Genetic Potential In Fitness Training

This week’s blog for the fitness industry covers how genetics can influence weight training and cardiovascular activities.

Airbrushed celebrities vs real-life fitness potential

Many personal trainers find that their clients have an image of how they want to look; often, this image is unrealistic and based on airbrushed celebrities.

Every individual’s ability to perform at a particular level of fitness can be affected by their genetics, and sometimes, you have to accept what you’re built for, whether you are strong in a particular area or more of a general all-rounder.

Many physiological systems influence how well you can perform the different components of fitness. These include the height of someone in relation to the length of their limbs, the size of their hearts and lungs, and the number of muscle fibres and fat cells they contain.

The genetics of flexibility

A personal trainer can work on a client’s flexibility, but some people will always have the genetic advantage based on their muscle spindles, GTOs, and ligament tightness.

Genetically, women tend to be more flexible because their bodies have higher levels of the hormone relaxin; however, there are also hereditary elements that contribute to flexibility.

Those born with hypermobility within their joints have longer ligaments than usual, allowing them a greater range of movement in a joint before the tension builds on the connecting tissues. Ligaments guide the way a joint moves and prevent excessive movement. If an individual’s ligaments are longer or more flexible than the average person’s, these conditions can create hypermobility in the joint. Although such an imbalance can benefit a gymnast or contortionist, it can also result in frequently dislocated fingers, shoulders or elbows.

The impact of genetics on vascular fitness 

When a fitness instructor or personal trainer devises a cardiovascular training program for a client, they expect each individual’s training capacity to be influenced by their genetic makeup.

For instance, lung size affects how much oxygen a client can take in during training, and heart size affects how much blood it can pump per beat. Although a fitness instructor can train both, our genetics influence the extent to which the training can achieve.

The more alveoli and capillaries in the lungs, the better a client is likely to respond to a fitness instructor’s cardiovascular training program. Other genetic factors include the quantity of capillaries and myoglobin in the muscles, as well as the levels of myoglobin, haemoglobin, and red blood cells in the bloodstream.

A personal trainer will also find that the amount and size of mitochondria and slow-twitch muscle fibres influence the aerobic fitness of their clients. Mitochondria are power plant cells: glucose, oxygen, and fat enter one end, and energy is produced at the other. The more mitochondria you have, the more glucose, oxygen and fat you can process, and this increased energy will allow you to run or train faster or to maintain a high speed for longer.

A top athlete is likely to have a high number of slow-twitch muscle fibres with lots of mitochondria, plenty of myoglobin, a big heart and lung capacity, lots of capillaries, and red blood cells, among other genetic advantages.

In some sporting disciplines, such as long-distance running or football, an athlete with a leaner physique has the advantage over one carrying a lot of muscle tissue. Many top footballers, such as Ronaldo, may look muscular, but they are slightly and leanly muscled.

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