What makes the likes of Usain Bolt, Katie Ledecky and Lance Armstrong (alright bad example... lets say Tadej Pogačar) on a different level to almost everyone else, by a country mile in their chosen sports?
Obviously they live a holistic lifestyle around their sports, eating clean, training hard and sleeping well, but so do 99% of other elite athletes in their sports.
These athletes all train within a program with other professionals, of which they will be given some personalised training but those around them will do the majority of the same training at the same intensity - so why are there some that are relatively so much further ahead of the field?
As a coach for many years, I’ve always known genetics play a role in performance, but what sparked my interest was a comment in the book Faster by Michael Hutchinson (a great read, I highly recommend!). He said, theoretically, someone could have such perfect genetics that they could win the Tour de France just by sitting on the couch eating crisps with no training. Imagine being that lucky!
I decided to delve deeper into this topic and find out how different people absorb training in different ways due to their genetics.
Genetics and VO2 Max:
Genetics play a very important role in determining your base VO2 Max and how it is affected by training. Your VO2 max is the maximal amount of oxygen that your body can utilise, with higher values allowing greater use of oxygen so you can convert fat to energy at a higher rate, clear lactic acid quicker and better recovery post exercise.
With half of the genetics that you inherit affecting your VO2 max, it might be time to thank your parents!
Your genetic makeup determines how much you can improve your VO2 Max from a base level through training. The average person will be able to improve their VO2 max between 5 and 15%, but it has been known for individuals to improve by up to 40%!
Although VO2 max is a good indicator of fitness, it is how much that you can utilise it which determines your actual performance. Most of the increases in performance you gain from training come from improving this utilisation rather than increasing the VO2 max itself.
Elite athletes naturally have a high VO2 max and are able to build it more than average because of their genetics. The large amount of training that they do over a longer period of time gives them better use of that VO2 max. Their genes affect their training adaptation speed and recovery speed so they can go again and again, in addition to having the psychological aspect of being able to push themselves to the limit.
Genetics and Lactate Threshold:
The other part of endurance performance is your lactate threshold. There are many definitions relating to lactate threshold but I am going to use it here in terms of the point at which your body reaches your anaerobic threshold ( the point that, if you go past, your lactate levels will rise exponentially until you have to stop).
Your lactate threshold is different to your VO2 max. Your VO2 max is judged to be your performance over a shorter period of time, typically around 5 minutes. Whereas your threshold level gives you the ability to hold your performance over an hour. For example, in elite level runners they will be running 1 mile at their VO2 max pace and a half marathon at their lactate threshold.
For most of us we will be running a max effort 1 km or 1 mile at our VO2 max pace and 10 km or 10 mile effort at our lactate threshold. Personally, my 1 mile PB is 4:53 and my 10 mile PB is 1:05.31. This equates to my lactate threshold being 74.5% of my VO2 max. Which is pretty average for a trained athlete.
As a comparison to elite distance runners I am going to use a couple of examples:
Firstly we will use Yomif Kejelcha, an Ethiopean distance runner. His personal best for the mile is 3:47.01 and for the half marathon is 57 minutes and 41 seconds, or 4:24 per mile. This is 85.9% of his VO2 max pace.
Secondly we will use Hellen Obiri, a Kenyan distance runner. Her personal best for the mile is 4:16.15 and for the half marathon is 1:04.22, or 4:54 per mile. This is 87.1% of her VO2 max pace.
These are elite distance runners and they have an extremely high lactate threshold in comparison to their VO2 max, this is due to many factors but we are going to focus on genes.
Genes that may affect your lactate threshold:
The closer you can get your lactate threshold to your Vo2 max, the closer you have come to your body’s limits. Theoretically, you could have a lactate threshold at your Vo2 max but unfortunately your genes come into play here too. There are genes such as the MTC1 gene that affect both the production and clearance of lactic acid in your blood. If you have a poor expression of this gene you need to focus on maximising your diet, targeting your training and recovery towards improving your lactate threshold.
If you have a higher lactate threshold, you can focus on boosting your Vo2 max to make the most of your natural abilities!
Other genes that may affect athletic performance:
Genes also determine if you are more predisposed to endurance sport, or power and strength sports. Most people have a mix of genes that support both endurance and strength. However, elite athletes in endurance sports like Ironman or ultra running tend to have more gene variations that benefit their performance.
One of the most researched genes for sporting capacity is the ACE gene. It helps regulate blood pressure and controls fluid electrolyte balance. The variation of this gene you have may give you a higher maximum heart rate and Vo2 Max, boosting your endurance potential. Other variations can increase type II muscle fibers ("fast-twitch"), improving power and strength.
There are additional things you might have to think about if you have a certain variation of this gene, such as requiring a longer warm up period to increase your heart rate and blood flow, over the average person.
Genes that affect recovery time from exercise:
There are a number of genes that affect your body’s recovery time. Some gene variations affect how much inflammation you get in your muscles after exercise. If you're lucky and have genes that reduce inflammation, you can exercise more often with shorter recovery time. Genes such as the IL-6, TNF, NOS3 and CRP can affect your body’s ability to recover. If you find that you don’t feel as much fatigue after sessions as your peers, you might have an advantageous set of these gene variations.
Genes that affect the ability to keep going and not lose to the ‘grind':
We all know that one person that just loves to train!
There are certain genes that have been mentioned that will affect your motivation to both start and continue exercising. Variation in genes such as BDNF increase or decrease the boost in mood you get from exercising.
With some people gaining a greater boost in mood so will have a higher motivation to exercise more and for a longer duration. Some variations can also increase brain function more than others post exercise too. Just think, with good genes, exercise can make you smarter!
In conclusion:
As of 2017 the known number of genetic variations was 324 million. To have a sequence of genes that would give you all of the advantageous genetic variations for one specific sport would require a ridiculous amount of luck - with my rough maths probably at least in the realm of 1 in a trillion. To put that into perspective, only around 110 billion humans have ever lived. How much of our performance is down to your genes? It's hard to quantify, but a lot!
To get the best out of ourselves we need to be conscious of our own strengths and weaknesses. With the knowledge of your own genetic profile you will learn the most efficient way of maximising your performance with the optimal diet, training, recovery and sleep schedule.
At Efficient Endurance we have the connections to test your genetic profile and therefore plan and adapt your training to what your body is built for.
Get in touch at chris@efficient-endurance.com If you would like to be part of more content be sure to subscribe to our list to get helpful training tips and tricks to become a better you.
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