Any time we see a truly spectacular athletic performance, there’s someone to comment that it must be genetic. Which of course led us to wonder, just how true that was. Is speed genetic? Are the best runners just winning because of genes or is it about training, diet, lifestyle. Nature vs nurture at work.
Coach Laura Norris and I dove in to the research to see what the data actually says.
And the first thing to know is this is an extremely complex subject to study! Here I’ll give you a quick breakdown of the highlights from our discussion, but you can (and should) listen to the entire Tread Lightly running podcast episode below to get a complete understanding of the topic.
How Much of Running is Genetic?
Right now everything points to athletic success and performance being no more than 50% from our genetic make up. Could that change as we are able to do more studies or isolate genes…perhaps.
Which means it’s equally about where you live, your training, the environment that surrounds you, what we often refer to as epigenetics. If you look at many of the top African runners, you’ll see they grew up in places where running was not just part of their day, but a massive part of the culture.
That shifts your entire focus on the sport and how you approach it from a very young age. Perhaps the same thing we see with football players who grew up in towns where it was the holy grail.
Only about 0.1% of our DNA varies between individuals.
That’s right, you’re special, but not that special.
Genes aren’t set in stone like we once thought. So you could have a genetic predisposition for something, but it hasn’t been turned on yet or something turned it off at some point. It’s very difficult to isolate what is genetics, what is training, what is epigenetics.
Can Genes Make You More Athletic?
We can consider part of elite athleticism, inheritable. If you have a parent that was an elite athlete there’s a 70% greater chance that you are an elite athlete because of how these genes get inherited across generations.
In fact, your VO2Max could be up to 15% inheritable. Which means…it’s 85% in your hands with training!
What we found for sure is there are genes that could make you more trainable. And of course, if you are able to train better, more consistently, etc then that optimizes your chances of reaching your full potential.
A small 2023 study found that there was a combination of about 19 gene variants that actually help people to maximize what they were getting out of their training. NICE!!!
But also do you see how it took 19 different genes to get to that result and thus why it’s so hard to truly study and pin point any one specific area?
What about the ACTN3 gene?
One of the most talked-about genes is ACTN3, often called the ‘speed gene’. Researchers have been digging in more to this particular gene recently and through a cross study, found that it may do much more than previously thought.
A 2003 study, did find that elite spring athletes had a significantly higher number of this gene!
The ACTN3 gene is found in your type two muscle fibers and can be associated then with short running performances, high power output sports, resistance training. Basically it helps create powerful contractions in those fast twitch muscles and these athletes have a higher % of type II fibers.
Again, having this gene alone does not mean you’ll be a professional or an elite runner. But it does mean you might be part of the 18% that carry it who could excel with training.
Everyone has a mix of both Type 1 (called our slow twitch or endurance fibers) and Type 2. There is definitely some genetics here, but we are finding that our training can then influence how these fibers react and are “turned on”.
Listen to the full podcast episode now, to get even more details!
How Do I Know My Muscle Typology?
All right, so you want to be a faster runner and you’re thinking “ok if I have a lot of Type 2 fibers then my chances are better.”
You aren’t inherently wrong.
But you also cannot change the types of fibers your body has. That’s like can I change fat to muscle. No, you can lose fat and gain muscle, but you can’t change oil to water.
Unfortunately, a muscle biopsy is the only way you’d really know your make up and that’s both unpleasant and expensive.
Is Being Injury Prone Genetic?
You’ve really got to listen to the show to get the grasp of this one. But I think it’s safe to say that while some health conditions are genetic, there’s not much data right now to say “ahh yes you will get more bone stress fractures and you will get more tendonitis”.
I definitely think my running in to furniture is genetic because my mom did it too.
Of course the show doesn’t stop there! We also cover why swimmers tend to be tall, why some people react differently to caffeine, other genotypes and important pieces of physiology.
So is speed genetic? At the end of the day, I think this episode should make a lot of runners feel better about their odds of improving. So much of it remains in our hands with a smart training plan that helps us with progressive overload in both our running and our strength work.
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