Genetics and Its Effects on Muscle Growth
Is muscle growth really affected by genetics? Or are people just making excuses for when they don't see muscle growth? In this article, we’ll explore this common misconception and dive deeper into it.
How do genetics impact muscle growth?
There are many ways that genetics can impact your muscle growth. For example, genetics determine and influence your hormone levels. Some of these hormones can directly affect muscle growth, like testosterone and growth hormones. Genetics will influence your baseline level for these hormones, and people who have a higher baseline than others will gain muscle more easily than those with a lower baseline.
Another factor of muscle growth that your genetics can affect is your metabolism. Your metabolic rate is partially determined by your genetics, and it affects how efficiently nutrients are used in your body. This means that those with a higher metabolic rate can consume more calories without gaining extra fat compared to those with a lower metabolic rate, and this is very important when trying to grow muscle.
Your genetics also impact your nutrient utilization. Some individuals are able to synthesize proteins from food faster than others because of genetics. As a result, the extra protein that they synthesize allows them to build muscle more efficiently.
What if you have "bad" genetics?
Let’s say you are a very unlucky person, and you are born with the absolute worst genetics for muscle growth possible. You can still build muscle. Muscle growth is impacted by your genetics, but is not dependent on them.
Everyone can build muscle growth if they follow the correct steps.
Train effectively. This means that while you’re training, you have proper form and use weights that actually feel heavy. For muscle growth, aim for 8-10 reps per set.
Eat correctly. Muscle growth is largely impacted by your diet. For muscle growth, make sure you eat lots of protein. You should eat roughly 1.4-2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight every day. If trying to gain weight overall, eat at a caloric surplus, and if trying to lose weight, eat at a caloric deficit.
Get plenty of sleep. Sleep is essential for muscle development, and also just being healthy in general. Your body actually builds muscle when you sleep-not when you work out- so getting enough sleep is very important. Aim for 8-10 hours each day.
In summary...
A common misconception about weight training is that muscle growth is largely dependent on genetics, and a person without good genetics will hardly see any progress and muscle growth. However, this is false. While it is true that genetics do affect how much muscle you can gain and how quickly you can gain this muscle, people with “bad” genetics can still gain muscle if they train correctly and consistently.
Written by: Shengze