is it all genetics?
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Nobody posted 29 weeks ago.
1) Genetics
2) Training
3) Nutrition
4) Pharmaceuticals
Greatness is only achieved by those who perpetually raise the expectations of themselves to the point where it ruins their life.
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Gsal posted 29 weeks ago.
i think that some people find that they can't get past a certain point in their fitness at some point in their lives. Whether this has something to do with genetics, i'm not sure. Like 'nobody' said, its a combination of factors. For ex, one of my best friends has two other brothers, all of which are runners. My friend won the NJ state xc meet of champs. His older brother is a runner at auburn and his younger brother is a freshman in highschool and already a ridiculous runner. They all train really hard, but i train equally if not harder than they do. They were simply born to run, literally. Genetics have a big role in their fitness.
I come from a relatively strange background. My mom is not really fit at all and does not have much motivation to exercise. However,my dad is an exercise freak. He just loves to get a hard workout in whenever he can. I definitely got my triathlete mindset from him, unquestionably. Still, hes never been close to how fit i am right now in his entire life. When i was in 9th grade, i was pretty fat and basically a bum (i never exercised, ate unhealthy, etc). Now i weigh the same i did 2 years ago, but i gained about half a foot in height. I think because i started so early in my life it will be easier for me to work up to an elite level, but i think it has to be pure genetics to start at the age of 25 or 30, and then turn pro the next year.
as far as macca and the rest of the pros go, they were just built to tri, no other way to say it.
they obviously train their asses off, but they wouldnt be able to get to that level if they werent built to do it,
"You can never be too rich or too skinny."
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DannoE posted 29 weeks ago.
I'm surprised this keeps coming up. That said, I agree with Gsal. We all have our natural gifts, whatever those happen to be, and within that framework, what we do and how we do it determines how successful we're going to be.
I don't know, but I would imagine that most of the tip-top guys and gals in the sport are probably very natural endurance athletes with naturally strong joints and a natural ability to recover quickly from hard workouts. But the key is that they are then USING those gifts to train hard every single day.
Look, no matter what he does, you wouldn't expect a 5'10" endomorph to be capable of succeeding at Defensive Tackle in the NFL. However, that same guy might train hard and make it all the way to the pros as a cornerback or free safety or something. By the same token, I'd not expect a 6'8" mesomorph to be a professional triathlete. But it's very possible to imagine that guy training hard and succeeding as a breastroker or sprint freestyler. But outside of the extreme examples, I wouldn't let fear of bad genes hold back your training or effort. The odds are excellent that you have no way of knowing what your true potential is without putting in a literal lifetime's worth of training.
DannoE
"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one..."
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jhudalla posted 29 weeks ago.
I think Muhammad Ali said it best - "You need to have the skill and the will, but the will must be stronger than the skill"
This meaning that no matter what our genes give us or say about or inate talents, most people don't have the guts (as well as time, money, list'm off here... ) to get out there and put in 25-30hrs of training week after week, year after year. When you think of all the top athletes out there, they all have that in common. That laser-like focus on their sport, and the will to go after it. Prefontaine, Billy Mills, Dean Karnazes, Armstrong, Ali.
Weary is the path that does not challenge.
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beads1985 posted 29 weeks ago.
jhudalla wrote:
I think Muhammad Ali said it best - "You need to have the skill and the will, but the will must be stronger than the skill"This meaning that no matter what our genes give us or say about or inate talents, most people don't have the guts (as well as time, money, list'm off here... ) to get out there and put in 25-30hrs of training week after week, year after year. When you think of all the top athletes out there, they all have that in common. That laser-like focus on their sport, and the will to go after it. Prefontaine, Billy Mills, Dean Karnazes, Armstrong, Ali.
+1 to that
'Nothing to it, but to do it!'
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j.qualle posted 29 weeks ago.
didn't know that Ali said that. Learn something new everyday. What a great quote! Kind of like "Hard works beats talent that doesn't work hard" Pre, Mills, Armstrong and Ali all known as very focused and hard working but born with lot's of natural talent compared to the normal humans.
jq
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jhudalla posted 29 weeks ago.
Yes but did they become great because of their genetic gifts, or were they already great athletes who happened to have great genes? How many people are there that have equal or greater genes that chose to pursue other passions. I'd be willing to bet most people don't get close to what their genetic make-up says they're capable of because they don't have the will to keep after it for years and years.
Weary is the path that does not challenge.
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j.qualle posted 29 weeks ago.
Combination of Genetics, Will, and hard work. I agree with you that most never realize their true capabilities. For many life get's in the way, marriage, children, money, etc. but as my college coach used to say, "You can't put in what God left out" but that should never keep anyone from pushing their own limits to be the best that they can be.
jq
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amorelli posted 29 weeks ago.
http://www.xtri.com/reports.aspx?riIDReport=5539&CAT=0&xref=xx
Interesting article on "critical volume"
Quote:
Anyone who has ever witnessed an Iron-distance event has certainly seen it. Perhaps many of you have even experienced it. Months and months of training, spent developing tremendous speed, only to utilize this speed by walking the final ten miles of the marathon, because the body has shut down, and utterly refused to move any faster. At QT2 Systems we call this phenomenon “System Failure” which I will cover in more detail in my next article. The Ironman is simply too long. Most athletes, aside from professional and top-level age-groupers have neither the time nor the physicality to train at the levels necessary to complete the Ironman, without some level of System Failure. We refer to the levels of training, required not to experience System Failure, as “Critical Volume”.
...
I believe there exists undeniable training volume thresholds that must be met prior to your event, in order to achieve that speed potential, as well as to have an enjoyable experience. These training volume thresholds, or critical volumes (as I like to call them) are defined in weekly training volumes, based on the following relationships for each sport:Swim – 9/3 of the event distance, per week
Bike – 8/3 of the event distance, per week
Run – 7/3 of the event distance, per week
...
Let’s take a look at what this means for the most extreme example, Ironman. Have you ever wondered why the time gaps, on a percentage basis, between the pros and age group athletes are much greater in Ironman than Olympic distance racing? It’s simply because most pro Ironman athletes are able to meet their critical volumes, while age groupers are not. The pros are able to maintain pace, while most age groupers significantly slow down at some point during the race. For example, if I wanted to be a top pro Ironman triathlete, I would want to meet the critical volumes for the event (and maybe add up to 50% to the bike volume):Swim = 2.4 miles = 4220 yds x 9/3 = 12,660yds
Bike = 112 miles x 8/3 = 300 miles (up to 450 miles, once the volumes in the swim and run have been met)
Run = 26.2 x 7/3 = 60 miles
For a pro Ironman triathlete, this equates to about 3.5 hours of swimming, 17 hours of biking and, about 7 hours of running. This is a total of about 27.5 hours of training for the final build week before the race. Based on this, it is no surprise that you see elite Ironman triathletes training in the 30 hour range.
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Crazyquick23 posted 28 weeks ago.
One of my professors has said several times in conversations like this that elite athletes especially aerobic athletes are genetic "freaks." They have larger lungs with more alveoli which allow them to exchange Oxygen at a higher rate than you or I. They have more carrying capacity in their blood due to more Red Blood Cells. Their muscles are more efficient at utilizing the oxygen carried in their blood and the list goes on...
That being said. It doesn't matter if you're unwilling to train that genetically superior body.
My 2 cents.
like say i can do an olympic race in 2:10
and a pro guy does it in 1:50.
IF....
I was able to train and do everything the same as him, would i be likely to get my time down as well.
Now if that were true, then genetics doesn't play as bigger part as training and preparation.
So is a fully tailored training plan would be the best training tool to be able to see the biggest difference in improvement.
So if that is the case is there a generic training plans that work for every body? Can we just get a hold of maccas training schedule and do that? Would that work for everybody?
Out of interest does any one have the schedule of a noteable pro? OL, HIM or IM.
It would be interesting to see what they do and when and how much.
olympic 2:10 IM 10:20
24hr sprint tri 8.5k swim, 250k bike, 89k run, 27 laps