Key to success or myth: how does genetics affect athletic performance?

Master of Sport in judo, coach of Russian national team athletes

Of course, training in certain conditions gives its results and genetics of each person in sport is not always in the first place. Because without hard work and strong character you can’t achieve high results, even if you got a winning ticket with genetics and ended up in the right sport.

master of sports in bodybuilding

If we are talking about professional sports, of course, genetics will decide a lot of things: how muscles respond to the load, how they are attached, how thick the skin is. There is no doubt that champions are genetically unique athletes, they are one in a million.

If we are talking about amateur level, here genetically gifted guys will achieve the set results with less blood.

Artur Tsysar

Master of Sport in Judo, coach of Russian national team athletes

Physical condition and how quickly our skills develop depends directly on genetics. Muscles develop under the influence of external factors, and it depends on them what the body will be like. Because of genetics, a person can develop muscles in the legs faster, but slower in the arms or vice versa. Someone can eat as much as he wants and not get better, and it will be more difficult for such a person to develop his body.

Also, genetics affects not only muscle volume, but also explosive power. For example, you need strong muscles to run short distances, and endurance muscles to run long distances.

Artur Tsysar

Master of Sport in judo, coach of Russian national team athletes

Genetics can influence the results in sports, especially in children. If a child grows up faster, he is certainly stronger than others. With proper training, he can stay at the top for a long time. But sooner or later the others will catch up with him and he will start to feel serious resistance. After that, the main thing is not to break down and learn to beat his equals.

But genetics, of course, plays a role in adulthood. For example, let’s take Teddy Riner’s wrestling: heavyweight, judoist, Frenchman, invincible 130 kg of weight, height – 204 cm. Few people managed to defeat him, and for some time it seemed that opponents could not even approach him. But our Russian guy Tamerlan Bashayev, 175 cm tall, managed to win a confident victory at the Tokyo Olympics.

So genetics is not the main thing, although it can be a significant advantage.

Artur Tsysar

Master of Sport in judo, coach of Russian national team athletes

The distribution of fat in the body depends mainly on our genes. And fat is a “building material” for muscles. Under the influence on these muscles and provided that there is enough fat, muscles grow.

In addition, when practicing sports, you can affect different muscle groups in different ways. For example, if we want to run fast, the load should be speed-strong (speed running with weights), if we want to lift heavy weights – mainly strength (bench press with a gradual increase in load), etc.

Medical Director of SITILAB, Candidate of Medical Sciences, developer of genetic testing ecosystems

Large laboratories offer genetic tests on blood. Such tests will tell you about genetic predisposition to sports injuries, help you find out your heredity in terms of muscular development and even tell you what kind of sport is suitable: strength or endurance.

Also, we should not forget about the main muscle of the human body – the heart, which is under tremendous strain in conditions of great sport. Knowing your genetic risk, you can build an optimal training program and recovery periods. This gives current athletes an understanding of muscle strength reserve, and it gives sports physicians and coaches the ability to individualize training planning for better results.