muscle determined by genetics?

[lordson]

i read in Men's Health that the amount of muscle u have is determiaend by gentiecs already, but the quality can be changed by u

so its saying your weight and mass is already pre-determiend by genetics and theres not a whole lot u can do if youre skinny

is this true?

it seems kinda feasable

u can't do better than your best too, so ive heard

 

[Warboss Alex]

Originally posted by lordson
i read in Men's Health

I stopped reading the post at that point.

Men's Health's only use is doubling as emergency lavatory paper. I'm surprised the article didn't try to sell you Weight Gainer XYZ because apparently 'defies genetics'..

Truly elite muscle genetics are few and far between - similarly truly crappy muscle genetics are rare (although every other 'hardgainers' claims to be unable to gain a pound even though they eat like 'two horses' (translation: about 3000 calories a day and 100g of protein)).

You can do AMAZING things with average or even sub-par genetics - your DNA just makes the job easier or harder, determines how easily you gain/lose/maintain muscle, how sensitive you are to certain foods and a whole lot of stuff but I don't believe that ANY skinny guy on this forum is destined to stay that way. Okay you might be genetically predetermined to need exotic bicep widowmakers to put size on your arms past a certain point or maybe your lat spread won't ever be 100% as wide as you'd like BUT you can look good, no, you can look DAMN good with hard, consistent work under the bar and more importantly at the dinner table.

Take someone like Dorian Yates or Doggcrapp - average genetics if that, but they got to 300lbs. It took them time and trouble (years) but they got there.

I seriously was shaped like a pear and thought I'd never get anywhere.. now I'm so square I have trouble fitting through doorways .

Put down men's health and spend the money you'd pay for the rag on a steak - get eating and lifting, do your cardio and the gains will come. Genetics or otherwise: hit your body with extreme protein and extreme heavy weights over time and what, it's gonna want to stay 150lbs? Yeah, right. Will you become a pro? Probably not but will you get bigger? Hell yeah.

 

[Un-Aru]

u can't do better than your best too, so ive heard

One of my favourite quotes from a movie: "Losers whine about their best. Winners go home and f*ck the prom queen"

Forget genetics, your mind is the most powerful weapon you have in your battle to become anything truly great. I have read of a man that lifted a car off his son in order to save him. Did he magically become bigger and stronger? No. It was all in his head.

'The best' become 'the best' because they CONSISTENTLY push themselves PAST THEIR LIMITS. That means their 'best' is shifting ever upwards. And that philosophy doesn't hold true with just training, but in general life too.

 

[brucevangeorge]

**** you and **** your genetics. If youre going to whine about some stupid thing that you read in Men's Health then do me a favor and never show up in the gym again.

Otherwise shut it and go hit some weights. You're never going to get anywhere reading 'Mens Health'. Get your pansy ass into the gym now boy.

 

[TheRelic]

If *anything*, it's the other way around!

 

[Warboss Alex]

Originally posted by brucevangeorge
**** you and **** your genetics. If youre going to whine about some stupid thing that you read in Men's Health then do me a favor and never show up in the gym again.

Otherwise shut it and go hit some weights. You're never going to get anywhere reading 'Mens Health'. Get your pansy ass into the gym now boy.

That was uncalled for. The guy's 19, at his age I had the same questions. The fact that you don't is good, but you're an exception. Most teenagers read MH or Flex and don't know any better.

 

[A-Unit]

Re:

So few people PUSH their genetic limit, that it's not of consequence to about, 99% of the US.

The only guys who should be concerned about GENETICS are those topping 250, and 350, who are Pro-Anything-Athletes.

Make sense?

A guy at 130, 150, 180, average, average, is nowhere CLOSE to his potential. And who determines it anyways? Our maker? Genes? Push your limits through food and maybe gear WAAAAAY down the road (alot of guys @ intensemuscle do, that's how you push genetics) and let's talk in 10 hard years.

Guys you see in public, just don't care. They don't WANT to eat, or touch TONS of protein.

-----------------------

I have a pal who does SOME gear, he lifts at 5am, is generally skinny but good-looking, YET, he doesn't eat enough. You want muscle and size and energy...consider that to BE bigger you must EAT more to get there. It's PURE COMMON SENSE that MOST are afraid of, since society is so consider about obesity. If you're between 10-20% of bodyfat percent, you're NOT fat, and you can cut those points off in 10-16 weeks NO PROBLEM.



A-Unit

 

[Visceral]

Originally posted by Warboss Alex
Take someone like Dorian Yates or Doggcrapp - average genetics if that, but they got to 300lbs. It took them time and trouble (years) but they got there.

No-one gets to be Mr. Olympia with average genetics; it just doesn't happen. They're also both on steroids, which completely changes what's possible - neither of them could have gotten that big without steroids. Also, 300 pounds is their off-season weights; the amount of actual muscle they have on their bodies is probably a lot less.
I respect that you're trying to encourage the guy, but you've picked an impossible standard.

Originally posted by A-Unit
Guys you see in public, just don't care. They don't WANT to eat, or touch TONS of protein.

They don't want to work out either. I wonder how people can live in such a shallow society as ours and still be capable of eating crap and sitting on their asses all day - you'd think everyone would be gym-and-health-food nuts. Perhaps society is too shallow and people think they're not worth the effort? That, or the exercise equipment, health food, and supplement companies all must need to hire better ad agencies.

 

[silverwex]

Once I saw those two words - Men's AND Health I cringed coz I knew the original poster would get reefed lol

Anyway as the guys said:

Lift Hard
Eat Hard
Sleep Hard

and you'll grow.

 

[Paintballguy]

Originally posted by silverwex
Once I saw those two words - Men's AND Health I cringed coz I knew the original poster would get reefed lol

Anyway as the guys said:

Lift Hard
Eat Hard
Sleep Hard

and you'll grow.

Yes!!

Complaining about your genetics is a lame excuse for not working out and trying your hardest.

I know first hand because I once thought that way. At one point a year or two ago, I weighed in around 200+ at 25%+ body fat. Currently, I am around 160ish at 13-14% bf.

If you stick to a plan and work hard, you will see results.

 

[Warboss Alex]

Originally posted by Visceral
No-one gets to be Mr. Olympia with average genetics; it just doesn't happen. They're also both on steroids, which completely changes what's possible - neither of them could have gotten that big without steroids. Also, 300 pounds is their off-season weights; the amount of actual muscle they have on their bodies is probably a lot less.
I respect that you're trying to encourage the guy, but you've picked an impossible standard.

I doubt the guy WANTS to become 300lbs offseason - but if you've seen how DC and Dorian started out (130lb stickboys) you'd be amazed. DC got up to 230-240 lean before he touched drugs, I'm not sure of Dorian's history. DC has average genetics, he'll tell you that himself, he had to expand his ribcage and shoulder girdle among other things. What he's achieved is unsurpassed IMO.

They're still better inspirations than say Coleman or Wheeler - both fantastic bodybuilders but genetic freaks too. Or Paul Dillett who grew off two meals a day.

 

[Adone]

You all are right, guys. If you want to get bigger than average, you can't expect Men's Health's articles to help you. MH is only good for 40-yr-old guys that want to lose their gut, not for 20-yr-old skinny runts who want to get big.

Yet, I wouldn't flame MH, because the magazine never claims to make you big, it usually says that those exercises will make you lose your gut or have a more athletic body, which is true (my father followed one of their workout and in a couple of months, he lost 30 lbs and a lost of bodyfat).

 

[Visceral]

Originally posted by Warboss Alex
I doubt the guy WANTS to become 300lbs offseason - but if you've seen how DC and Dorian started out (130lb stickboys) you'd be amazed. DC got up to 230-240 lean before he touched drugs, I'm not sure of Dorian's history. DC has average genetics, he'll tell you that himself, he had to expand his ribcage and shoulder girdle among other things. What he's achieved is unsurpassed IMO.

Dorian started lifting as a teenager in juvenile hall and made big progress very quickly even when he didn't know what he was doing, which suggests good genes. I've heard the stories about DC, and they are impressive if they're true, especially with ribcage and shoulder girdle expansion, things that I think even scientists say are impossible. However, DC's also 6'+, so 230-240 is still within the realm of non-steroid possibility - a 5'6" guy like me couldn't get to 230-240 even with both steroids and off-season bodyfat.

DC's program has been criticized for being more than the average/natural body can handle, specifically in not providing very much recovery time between both same and different body part workouts, especially when you consider how tough his workouts are - the lifting technique (I forget its name - post-failure on every exercise in every workout) would tax anyone's muscles and CNS. These facts are all compounded when you recognize that he markets it to advanced lifters at plateaus, not beginners with low weights and high recovery ability, but who would still be overwhelmed due to lack of experience and discipline.

 

[bud_2005]

I think so.

I know a couple kids in high school who never worked out a day in their life and were pretty much lazy. They didn't eat right either.

But one of them was the fasted kid in school and the other was the strongest kid I've met.

 

[Blowfish]

Men's Health is the DEVIL!

Really, you should stop reading and start lifting, get information from different sources then compare and experiment. Like Bruce Lee's philosophy of discarding what is useless and apply what works for you.

 

[prosemont]

Originally posted by brucevangeorge
**** you and **** your genetics. If youre going to whine about some stupid thing that you read in Men's Health then do me a favor and never show up in the gym again.

Otherwise shut it and go hit some weights. You're never going to get anywhere reading 'Mens Health'. Get your pansy ass into the gym now boy.

I'm going to just assume you're trying to be humorous here and not get your pansy ass banned from here ... for now.

Carry on.

 

[Create Reality]

After I saw somebody mention fascia stretching on here I decided to check out what it is. Basically it's stretching the tendons that connect muscle to bone in effort to make them wider, so the muscles are not constricted and have more room for the maximal effects of hypertrophy. If muscles were like a river, the tendons would be like a chokepoint in that river. Widen that chokepoint and muscle size overall will expand.

Some muscles are very hard to stretch. For example I find my triceps the hardest to do this with (without damaging my rotator cuff). Also biceps, because of the amount of stress that is placed on the elbows. Chest is a great one to stretch.

If anyone's interested in this idea search it on google "fascia stretching" as there are details to this I didn't mention here, and if done wrong serious damage can occur.

 

[Shiftkey]

Genetics play a role, but disciplin and consistancy with the right diet and exercise plan and plenty of rest make the biggest difference by far.

 

[Legend]

i was very skinny and i worked out 5 times a week for 5 years and now im jacked as hell. So im going to disagree with mens health.

 

[RaWBLooD]

Originally posted by lordson
i read in Men's Health that the amount of muscle u have is determiaend by gentiecs already, but the quality can be changed by u

so its saying your weight and mass is already pre-determiend by genetics and theres not a whole lot u can do if youre skinny

is this true?

it seems kinda feasable

u can't do better than your best too, so ive heard

you will never be good at anything with that attitude.