Discussion
There was a programme on BBC2 at the weekend exploring whether Olympic winners were born or made. Part of it they did DNA fitness profiling with a company called DNAFit.
The company reckoned that by using this technique that someone would gain twice the performance as someone else who trained ordinarily.
Part of me is massively sceptical and the other part is very interested.
I've blown way more than the £120 it costs for the etc on go faster bike parts, swim kit, coaching, supplements etc so might give it a punt.
Anyone on here tried it? Did it make a difference?
The company reckoned that by using this technique that someone would gain twice the performance as someone else who trained ordinarily.
Part of me is massively sceptical and the other part is very interested.
I've blown way more than the £120 it costs for the etc on go faster bike parts, swim kit, coaching, supplements etc so might give it a punt.
Anyone on here tried it? Did it make a difference?
not tried it, but was hugely interested in the programme and thought it was very fascinating. and does open up a big debate on the whole nature v's nurture theory.
i used to compete at a reasonable level in sport (top 20-30 in the country) and we used to get different testing/ sports science type things. one of my main stats was I had used to be able to generate fairly high levels of lactic acid, but sustain effort for prolonged periods.
I certainly never 'made it' and dont think i had the ability to get to the very top in my sport. but always wondered had i focussed my attention to a different sport, did i have the genetics where i could have made the top? eg: i'm not 6ft+ tall so would never have been a NBA star, but could i have been the best at power lifting, tennis, football, archery.......
i used to compete at a reasonable level in sport (top 20-30 in the country) and we used to get different testing/ sports science type things. one of my main stats was I had used to be able to generate fairly high levels of lactic acid, but sustain effort for prolonged periods.
I certainly never 'made it' and dont think i had the ability to get to the very top in my sport. but always wondered had i focussed my attention to a different sport, did i have the genetics where i could have made the top? eg: i'm not 6ft+ tall so would never have been a NBA star, but could i have been the best at power lifting, tennis, football, archery.......
Yes it is a very interesting area. I never did much sport when young and was not great at what I did.
What has interested me is a couple of years ago I took up swimming. My progress has way outstripped other people at the same club and I obviously have something about me which is suitable for that sport. Partly it is physical (height / arm length) but I seem to be able to train and make larger gains than most.
What I am interested in now is how good could can I get on a purely amateur level. I have done a few age group races and I am in the top 1/3 usually and near the top of my age group.
I have ordered the DNA kit. Worth a punt. Will take the advice on board and see what becomes of it and whether I notice a difference.
Most annoying thing of all is I wish I had taken up swimming early, not in my thirties.
What has interested me is a couple of years ago I took up swimming. My progress has way outstripped other people at the same club and I obviously have something about me which is suitable for that sport. Partly it is physical (height / arm length) but I seem to be able to train and make larger gains than most.
What I am interested in now is how good could can I get on a purely amateur level. I have done a few age group races and I am in the top 1/3 usually and near the top of my age group.
I have ordered the DNA kit. Worth a punt. Will take the advice on board and see what becomes of it and whether I notice a difference.
Most annoying thing of all is I wish I had taken up swimming early, not in my thirties.
malks222 said:
not tried it, but was hugely interested in the programme and thought it was very fascinating. and does open up a big debate on the whole nature v's nurture theory.
i used to compete at a reasonable level in sport (top 20-30 in the country) and we used to get different testing/ sports science type things. one of my main stats was I had used to be able to generate fairly high levels of lactic acid, but sustain effort for prolonged periods.
I certainly never 'made it' and dont think i had the ability to get to the very top in my sport. but always wondered had i focussed my attention to a different sport, did i have the genetics where i could have made the top? eg: i'm not 6ft+ tall so would never have been a NBA star, but could i have been the best at power lifting, tennis, football, archery.......
I swim, and by most peoples standards, you might say I was very good. However, compared to the next tier of swimmers like those who get the chance to swim internationally, I am in another universe altogether. A universe lagging far behind! I trained with some good people, we all did the same, we all put in 70k a week in the pool and had the same level of attention from the coach etc. Some of them ended up way way better than I. I can only surmise that their bodies were naturally just better for it. Especially those who can swim distance. I can't do distance to save my life and thats despite being flogged in horrible sets like 100 x 100m on 1.20 or 3 x 1500's or 8 x 400's. But what I can do is sprint well and recover fast so I can sprint again.i used to compete at a reasonable level in sport (top 20-30 in the country) and we used to get different testing/ sports science type things. one of my main stats was I had used to be able to generate fairly high levels of lactic acid, but sustain effort for prolonged periods.
I certainly never 'made it' and dont think i had the ability to get to the very top in my sport. but always wondered had i focussed my attention to a different sport, did i have the genetics where i could have made the top? eg: i'm not 6ft+ tall so would never have been a NBA star, but could i have been the best at power lifting, tennis, football, archery.......
Sadly I only really discovered this when it was too late. I should have probably been training just for sprints, instead of training for everything. Bill Sweetenhams one-size fits all high meterage approach definitely didn't work for me. Now that I just concentrate on sprints, doing weights and not swimming 2 x a day, I have gotten faster than I ever was over 50's and 100's and I'm 30 next year! (A lot of the fastest blokes today are still in their teens or early 20's).
So Nature, yes... but also training in a way that will get your body to respond maximally. Everyone will naturally have something about them that lends itself so a certain aspect of physical performance. The key is training to take advantage of that, rather than riding the bus with everyone else and hoping for the best.
Incidentaly I am 6ft 3in and can jump rather high... Perhaps I should have been a high jumper or a basket ball player!!
Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Wednesday 13th May 12:33
Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Wednesday 13th May 12:34
944fan said:
Yes it is a very interesting area. I never did much sport when young and was not great at what I did.
What has interested me is a couple of years ago I took up swimming. My progress has way outstripped other people at the same club and I obviously have something about me which is suitable for that sport. Partly it is physical (height / arm length) but I seem to be able to train and make larger gains than most.
What I am interested in now is how good could can I get on a purely amateur level. I have done a few age group races and I am in the top 1/3 usually and near the top of my age group.
I have ordered the DNA kit. Worth a punt. Will take the advice on board and see what becomes of it and whether I notice a difference.
Most annoying thing of all is I wish I had taken up swimming early, not in my thirties.
Please do report back with the findings (if any!). Rather interested in this!What has interested me is a couple of years ago I took up swimming. My progress has way outstripped other people at the same club and I obviously have something about me which is suitable for that sport. Partly it is physical (height / arm length) but I seem to be able to train and make larger gains than most.
What I am interested in now is how good could can I get on a purely amateur level. I have done a few age group races and I am in the top 1/3 usually and near the top of my age group.
I have ordered the DNA kit. Worth a punt. Will take the advice on board and see what becomes of it and whether I notice a difference.
Most annoying thing of all is I wish I had taken up swimming early, not in my thirties.
Otispunkmeyer said:
Please do report back with the findings (if any!). Rather interested in this!
I will. I've gone for the diet and fitness test so will report both. ON the fitness side it gives you a break down of how well your body responds to either Power or Endurance training.looking back over my coaching sessions and TTs my 400m time had dropped far more dramatically than my 100m time. But that is possibly because I have focused more on endurance training than sprints. It will be interesting to see if genetically I am more suited to it as well.
944fan said:
ON the fitness side it gives you a break down of how well your body responds to either Power or Endurance training.
No - it gives you a breakdown of how someone with some of the physiology they describe might be more predisposed to respond.What they can't measure in the test is intelligence, willpower, motivation, perception, visual acuity etc etc. Further, certain genetic factors (muscle fibre %, Vo2max, cardiac measures etc can be altered by training. And it's no use going down the 'I'm tall so I should be good at basketball, swimming ' because all that means is you're taller than average. Better than being plump though - for obvious reasons.
I have just got my results back.
Fitness - I have slight more predisposition to power rather than endurance. I have a low aerobic potential, slow recovery and high injury risk. Some of this I can see with evidence of how my training goes. I know I suffer with recovery so maybe need to make some changes there. Injury risk is interesting as although I've not suffered with a full on injury I do get a lot of niggles.
Diet - Some interesting things in here too. Recommend diet for me is low carb as I have a very high sensitivity to carbs and low sensitivity to fat. I did try a low carb diet and did see some good results, unfortunately my love of cookies and cake meant I didn't keep it up. Need to up my Antioxidants and Omega 3 and cut down on slat, caffeine, refined carbs/sugars and grilled meat.
Quite interesting all in. Some things weren't a surprise others were. Got nothing to lose by trying the suggested changes so will see where I am in a few months.
If anyone else is interested they currently have a 30% discount code running: PRIMALBLUEPRINT
Fitness - I have slight more predisposition to power rather than endurance. I have a low aerobic potential, slow recovery and high injury risk. Some of this I can see with evidence of how my training goes. I know I suffer with recovery so maybe need to make some changes there. Injury risk is interesting as although I've not suffered with a full on injury I do get a lot of niggles.
Diet - Some interesting things in here too. Recommend diet for me is low carb as I have a very high sensitivity to carbs and low sensitivity to fat. I did try a low carb diet and did see some good results, unfortunately my love of cookies and cake meant I didn't keep it up. Need to up my Antioxidants and Omega 3 and cut down on slat, caffeine, refined carbs/sugars and grilled meat.
Quite interesting all in. Some things weren't a surprise others were. Got nothing to lose by trying the suggested changes so will see where I am in a few months.
If anyone else is interested they currently have a 30% discount code running: PRIMALBLUEPRINT
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