”. Some can improve much more than most others. It does take finding the right balance of workouts, rest, and eating to make any improvement — for example, your genetics for building muscle only were allowed to kick into action after you stopped burning up so much energy running (an exercise which does not build muscle mass anyway), which gave your body a chance to channel that energy into increasing its size through weighttraining. But, unless a person is born with the right genetics, all the all-out hard work, positive thinking, desire, and determination in the world can’t enable him to build himself up to the size and shape of the bodybuilders seen in magazines, especially without drugs. If a guy thinks he can get that big without the right genetics, he is in for a painful disappointment that might even lead him to quit training.
I’m not knocking the need for positive thinking and desire and gut-wrenching hard workouts, because without those, not even guys with the right genetics can do much. Anyone can improve to some degree if puts his heart into it. But, as a 53-yr-old bodybuilder who has been training since I was 16, I, along with every other guy who has been at it for twenty or more years ,and, is honest, will say the same thing about genetics.