Interindividual Heterogeneity of Adaptations to Resistance Training

[Frederick Foresight]

Here is a post from another thread:

I just remembered that he wrote the following in one of his articles:

The irony is that through all my training incarnations, I had about the same lean body mass. The only thing required to capitalize on my best assets was to just watch my diet a bit more.

Indeed, by comparison, staying relatively lean has been quite easy in contrast the stuffing myself with food to "bulk-up". The reason is that staying leaner plays to whatever favorable genetics I have. Bulking up does not.

http://www.ageless-athletes.com/genetic_limits.php

So, for all intents and purposes, pretty much any reasonable resistance routine will allow your physique to reach its genetic potential in time, after which it essentially comes down to a matter of maintenance and diet. That's his message. And, as an aside, he's a proponent of low volume HIT.

In support of this assessment, and by a different author:

INTERINDIVIDUAL HETEROGENEITY OF ADAPTATIONS TO RESISTANCE TRAINING

Abstract
Research has shown that there is a large interindividual heterogeneity of strength gains and muscle hypertrophy in response to resistance exercise training. The subject of genetics is rarely discussed in the majority of resistance training studies and only a handful of studies have specifically focused on the range of responses to a specific training protocol. This review describes the training protocols and results of those studies. It questions why the preponderance of other resistance training studies have failed to address the interindividual heterogeneity of adaptations and challenges the belief that highly complex so-called periodization protocols can actually overcome genetic limitations.

The full paper can be read here:

https://www.researchgate.net/public...GENEITY_OF_ADAPTATIONS_TO_RESISTANCE_TRAINING

 

[CaptainObvious]

Commitment to a regular exercise program is crucial, but that's the easy part. Maintaining a consistent pattern of healthy eating is the hard part. Can't out train a bad diet, especially as we age.

 

[Frederick Foresight]

Commitment to a regular exercise program is crucial, but that's the easy part. Maintaining a consistent pattern of healthy eating is the hard part. Can't out train a bad diet, especially as we age.

Sure, but the point of the paper is not to waste too much time chasing the Holy Grail:

One of the exercise researchers with whom I have corresponded from time to time wrote the following in an email:

"...What is totally unmarketable is the evidence that shows that how much muscle mass people can gain has a very strong genetic component and is not very protocol dependent assuming any one of a number of reasonable protocols. So, the idea that in changing protocols one can suddenly gain a lot of muscle mass assuming some prior training is not true. Same with strength. We have as do others some very compelling data from one of our NIH studies showing a large response variation to the same protocol..."

I received the above (excerpted) email from a different researcher than the one who wrote the paper posted above.

 

[CaptainObvious]

Sure, but the point of the paper is not to waste too much time chasing the Holy Grail:


I received the above (excerpted) email from a different researcher than the one who wrote the paper posted above.

I agree, which is why I advocate just trying to be the best version of yourself with consideration of what you have to work with genetically.

 

[Frederick Foresight]

The conclusion of the paper is worth reading; it's somewhat liberating:

Conclusions
The previously discussed studies that reported and focused on the interindividual heterogeneity of responses to resistance training [1-12] all demonstrated that when a group of people participate in an identical resistance training program, their responses to that program vary considerably and apparently are primarily genetically determined.
Many of us may have experienced delusional expectations regarding expected outcomes from resistance training [63]. The question is whether trainees should wallow in the delusion that they can somehow overcome their genetic limitations by obsessively experimenting with time consuming, highly complex, structured training protocols such as those inherent in periodization. Individuals who believe that they need to vary their traditional resistance training protocol could arbitrarily change specific exercises (e.g., flat bench press or declined bench press), types of resistance (e.g., free weights, machines or body weight exercises), different ranges of repetitions with a slightly higher or lower resistance (e.g., 4-6, 7-11, 12-14 reps), the number of sets for each muscle group, order of exercise, repetition duration, or rest between sets and exercises, from session to session or even for different muscle groups within a given session. There is very little compelling evidence–just a plethora of unsupported opinions and flawed studies–that obsessing over any or all of these training variables can alter an individual’s specific adaptation in a specific time frame or override the limitations of their genetic potential.

 

[Frederick Foresight]

More of the same from two recent studies:

 

[Baron]

It is a sobering reality to come to that point in your life when you realize that your genetic response to weight training is inferior to others around you. It hit me like a ton of bricks one day, but it also gave me a new vision for how I wanted to look moving forward. That's primarily why I started my single digit bodyfat journal. I figured if I can't be as big as others then perhaps I could become leaner than most, especially compared to those my age.

 

[Frederick Foresight]

It is a sobering reality to come to that point in your life when you realize that your genetic response to weight training is inferior to others around you. It hit me like a ton of bricks one day, but it also gave me a new vision for how I wanted to look moving forward. That's primarily why I started my single digit bodyfat journal. I figured if I can't be as big as others then perhaps I could become leaner than most, especially compared to those my age.

On balance, I don't think you're lacking in size. In the full light of day, would you really want to look like a pro bodybuilder? Personally, I'd rather look like a gymnast than a bouncer.

 

[Baron]

In the full light of day, would you really want to look like a pro bodybuilder?

In my younger years I did, but definitely not now. I think the biggest thing that people don't understand is that a pro bodybuilder looks good on stage but that's about it. The rest of the year they are just huge bloated blobs.

 

[Trader13]

I suspect there are a lot of closet pill-poppers out there on a regimen of steroids or growth hormones who skew our perception of weight training and muscle growth. When I see an almost perfect specimen of whole body muscle development, rather than admiration I just say to myself "he must have some great pills".