reteidxx’s BodyBlog

This is a response to a young man who left a comment for me wondering if I just have good genetics and is is impossible for him to ever look the way I do.

The answer is - No, my genetics were awful and I don’t really believe genetics is an important factor in bodybuilding as a hobby.  I think it is a factor in professional bodybuilding, along with lots of other life circumstances that determine if someone could be a professional bodybuilder.  But that applies to very few people.  For the vast majority of men or women who want to be fit and look fit, I don’t think genetics is important at all.   I see lots of examples every day where people who had excellent genetics look awful.  There are many former professional athletes from various sports who now look awful.  Genetics doesn’t guarantee you anything, and I don’t think it holds you back from anything either, unless you want to make a living as a professional.

I think the term "genetics" is used as an excuse by people unwilling to put forth the effort required.  In my case, my genetic potential was poor.  As I say in my profile, I was a short, weak, and skinny teenager.  My parents were not athletic, in fact none of my biological relatives were athletic at all.  But  when I was growing up we always had a healthy diet and there was no obesity either. 

Genetics determines how tall you will be and what your bone structure will be.  Your muscles will follow your bone structure because the muscles are attached to the bones.  Some bone structures are better proportioned than others, and you can’t really change that.  But even if you are unusually short, or tall, or have a poorly balanced bone structure, you can become really fit and look more muscular and more athletic than 95% of your peers.  Some people are "hard gainers"; I am one of those.  But I’ve been working out for over 20 years and no I didn’t see results overnight.  Far from it.

So my advice - forget about "genetics".   It’s a special plus for a lucky few individuals, and for the rest of us, it’s just a concept that will hold you back and keep you from reaching your goals.  Genetics is your past - your future is determined by the decisions you make, the lifestyle you lead, and the amount of effort that you are willing to put forth.  Laziness, overindulgence, and poor self-concept are far greater problems than your genetics.  What happens to people is decided by the decisions they make, not by which of their parents’ chromosomes happened to get together.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 25th, 2009 at 10:15 pm and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.