Is your muscle building potential limited by your
genes?
It is clear that certain traits are handed down to us by our parents and
unfortunately our ablility to grow muscles beyond certain limits is no
exception. That doesn't mean to say hard work and carefully planned training
won't have a positive effect on your physique - it just means that some people
will inherit a greater abundance of the favored physical characteristics than
others. Not everyone possesses the physical traits to become a champion, but
you can work wonders with the raw material you do possess.
How responsive you will be to physical stimulation can be predicted to a
certain extent by examining your somatype or natural body shape. Basically,
there are three recognized body types:
1. Endomorphs - these individuals tend to be squat with a round torso, thick
neck and short limbs.
2. Mesomorphs - these individuals tend to be musclar with broad shoulders,
powerful chest and limbs and little body fat.
3. Ectomorphs - these individuals tend to be slim and are usually tall with
little muscle and body fat.
The ideal bodybuilding physique tends more towards the mesomorph with broad
shoulders, narrow hips with arms and legs of medium length. Two further
inherited features have a role to play in determining muscle building
potential, and these are muscle fiber density and neurological efficiency.
Fiber density determines the size potential of a muscle while neurological
efficiency refers to the relationship between the nervous system and muscles.
This is relevant because, in all out effort genetically blessed individuals
have the ability to activate up to 50% of the fibers in a given muscle
compared to the average person's 30%. This allows greater scope for
stimulating growth.
The fact that there is no easy way to measure fiber density or neurological
efficiency is actually a blessing because the incentive remains for all of us
to train hard and strive for improvement. Only a tiny minority of people have
the genetic tools to become champions but the rest of us can go a long way to
fulfilling our own personal goals.
Richard Mitchell is the creator of the
www.bodybuildingadvisor.com
website that provides guidance and information to athletes at all levels of
bodybuilding experience. Go to Bodybuilding Advice to learn more about the
issues covered in this article.
See Also:
Index of All Body Building & Fitness Articles
Index of All Sports Articles
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