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 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.

More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Building Muscle Information:

Related Articles

Maximize The Windows of Opportunity For Explosive Muscle Growth
You have two main windows of opportunity when your training. One is 30 minutes before you train (pre-workout meal) and another comes about 30-60 minutes after your workout is over (post-workout meal).
The Biggest Muscle Mass Gain Myths Exposed
Performing low repetition/heavy weight workouts will enable you to build muscle mass, however they will only do so for a very short period of time. The reason is that your body is always striving to maintain homeostasis, other wise know as the status quo, or to remain the same.
Tendonitis and the Effects on Your Routine
What turns out to be a small, yet annoying pain in your joint, can quickly turn into something much more debilitating. At first, you just think it might be a pulled muscle.
"Bodybuilding Sins" That Cause Back Pain and Missed Workouts
It's one thing for someone who sits at a computer all day and never exercises to have back pain, but for a bodybuilder, someone who spends hours and hours each week pouring everything they've got into building muscle, it should be criminal!The reason we say this is because, if you are going to spend so much time, money, and energy trying to build the "perfect body", you have to make sure that you not only look good, but also feel good?We've identified what we call "Bodybuilding Sins" that lead to back pain, sciatic pain, and other injuries? read em and take action now if you are serious about bodybuilding and are fed up with your back pain.Because there is so much information to share with you, we've broken it down into a series of 5 articles, each covering a different component of how back pain affects bodybuilders.
Ab Sculpting Exercise - One Of The Most Productive Exercises For Your Abs That Is Hardly Ever Used
Before I talk about one of the most productive and forgotten Ab Development exercises ever developed, you will need to know how your abdominal muscles actually work. I know for a fact, if I don't offer some pretty convincing evidence, it will be very difficult for you to believe such a claim so here is where a little education will go a long way to prove my point.
They Dont Know Squat!
There seems to be much confusion amongst trainers and trainees as to whether squats should be performed all the way down or just half way. In most gyms today, a common instruction during squats, deadlifts, and lunges (as taught by many personal training organizations) is not to allow the knees to travel beyond the toes.
Muscle and Fitness -- The First Key To Achieving Your Goals
Lets discuss what I term as Muscle and Fitness -- The First Key.In a previous article, I went through the 'Three Keys To Success' in any muscle and fitness regime that you use.
Muscle And Fitness -- The Third and Final Key To Successfully Achieving Your Fitness Goals
Before delving into Muscle And Fitness - The Second Key, the final and most important key to success in your muscle and fitness routine, I'd like to remind you about what the previous article discussed.In a previous article, you were given a number of steps to follow.
The Secret to Legs with Size, Strength, and Endurance
There are countless leg workouts in magazines and books that promise big results. Many are good workouts, but the secret to continued progress is to keep your muscles from adapting, while building on what you have already done.
The Basics Of Dumbells And Dumbbell Workouts
Dumbbells are integral to a long term fitness and personalstrengthening plan. Dumbbells are individual weights thatare best used as part of your overall fitness workout eachday.
Target: Rear Delts: One Simple Movement and They'll be on Fire!
The Bent-Over Lateral Raise is one of the most common exercises used for working the rear or posterior deltoids. For most trainers, it can be difficult to really feel the rear delts working during this movement as the larger, stronger muscles of the back have a tendency to take over.
Muscle Gain Visualization Tips
Visualization can play an important part in gaining weight and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Gaining weight can be difficult for many people who don't use their minds to help in the process.
Bodybuilding Sins That Cause Back Pain and Missed Workouts: Part 3
Welcome to article number 2 in our series "Bodybuilding Sins That Cause Back Pain and Missed Workouts". In this article we are going to talk about how bodybuilders tend to create massive muscle imbalances and what you can do to not be one of them.
Increase Your Training Intensity - Forced Repetitions
You can only build muscle tissue if you can generate progressively stronger muscular contractions, so this calls for an emphasis on finding ways to increase exercise intensity. This should not be confused with exercise duration as maximum training intensity will actually shorten the time needed to achieve maximal muscular growth.
Exercise The Right Way - The Deadlift
Other articles in this series looked at a number of exercises, mainly from the perspective of developing a comprehensive muscle building program. Sometimes we take things for granted, especially when it comes to performing the basic exercises that constitute the core of most bodybuilders' training regimes.
Deep Muscle Soreness And Body-Shock Fatigue
In my experience there are two distinct types of muscular fatigue associated with intense progressive resistance training (only intense training is sufficient to trigger muscle hypertrophy) and these two types should be recognized and understood. The first type of fatigue is direct muscle soreness and is the result of a particular exercise targeting a specific muscle.
Ace Abs Without Crunches, Cradles, Or Sit-ups!
I know what many of you are thinking reading the title of this article. I also thought the same once.
Muscle Soreness After Exercise
Many individuals judge the quality of their exercise session from the amount of pain they experience afterwards. These individuals are convinced by the old adage "No Pain No Gain".
Use This Quick Muscle Building Program for Fast Results
Quick muscle building is the goal of every underweight guy who hits the gym and embarks on a weight training program for the first time. After all, who wants to wait years for the results?There are weight training routines designed specifically for muscle building that will have you gaining pounds of muscle mass in a short period of time.
Body Part Isolation vs. Complex Movements in Strength Training - Build Real Muscle Instead of Fake!
Working as a fitness professional, there is one type of question I get all the time that shows that many people are missing the big picture regarding the benefits of strength training. This popular question usually goes something like this:"What exercise can I do to isolate my _______ (insert your muscle of choice - abs, quads, biceps, triceps, etc)?"It doesn't matter which muscle someone is asking about, they always seem to be asking how to 'isolate' it.