Pro Coach Joe Bennett on 7 Ways Genetics Affects Bodybuilders’ Bar Bending

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7 Genetic Factors in Bodybuilding

Speaking of bodybuilding, Genetics is a slot machine, the lever can only be pulled once. As Bennett said, genetics can make or break a bodybuilder’s career in the major leagues. From his perspective, genetics affects bodybuilding in the following main ways:

Muscle building ability

an athlete An overall genetic predisposition to muscle hypertrophy may have a greater impact on their career trajectories than any other single factor. Bennett cited the example of eight-time Olympia champion and bodybuilding superstar Ronnie Coleman to illustrate this idea.

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Coleman began competing in bodybuilding competitions as early as 1991, when he was 27 years old. Bennett allegedly said Coleman was on the scene before using any performance-enhancing drugs, but even today his muscle development rivals that of many high-level, advanced athletes.

Body structure

According to Bennett, body structure (the length and proportion of bones) is the literal framework within which a bodybuilder builds his or her physique. Some athletes have skeletons better suited to bodybuilding than others:

• Legendary leg enthusiast Tom Platz is known for having the best quads in the history of sports.Bennett attributes part of this popularity to Femoral Short Platzwhich helps his quadriceps appear thicker.
• Brian Buchanan was a bodybuilder in the 1980s who is believed to have the smallest waist in men’s Open history. Buchanan’s unusually narrow pelvis allowed him to dramatically accentuate his V-cone.

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Bennett says bodybuilding is all about proportion. Broad collarbones and comfortable hips make it easier to create a tapered torso. Additionally, athletes with large chests can better demonstrate the gastric vacuum, which is essential in events such as classic bodybuilding.

muscle belly

The muscle belly refers to the three-dimensional shape of the muscle itself; is it spherical, cylindrical, jagged, flat, or complete?Bennett noted that the muscle belly is distinct from its insertion, but emphasized that Lucky bodybuilders tend to have muscular bellies that grow outward and look like they’re growing from the bones..

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Think of Schwarzenegger’s signature bicep peak, which shoots upward toward his wrists when he flexes, or the package that seven-time Olympia champion Phil Heath brings to the stage. Heath earned the nickname “The Gift” during his career for possessing extraordinary athletic genes, including his almost cartoonishly rounded muscular abs. (Look for Heath’s shoulders on Google. They’re crazy.)

muscle insertion

Tendon is a type of connective tissue that connects muscles to bones. When people discuss muscle insertion, they are referring to where and how the tendon inserts into the bone. As Bennett said, Long muscles and tendons are bad, short tendons are good.

Why? Because long tendons take up valuable bone space. Bennett uses the calf as an example, which connects the calf muscles to the foot. An overly long Achilles tendon makes the calf appear stubby. In contrast, Bodybuilders with shorter tendons have calves that appear to extend almost all the way to the heelwrap the entire lower half of the leg with lean muscle.

muscle separation

Bennett says you tend to see a trend where the most spread-out bodybuilders of all time are also the leanest. Muscle separation describes how much texture you can see on a bodybuilder’s physique.

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For example, athletes with feathered quadriceps have many fine lines and stripes on their legs.this is close Related to the concept of muscle maturity and does require very low body fat levels. Regardless, Bennett points out that some bodybuilders have better muscle structure than others.

Dorian Yates, for example, is famous for having an incredible amount of muscle, yet skin so thin you can almost see the graininess of his muscle belly. Most elite-level bodybuilders can achieve similar levels of body fat (usually in the four to five percent range), but not all of them appear grainy, streaky, or extremely hollow.

Tendency to lose weight easily

in my opinion, Overall thinness is strongly influenced by long-term health decisions, commented Bennett. He may be referring to choices made early in life, such as establishing a healthy relationship with food and regular physical activity before adolescence.

While body fat can be reliably gained or lost by controlling calorie intake, Bennett believes Some bodybuilders have specific Whether they are preparing for a show or not, they have the ability to maintain extremely low body fat levels year-round.

other factors

Genetics affects almost every aspect of a bodybuilder’s physique in one way or another. In addition to the six factors above, Bennett also mentioned several other smaller corollary influences:

• reaction to steroids: Bennett points out that some people do better with steroids than others. He was right; a landmark 1996 study found that some people who took testosterone but didn’t exercise at all gained more muscle than those who lifted weights naturally. (1)
• appetite: Appetite varies greatly between individuals. Bodybuilders have no problem building muscle by consuming large amounts of food to better provide energy for exercise. Bennett points out that bodybuilders with modest appetites often need to force themselves to eat in order to enter a calorie surplus.
• muscle sparing: Bennett said of men’s open bodybuilder Ben Pakulski, who is retired from the fitness world and barely eats, but his body won’t let him lose muscle. Bennett believes that some lifters have a natural ability to maintain muscle mass, even if they aren’t actively trying to do so. These athletes get lucky when they are injured or unable to train for an extended period of time.
• prone to injury: Physical recovery is important even for bodybuilders since they are not technically considered strength athletes. Those who are genetically gifted in this area are able to train longer, lift heavier weights, and endure greater volumes of bodybuilding training, all of which contribute to better physical development over time.

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play with the cards in your hand

Bennett makes a compelling case for the power of genetics as it relates to an athlete’s success (or failure) in bodybuilding. That said, he doesn’t think it’s all doom and gloom for those who may be suffering from DNA injustice.

You can’t change your structure, but you able “Beyond your genes,” he concluded. You may not make it to the first tryout for the Olympia competition, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be a bodybuilder if you don’t have the genetic gifts of Schwarzenegger or Coleman. As the saying goes, Hard work defeats genius when genius doesn’t work hard.

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refer to

1. Bhasin S, Storer TW, Berman N, Callegari C, Clevenger B, Phillips J, Bunnell TJ, Tricker R, Shirazi A, Casaburi R. N England Medical Journal. 1996 Jul 4;335(1):1-7. doi:10.1056/NEJM199607043350101. Phone number: 8637535.