One’s bodybuilding success, as with most other things in athletics, is largely determined by one’s genetic endowment. Training can augment genetics if it is proper training,but the training by itself will not turn anon athlete into a world champion.
Similarly in bodybuilding, certain individuals are born with superior genetics for building larger than average muscles. These genetic factors include muscle length, as a muscle’s width will never exceed its length bone size, as bones that are too frail will not support a heavy musculature; myostatin levels the higher the concentration of this protein in one’s system, the less muscle one will be able to develop; and, perhaps
most significant, the degree of muscle fiber density that is, the number of muscle fibers in a given inch of a muscle’s cross-sectional area.
For instance, I may have four hundred thousand muscle fibers in my biceps. ArnoldSchwarzenegger, by contrast, may have eight hundred thousand fibers in his biceps. If both of us were to develop our biceps to be twice as strong and thick in size, his arms would still be twice the size of mine and there isn’t anything I can do to improve the situation. To compound the irony, if I followed the most scientific training program in the world and were able to effectively double the size of all of the existing fibers in my biceps, and Arnold followed a training program that was 50 percent less effective in stimulating the muscle fibers of his biceps, he would still have bigger biceps than mine,even though the size of my biceps muscles would have grown by 100 percent while his grew by only 50 percent.
This is why asking a genetically gifted athlete or bodybuilder for advice, or basing your workout on such advice, is almost always a mistake.These individuals have genetic predisposition to be bigger and stronger than the average person long before they ever touch a weight.
Similarly in bodybuilding, certain individuals are born with superior genetics for building larger than average muscles. These genetic factors include muscle length, as a muscle’s width will never exceed its length bone size, as bones that are too frail will not support a heavy musculature; myostatin levels the higher the concentration of this protein in one’s system, the less muscle one will be able to develop; and, perhaps
most significant, the degree of muscle fiber density that is, the number of muscle fibers in a given inch of a muscle’s cross-sectional area.
For instance, I may have four hundred thousand muscle fibers in my biceps. ArnoldSchwarzenegger, by contrast, may have eight hundred thousand fibers in his biceps. If both of us were to develop our biceps to be twice as strong and thick in size, his arms would still be twice the size of mine and there isn’t anything I can do to improve the situation. To compound the irony, if I followed the most scientific training program in the world and were able to effectively double the size of all of the existing fibers in my biceps, and Arnold followed a training program that was 50 percent less effective in stimulating the muscle fibers of his biceps, he would still have bigger biceps than mine,even though the size of my biceps muscles would have grown by 100 percent while his grew by only 50 percent.
This is why asking a genetically gifted athlete or bodybuilder for advice, or basing your workout on such advice, is almost always a mistake.These individuals have genetic predisposition to be bigger and stronger than the average person long before they ever touch a weight.
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