Although genetics do play a role in your physical appearance and talents, it is a bit overrated.  It is hard to determine if someone is genetically gifted or not.  Nobody knows if you are capable of bui lding 20 inch arms until you have actually tried it.  There are plenty of people that have genetics superior to mine, but either don’t work hard enough or give up too soon in their quest to achieve a certain level of development.  Your success stems from your determination and hard work in and outside of the gym. Genetics will only take you so far.

Success is measured by doing your best with what you have.  A good example of this is professional boxer, Joe Frazier.  What many people do not know is that Joe was injured as a child and he was unable to extend his left arm completely.  A left-hand jab is crucial and the cornerstone of a boxer’s offense.  Joe was unable to effectively util ize his left jab because of his l imited range of motion.  So he threw thousands of left hooks- a punch which suited hisleft arm best.  He developed superior endurance.  The result of Joe’s perseverance and hard work was his rise to the top of the sport of boxing.  Frazier became the Heavyweight Champion of the Word because he did the best he could with what he had.

Everyone can make tremendous gains in muscle size, strength and level of fitness.  You should not place limits on what you can achieve, regardless of your bone size, number of muscle cells or even hormone levels.  Genetics do play a role, but nobody knows how far you can go until you really try.  You have to do the best you can with your gifts and what was not handed to you on a silver platter.

KNOWING YOUR BODY TYPE

It is important to understand what body type you are in order to devise a plan to get you the results you are looking for.  Physical types (somatotypes) are used to classify body types; it is a three-category system.  These types include- ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph.

ECTOMORPH: characterized by long, thin bones; low levels of body fat; narrowness in the chest and shoulders; tend to be taller than persons of the other two categories.  They have trouble gaining body mass and have high metabol isms.

MESOMORPH: solid muscle structure; large chest, wide shoulders, and smal l waist; great strength; low body fat levels. This category is the most suited for bodybui lding, having a great muscle bui lding capacity.

ENDOMORPH: round and short in stature; soft musculature; wide hips; high body fat levels.  They have the tendency to store body fat quite easily.

Most individuals are a combination of al l three body types.  The system, invented by Herbert Sheldon, recognizes a total of eighty-eight subcategories within the classification.  A scale is used (from 1 to 7) to determine the level of dominance of each basic category.  For example, if someone was scored ectomorphic (6), mesomorphic (4) and  endomorphic (2); they would be an ecto-mesomorph.  Which means basically they are muscular, with little body fat and may have difficulty in gaining weight.  Understanding your individual somatotype can save you a lot of time and frustration.

Ectomorphs should bump their calories up a bit more than the other two categories in order to gain muscle mass. They should keep their workout durations short and intense, having the tendency to become overtrained.  Plenty of power movements should be incorporated into their routines- heavy weights and lower reps.  Longer rest periods are best, giving enough time to fully recover from each set.  Ectomorphs should also not perform a high amount of cardio.

Endomorphs, on the other hand, would best benefit from doing a higher amount of cardio for longer durations. Short rest periods between sets would be most beneficial to burn off as much fat as possible.  They should closely monitor their caloric intake and fat consumption.  Eating too much late at night would be detrimental- it wouldn’t even hurt to go to bed a l ittle hungry.

Mesomorphs have the “ ideal”  body type and find it relatively easy to gain muscle whi le staying lean.  They should focus on the basic exercises and can begin working on shaping the muscle right away.  They don’t have to worry much about overtraining- they recover quickly from each set and workout.  A balanced diet with an adequate amount of protein wi l l build a spectacular body.

There have been several great powerl ifters that were ectomorphs and great bodybui lders that were in fact endomorphs.  Frank Zane and Franco Columbu probably did not appear to have much genetic abi l ity when they first started training, but they both went on to win the Mr. Olympia title more than once.  Serge Nubret had wrists under seven inches yet he succeeded in developing arms over 20 inches.

No matter what your body type, you can achieve outstanding results if you fol low a consistent workout regimen and nutrition plan.  As years go by, you can actual ly change your body type to lean toward one direction.  As long as you implement certain dieting and training strategies to your plan based off your body type, you can go as far you want to go.