Home / Updates / January 31 2002 / LP - Anything You Put Your Mind To?

The Large Professor
Anything You Put Your Mind To?

By Dr. John M Berardi, Ph.D.
First published at www.johnberardi.com, Jan 31 2003.

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This column is written, unlike the other update columns, entirely for my own sake. As a result, it will suffer the wrath of my whimsical pen.

I am, among other things, a dedicated researcher, a hardcore athlete, and a passionate university instructor. Most importantly, however, I'm just some guy, on a rock that's spinning around the sun. Since my interests, like yours, vary; each month I'll use this column as my sounding board to bloviate, harangue, and just plain old bitch about stuff.

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 year’s 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 beach 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 newbie’s 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’s 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’s easy for you to say that anyone can become a pro bodybuilder since you never had the genetic limitations that most people have. It’s high time you realize that the average person out there can’t 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’re 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 parents “shortcomings”?

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.

Take the obesity problem in North America as an example. A very small percentage of the population is actually obese because of their genes alone. Instead, most obese individuals are obese due to the fact that their genetic makeup, coupled with the abundance of nutrient dense foods that we’re regularly fed (environment), creates the phenotype of obesity. Basically what this means is that the genes are programmed to make someone fat if they eat the wrong foods, eat too much of them, or exercise too little. On the flip side of the coin, the genes are also programmed to allow someone to be lean if they eat the right foods, eat an appropriate amount of them, and move around enough.

Returning to athletic performance, it’s well known that individuals who succeed in endurance activities have a higher percentage of slow twitch muscle fibers, while those who succeed in strength activities have a higher percentage of fast twitch muscle fibers. However, research shows that about ½ of the difference can be accounted for by genetics (the fibers that you’re born with) and ½ of the difference can be accounted for by environment (exercise training). Therefore, while the genes certainly contribute to muscle fiber type, training (environment) can act as an equalizer, creating muscle fiber structure and function changes that can lead to athletic success.

And while not an option (or a good choice) for many readers, certain drugs and supplements can have a huge impact on phenotype. Steroids, growth hormone, IGF-1, and insulin can certainly increase muscle fiber size and muscle fiber number as well as improving nutrient partitioning. Therefore drugs too can create a powerful environment in which the genotype can produce a specific phenotype.

In the end, your genes alone cannot account for your entire phenotypic output (how you look). Rather, the environmental input (consisting of diet, exercise, supplements and drugs) interacts with the genes in a specific way. Based on the gene’s interpretation of this input, it is reflected back out, impacting the phenotype.

So upon examination of how genotype, phenotype, and environment interact, it seems that Milos may have a point. Assuming there are no serious health problems or extremely rare genetic anomalies present, with the right environment (diet, exercise, supplement, drug), perhaps almost anyone can become a pro bodybuilder – or can at least come damn close.

Still, the larger question remains: why do people fail to achieve goals that lie within their reach?

Excuses Exterminated

The truth is that many people confuse difficulty with impossibility. They assume that the greatest things can be achieved with the greatest ease. When they encounter resistance, they assume that the obstacles they face are insurmountable. At that point, failure is inevitable, and the process of rationalization begins. What is needed is a new belief, a new understanding of what is required to reach one’s potential. It is an understanding that the greatest things are necessarily difficult. Unless you embrace that simple fact, unless you relish the difficulty, unless you enjoy every minute spent overcoming the obstacles that others shy away from, you will never succeed in your endeavors.

A staggered starting line needn’t determine the finish of the race. If your genotype is a little less forgiving than someone else’s, you must determine the optimal environment to overcome this situation, whether that entails more rigid or extreme dietary changes, dramatically altered training routines, the inclusion of dietary supplements or (not that we necessarily recommend this) the inclusion of certain drugs. For some, figuring this out may be rapid. For others, it may take several years.

Ultimately, you must find your own unique path, your own unique plan. While you may share goals with others, you should not confuse what is required from you to achieve those goals with what is required from others to achieve them. Learn from them, and avoid the obvious mistakes that they make. But never get bogged down in a futile comparison, or use relative disadvantages as an excuse for utter lack of determination and commitment.

I’m simply not buying any genetic excuses for not accomplishing a goal. If you want to tell me that you’re not willing to do everything that it takes to achieve a specific goal, then I applaud your honesty. After all, some people are career-minded and don’t have the time to pursue elite athletics, and vice versa. That is perfectly understandable. But when I hear a career-track professional say that they can’t get in shape because of their genetics, my fury is roused. It’s not genetics, it’s environment. Call it like it is - you’re just not willing to do what it takes to get in shape!

Knowing Your Potential

How are you to know whether or not your goal is realistic? How are you to know what your potential really is?

You can only know the answer to that question by committing yourself to your goal completely and then going forward to accomplish it. Unless you actually dedicate yourself to continuously altering your environment in an attempt to discover your potential, you will be left operating well below it.

I’d be comfortable saying that very few people on the face of the earth ever come within 5% of their full genetic potential. Since most people, no matter how elite, never even come close to reaching their ceiling, how can the average person gripe about genetics? How can most athletes? I can almost guarantee that those shouting about genetics the loudest are the ones furthest away from their genetic potential.

Being far from your genetic potential means only that you have a longer way to go. Take Milos, for instance. At 17 years old, he was a 5 foot 10 inch soccer player weighing in at a mere 155lbs. I doubt that many people mistook him for a future pro bodybuilder at that time. But he decided to start lifting weights regardless. Since we all know that pro bodybuilders have amazing responses to training the minute they pick up weights, we would have expected that he would blow up right away. Interestingly, this isn’t how it worked out. Instead, during his first several months of training he actually made negative progress, losing muscle mass and strength!

At this point, he could have easily given up. He could have assumed that he didn’t have the genetics to succeed at weight lifting and moved on. But he had made a promise to himself to explore the upper limits of his muscle building potential. After reading all he could about training and nutrition (and beginning a degree in Nutritional Technology), he started anew with a different environment. This environment allowed him to pack on 40lbs of drug free lean body mass over the next 4 years. Now, about 18 years later, he’s 265 lbs at 7% body fat. His genetics didn’t make him huge, his environment did. And it continues to.

So perhaps Milos was right. Perhaps you can be anything you want if you put your mind to it. Find your path and walk it, never deviating, never excusing. And if for some reason you’re not accomplishing that “anything,” take a gander at your environment before you look to your genetics.