“Arnold Schwarzenegger sort of had wide, child-bearing hips,” says bodybuilding coach Joe Bennett. He‘s right; Schwarzenegger, the grandfather of contemporary bodybuilding and a seven-time Mr. Olympia winner, often posed for photos by twisting his torso and standing almost perpendicular to the camera, cleverly posturing to hide a genetic “flaw”.
Bennett, who’s been dubbed the “Hypertrophy Coach” and who coaches top-level physique athletes like Arnold Classic two-timer Terrence Ruffin, recently took to YouTube to discuss how genetics impact the physiques (and careers) of the world’s best bodybuilders.
Editor’s Note: BarBend
7 Genetic Factors in Bodybuilding
When it involves bodybuilding, genetics are a slot machine with a lever you simply get to tug once. As Bennett says, genetic aspects could make or break a bodybuilder’s profession in the large leagues. From his perspective, genetics influence bodybuilding in the next key ways:
Muscle-Building Capacity
An athlete’s overall genetic predisposition to muscle hypertrophy affects their profession trajectory greater than perhaps some other single factor. Bennett cites 8-time Olympia winner and bodybuilding great Ronnie Coleman as an instance this concept.
Coleman competed in bodybuilding as early as 1991, when he was 27 years old. Allegedly, Bennett says Coleman appeared on stage back then before using any performance-enhancing drugs, yet his muscular development could have rivaled many high-level advanced athletes even to at the present time.
Body Structure
According to Bennett, body structure — the length and proportion of your skeleton — is the literal framework upon which a bodybuilder crafts their physique. Some athletes have higher bones than others for bodybuilding:
- Legendary leg-day enthusiast Tom Platz is renowned for having the very best quads in the game’s history. Bennett credits that prestige partially to Platz having short femurswhich help his quads appear thicker.
- Brian Buchanan, an 80s-era bodybuilder, is considered having the smallest waist in Men’s Open history. Buchanan’s uncommonly narrow pelvis allowed him to dramatically accentuate his V-taper.
“Bodybuilding is about ratios,” says Bennett. Broad clavicles and cushty hips make it easier to develop a tapered torso. Further, athletes with large, “barrel-chested” rib cages can higher display the stomach vacuum, which is integral in divisions like Classic Physique.
Muscle Bellies
A muscle belly refers back to the three-dimensional shape of the muscle itself; is it bulbous, cylindrical, jagged, flat, or full? Bennett specifies that a muscle belly is distinct from its insertions, but emphasizes that lucky bodybuilders are inclined to have muscle bellies that grow outward, appearing to sprout off the bone.
Think of Schwarzenegger’s iconic biceps peaks that burst upward toward his wrists when he flexes, or the package dropped at the stage by seven-time Olympia winner Phil Heath. Heath earned the nickname “the Gift” during his profession for having extraordinary genetics for the game, including his almost cartoonishly-rounded muscle bellies. (Look up Heath’s shoulders on Google. They’re nuts.)
Muscle Insertions
Tendons are a kind of connective tissue that links muscle to bone. Where and the way tendons insert onto bone are what people confer with when discussing muscle insertions. As Bennett puts it, “longer tendons are bad, short tendons are good.”
Why? Because long tendons occupy beneficial skeletal real estate. Bennett makes an example of the calves, which connect your calf muscles to your foot. A lengthy Achilles tendon makes the calves appear stumpy. In contrast, bodybuilders with shorter tendons display calves that appear to stretch almost right down to their heelswrapping the complete bottom half of the leg in lean muscle.
Muscle Separation
“You are inclined to see a trend where probably the most ‘separated’ bodybuilders of all time are also probably the most lean,” Bennett says. Muscular separation describes how much “texture” you may see on a bodybuilder’s physique.
For example, athletes with “feathered quads” have loads of small lines and striations along their legs. This is closely related to the concept of muscle maturity, and does require very low levels of body fat. Regardless, Bennett notes that some bodybuilders are blessed with higher muscle “architecture” than others.
Dorian Yates, for instance, was known for carrying incredible amounts of muscle mass with skin so thin you would practically see the graininess of the muscle belly. Most bodybuilders on the elite level can achieve similar levels of body fat (typically within the range of 4 to 5 percent), but not all of them display graininess, striations, or extreme vacularity.
Predisposition to Leanness
“In my opinion, overall leanness is strongly influenced by long-term health decisions,” Bennett remarks. He likely refers to decisions made early in life similar to developing a healthy relationship with food and regular physical activity before puberty takes hold.
While body fat will be reliably added or removed by manipulating calorie intake, Bennett believes that some bodybuilders possess a particular capability to stay at very low levels of body fat year-round, no matter whether or not they’re preparing for a show.
Other Factors
Genetics influence nearly every facet of a bodybuilder’s physique in a method or one other. Beyond the six aspects above, Bennett also mentions several other more minor, corollary influences:
Playing the Hand You’re Dealt
Bennett makes a mighty compelling case for the ability of genetics because it pertains to an athlete’s success (or failure) in bodybuilding. That said, he doesn’t think it’s all doom-and-gloom for anyone who can have gotten a raw take care of their DNA.
“You can’t change your structure, but you outwork your genetics,” he concludes. You may not make it to first callouts on the Olympia, but that doesn’t mean you could’t be a bodybuilder if you happen to don’t have the identical genetic gifts as Schwarzenegger or Coleman. As the saying goes, exertions beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.
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References
- Bhasin S, Storer TW, Berman N, Callegari C, Clevenger B, Phillips J, Bunnell TJ, Tricker R, Shirazi A, Casaburi R. The effects of supraphysiologic doses of testosterone on muscle size and strength in normal men. N Engl J Med. 1996 Jul 4;335(1):1-7. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199607043350101. PMID: 8637535.
