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Anything You Can Do
I Can Do Better
by
Alan Lim
While this site is devoted to the improvement of the human body
through training, nutrition, and supplementation, this column is written
entirely for my own sake. Since my interests, like yours, vary, each month .
You Can't Be Serious
As many of you know, I'm still hiding within the walls of academia,
and in so doing I am afforded a generous 3-week Christmas break for my
troubles. This years holiday was spent thawing my wind-burned Canadian
cheeks in sunny Southern California, where the temperature is hot, the sky cloudless,
and the breasts enhanced. Although the chance to hit the
teach and commune with the ladies was enjoyable, I was also looking forward
to meeting with my good friend, Milos Sarcev, who happens to own a Gold's Gym in nearby Fullerton.
Milos, for those of you who are not familiar with him, has competed in
more professional bodybuilding contests than any other pro bodybuilder
in history; a total of 108 contests in 12 years, 7 of those contests
being the pinnacle of pro bodybuilding, the Mr. Olympia contest. To
understand the magnitude of this accomplishment, one has to realize that most
pro bodybuilders compete in somewhere between 1 and 3 contests per year.
The Spartan discipline associated with precontest dieting, especially at the
pace of a few contests per year, can burn out even the most steadfast
of competitors.
Milos however has averaged 9 contests per year for 12 straight years,
with no signs of slowing down. The seemingly inescapable conclusion is
that this man is a genetic freak, plain and simple. So it was to my great
surprise that Milos offered the following for my consumption:
I truly believe that anyone can become a pro bodybuilder.
Anyone? Whoa there, Milos.
I must admit that this statement offended me. Sure, his words don't
sound all that bold upon first inspection. Nah, they sound more like some
benign, Muscle and Fitness magazine, blow sunshine up a newbies
ass, tripe. But as I let the words sink in, they began to bother
me more and more.
I mean here is this guy with obviously superior genetics, loosely spouting
off irresponsible optimism and giving false hope to the legions of weightlifters
out there. The average lifter is struggling to add a few pounds of muscle
to a spindly frame or lose a few pounds of fat from a chubby midsection,
and here is Milos telling them that they can be professional bodybuilders.
In an attempt to give the common man a voice, I retorted: Buddy,
the pro bodybuilders represent a small percentage of the population, the
genetically elite. Sure, it' easy for you to say that
anyone can become a pro bodybuilder since you never had the genetic
limitations that most people have. It' high time you realize that
the average person out there can' become a pro bodybuilder any
more than you can go out and win the Boston Marathon. You've done
one too many interviews with the Weider publications & you'rere
out of touch with reality.
So did I actually say all that? Um, no. Milos is currently tipping the
scales at 265 and 7% body fat, so I didn't want to rouse his fury.
Instead, I said something like, well, sure, it's good to
give people encouragement but surely you can't mean that anyone
and everyone can become a pro bodybuilder.
In fact, that is exactly what he meant (with the obvious exceptions of
those who don't have the requisite body parts or who have some health
problems that stand in the way).
So I've spent the better part of the last few weeks systematically
considering this idea, and the related idea that we as human beings have
the potential to create our reality, the potential to grab our lives by
the metaphorical scruff of the neck and usher them to the desired destination.
Is this merely groundless optimism, or is there perhaps something to it?
What's In The Genes?
Upon reflection of what I know about genes and their expression, I began
to doubt the appropriateness of my original response. I began to ponder
some of the arguments.
The genetic proponents tell us that we are a product of our genes, the
DNA passed on down from our parents. After all, there are many traits
(height, weight, etc) that are highly heritable. In fact, we're
about 60-80% likely to inherit our height and weight from our parents.
But, are we truly doomed to suffer from our parentsshortcomings?
Well, with respect to hair and eye color and many other genetically conserved
traits, the answer is probably yes. The expression of these traits is
simply the result of a genetic on-off switch that's flipped during
gestation.
With respect to height, the answer is a bit more vague. Although the
upper limit of height is largely determined by preprogrammed genetic factors,
it is also clear that hormones, nutritional state, exercise status and
other environmental factors present during growth and development
can impact terminal height. For example, poor nutrition has been associated
with lower average heights. In teenagers that have not stopped growing,
testosterone administration can promote a cessation of growth and a reduction
in terminal height. So to a certain extent, even height can be manipulated.
With respect to malleable traits such as body mass, body composition
and athletic performance, the waters are murky indeed.
When someone endeavors to describe their own or someone else's
genetic potential, they tend to assume that the outward appearance of
the individual is a direct reflection of their genetic makeup. In other
words, they assume that the phenotype (defined as the outward appearance
of the person and the traits they possess) is determined by their genotype
(genetic makeup). Using this assumption, if someone is skinny,
then they must have skinny genes and therefore could never
be really fat or even heavily muscled. And if someone is really fat they
must have fat genes and will never be really skinny.
This brings up the classic question of how closely genotype and phenotype
are related. While the phenotype is certainly related to the genotype,
the phenotype is expressed in direct response to the genotype plus the
environmental factors acting upon those genes. This means that we have
a good amount of control over most of our phenotypic traits.
Plenty of new stuff this month. Check out the latest
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