What you have already learned: In the first of a series of articles on the topic Find out in which sport you will excel you may have already familiarized yourself with the topics of muscle structure, strengthening and the warrior gene.
What we can teach you: In this article, we will show you how your genetics affects the volume of muscles, the proportion of fat-free mass, the capacity of the heart, and thus also your sports predispositions, performance and goals. You will find out how useful a certain type of training can be for you.
Physical activity in general affects our health, but some sports activities are more suitable for some individuals than for others. For example, genetics has a large influence on various athletic characteristics such as strength, power, endurance, muscle fiber size and composition, flexibility, neuromuscular coordination, temperament, and more. And that's why we can use DNA analysis to give you recommendations that will help you on your way to achieving your goals.
MUSCLE VOLUME GENE
Did you know? From a time perspective, beginners make rapid progress when strengthening, because muscle adaptation occurs primarily in a neurological way. There is no universal plan for building muscles, but experts recommend the so-called progressive training plans.
To determine your potential for muscle mass (hypertrophy), we analyze a specific gene called IL15RA, which is involved in preventing muscle breakdown, building lean body mass, and building muscle in response to training. The result will tell you whether you have a genetic variant that is associated with increased muscle mass in response to endurance training, or whether you have a version that is associated with increased muscle strength. It is clear that some individuals respond much better to certain types of training than others. Some people look a lot more muscular after one year of weightlifting than most people after ten years, because our progress in this area depends heavily on our genetic makeup. Studies have shown that IL-15 is an important mediator of the response of muscle mass to endurance training in humans, and that genetic variation in IL15RA has a large effect on the variability of this response. A significantly higher increase in lean body mass and arm and leg circumference was observed in people with the "A" allele. However, the increase in muscle strength went in the opposite direction and mean relative strength (strength expressed in kg of body weight) was lower with the addition of each 'A' allele.
Analyzed genes: IL15RA
PROPORTION OF NON-FAT MASS
Did you know? It is the most accurate factor for prescribing the correct level of medication because body fat is less important for metabolism.
Lean body mass (LBM) is the name given to your total body weight without fat. It's also called "lean" mass because it includes the weight of your muscles, bones, organs, and skin. Your lean body mass status determines whether you are more or less likely to have more lean body mass and lower fat levels. The optimal percentage of lean body mass is 80 to 85 percent of total weight for men and 75 to 80 percent for women. Lean body mass is heavily influenced by genetics and heredity, ranging from 52 to 84 percent. If you have a genetic predisposition to more lean body mass, you have a better chance of gaining muscle through exercise. Having more lean body mass also has many health benefits that go far beyond a nice figure in a swimsuit. Your lean body mass ratio affects your metabolism and energy levels, and affects your strength and mobility. More lean body mass reduces the likelihood of overweight, obesity, impaired protein balance and osteoporosis.
Analyzed genes: TRHR_1, TRHR_2
HEART CAPACITY
Did you know? A decrease in heart rate at a certain intensity of movement is usually due to an improvement in fitness, but a change in heart rate at a certain intensity of movement can also be explained by many other factors: dehydration can increase the heart rate by up to 7.5 %, heat and humidity can increase the heart rate by up to 10 beats per minute, altitude can increase it by 10 to 20 %, even after acclimatization, and also biological variability can cause the heart rate to change from day to day by 2 to 4 beats per minute.
Our heart pumps about 5 liters of blood every minute at rest, but during exercise it pumps about 5 times more blood than at rest. Our aerobic capacity depends on "central" factors, the ability of the lungs and heart to deliver oxygen to the working muscles, as well as on "peripheral" factors, the ability of these muscles to use the supplied oxygen to produce fuel for cardiac contraction. A good heart condition is therefore an essential element that allows us to take advantage of our overall sporting potential. Regular physical activity is generally accepted as an essential part of a healthy heart-supporting lifestyle, as it brings about beneficial changes in cardiac activity (better cardiac performance), which further significantly affects our aerobic capacity. For example, a physically active person can perform the same amount of work with less cardiac strain (defined as a lower heart rate and blood pressure during a given work performance) than a sedentary person. This is due to the fact that our heart must be able to transport the necessary amount of oxygen to our muscle tissues. For example, your heart may not be able to pump enough blood with each beat, and because blood contains oxygen, your oxygen supply capacity is limited. Thus, good cardiac performance is an important independent component of your overall aerobic capacity. In addition, better cardiac performance is associated with improvements in traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease: a reduction in blood pressure, a reduction in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and an increase in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol.
Analyzed genes: CREB1, ACE
What you could learn: No two individuals with the same genetic make-up are the same, and therefore there is no training plan that will work equally well for everyone. We have a different genetic predisposition to muscle volume and thus a different tendency to increase endurance or strength, more lean body mass has many advantages not only for athletes, and we must take care of good heart performance and thus prevent diseases. Only the right combination of knowledge about the training process and facts about your body based on genetic analysis will allow us to achieve the desired sports goals.
Together with the first article on the topic Find out what sport you will excel in, you learned basic information about 6 out of 10 sports genetic analyses, which are only a small part. We will inform you about the details of the individual analyzes in other articles.
References used:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18514540/
