A discussion of the individual variability of the human body with respect to health, fitness and nutrition.

2. Conflict of Interest Statement
I have no actual or potential conflict of interest in
relation to this presentation.

3. CAVEAT AUDIENS!!
(listener beware!!)
The presenter is
a former D1
collegiate
sprinter
01
BUT as a
swimmer,
trained like a
distance athlete
…And sucked
02
The presenter has
a degree in
English
03
BUT a coach of
swimmers,
runners and
triathletes since
1974, CSCS since
2002 and national
author/presenter
since 2005
04
AND developed
weight loss and
strength and
conditioning
programming for
general
populations since
2002.
05

4. A Humble
Offering
“When the human body is
concerned, we are dealing with a
system that is so complex with
so many interrelated variables,
we can do nothing but be
humble about our beliefs and
recommendations.”
•Chris Beardsley , Strength
and Conditioning Research

5. Every Body is Different in research and science
• Every BODY is different.
• Research underway as can be contradicting all
or some elements of what we are saying today.
• Science and practical experience go hand in
hand.
• 1 in 5 low or non-responders.
• 1 in 5 are high or super responders
• Placebo responses in controls are15-30%.
• Higher responses in pharmaceuticals and rate
seems to be growing in US as a whole

6. These are not excuses, they’re puzzle parts

7. Why is Ozzie
alive?
• “Given the swimming pools of
booze I've guzzled over the years—
not to mention all of the cocaine,
morphine, sleeping pills, cough
syrup, LSD, Rohypnol…you name it—
there's really no plausible medical
reason why I should still be alive”
Ozzie Osborne, 2010

8. Neanderthal DNA and ADH4
• About 5% of individuals of N. European
descent have small remnants of Neanderthal
DNA
• ADH4 is the genetic variant responsible for
metabolizing alcohol in the liver. Ozzie has both.
• Workout tip!
• Avoid alcohol the night after a big workout!
• Glycogen, lactate etc.

10. We base our training around unique but high
responders

11. Take the trainer/coach’s challenge
Gold in 100WR /200 WR – faltered in the 300 Bronze in 5000, Gold in Marathon WR

12. Genetic Factors
Genetics or heritability factors are the foundation for individual response
• height, body structure,
• overall strength and aerobic capacity
• response to specific nutrients in food.
• Factors influences on how these genes develop.
• A mother’s prenatal physical activity and nutrition and combined with the
infants early childhood environment are strong influences on the overall
genetics for body shape and training adaptations. (Greg Nuckols, 2016)

13. Epigenetic
Factors
Environmental, lifestyle even pre and
postnatal factors which influence the
expression or activation of specific
genes.
• Working out with weights,
• running long distance
• or sprints,
• eating specific foods or drinking
cheap whiskey.
• quality of sleep
• lifestyle stressors all qualify as
epigenetic factors.
• More later…

14. Variability from endurance to
strength
• More than 50% of the people in the US have a higher % of fast
twitch fibers.
• In a cardiovascular training study improvements in VO2 max
ranged from 0-1000%
• In a strength training study hypertrophy improvements ranged
from 0-54%
• A review of HIIT studies found 22% of the participants failed to
improve their oxygen transport, 44% didn’t improve a time to
exhaustion test and 50% didn’t improve lactate threshold. (Giles,
2015)

15. Most important characteristic of an MLB hitter
Eyesight

16. Difference between great
runners and great swimmers
Belly button

17. Fiber types
• Muscle biopsies have been in existence since the mid to late 1800s –
fiber types known since middle of last century. Training based on fiber type
is still not as pervasive as it should be.

18. Differences in
aerobic and
resistance
trained hearts
• Aerobic trained eccentric hypertrophy due to repeated contractions
• Bigger chamber for more blood volume
• Resistance training
• larger and stronger muscle walls due to increased blood pressure of 1.5
to 3 x greater than normal
(Greg Nuckols – Stronger by Science)

19. Range of motion according to 13 texts
13 different text books. 30-80 shoulder extension!!! 0-50 hip extension!!!

20. Shoulder
variability –
overhead
athletes and
clients

21. Hips
Text

22. Hips
• Hips a deep socket with a thick neck limiting
range of motion while a shallow socket with a
thin neck expanding it. (Dean Sommerset,
2017).

23. Tendon muscle relationship
• Short muscle belly/long
tendon GUNS!
• Also greater mechanical
advantage like a see-saw

24. Long limbs – less distance
to travel
Long arms
Short Torso
Big Deadlifts

25. On the other hand: Short limbs = less distance to travel

26. Really short limbs/torso Less distance to travel
Naim Suleymanoglu
4-10

27. Influences of muscle size -
Myostatin
• Myostatin is a protein which signals muscle
growth to stop after a certain point exist in
different amounts. Low levels of myostatin can
result in larger muscle sizes.

28. Influences
of muscle
size –
satellite cells
• Satellite cells - stem cells
responsible for the repair and
growth of muscle after workout or
trauma damage
• can exist in variable amounts
and respond differently to
strength training programming by
increasing from 0 to 60%.
• (Roth, 2007 and Petrella, 2008)
Brett Contreras

29. Squat depth – it depends on goals too

30. 50-75% of the variation in exercise and
activity levels is genetic
• Differences in the number of certain chemical
receptors in the brain and other heritable factors
can help determine an individual’s activity level. ,
“16 human studies conducted as of this writing
(circa 2011) have found a large contribution of
heredity to the amount of voluntary physical
activity...the largest study of 37,501 twin pairs
concluded about 50-75%of the variation in the
amount of exercise people undertook was
attributable to their genetic inheritance.”

31. Responders, non-responders and poor responders
Studies which find non-response tend to be around 2.5 hrs per week at low to moderate intensity.
This study manipulated the number of sessions while others have manipulated intensity

32. The magic of HIIT is
also variable
A review of five studies it was
found 22% of the participants
failed to improve their oxygen
transport, 44% didn’t improve a
time to exhaustion test and 50%
didn’t improve lactate threshold.
(Gurd et al, 2015)

33. How to ruin a
good cup of
coffee
and make a lot
of money

34. Low carb? low
fat? High
protein?
A study tested four diets
Atkins (ultra-low-carb)
Zone (40-30-30)
Ornish (very low-fat left over
from the 80s no fat hysteria
Low-fat diet following the
federal Food Pyramid.

35. One year later
• 5.3 %(13 lbs) body weight w matched genotype diet
• 2.3 percent weight loss for those not matched.
• When actual genotypes were matched to individuals who were trying to follow the
lowest carbohydrate (Atkins) and the lowest fat (Ornish) diets:
• 6.8% weight genotype matched
• 1.4% for those not matched to their genotype (p=0.03);
• The statistical significance of the findings increased when compared to former dietary
practices (rather than just the specific diet they were asked to follow)
• Improvements in other health measurements -blood triglyceride levels - paralleled the
weight loss differences.

36. Fat burning “zone”

37. Body fat has
nothing to
do with the
“zone”

38. HFLC or HCLF or PTSD!
Your recommendations which
“worked for you” or “that
dude/chick in the gym who did
keto, paleo, vegan, hot
dogs/hard boiled eggs” may be
detrimental some individual's
health.
Some genes respond to high
carbs diets to increase chances
of metabolic syndrome.
Some genes respond to high fat
diets to increase cholesterol and
other cardiovascular issues.

39. Carbs are death!!
2.5 billion carb eaters

40. Carb response

41. Carb response - Dieiter

42. Once food is digested in becomes more than fuel
Nutrients are absorbed by
small intestine and
transported via blood
stream to the cells.
Epigenetic factors enter
cells and attach to specific
sites on DNA strands.
Gene expression is either
activated or de-activated.

43. Caffeine response
Faster Slower
Slower
Nanci Guest RD -

44. Stop Labrador obesity!!
25% of Labs carry the
POMC gene making
them permanently
hungry and loyal to
those who provide food.

45. Obesity/overweight genetics
• There are about 185 genes implicated in obesity giving some
individuals a tendency to gain more with than another on a similar set
of circumstances. (Scott-Dixon et al, 2017)
• 12 pairs of twins
• 84 days over a 100-day period of overfeeding by 1,000 calories per day.
• sedentary lifestyle during this time.
• The average weight gain was 17.86 pounds, but the range went from 9.48
pounds to 29.32 pounds.
• Abdominal fat variability -no increase to a 200% increase. (Bouchard, et al
1997

46. Obesity/overweight genetics
FTO gene is associated with more body fat, weight and difficulty losing
weight in several diverse populations from North Americans to Asians. To
what extent is not known at this time.
• Other related weight related genes are
• LEP, which is related to leptin, a hormone that senses how much stored fat we
have.
• GHRL related to for ghrelin, a potent stimulator of hunger
• DRD2, an influencer of dopamine, related to the neurobiological reward and
decision-making pathways (which are also involved in addictions.
• Nanci Guest

47. Just move more eat
less
You just are lazy and have no
will power!
Nope
Here’s some more possibilities
1. Infection and immune impairment
1. Adipocytes and macrophages have similar comp.
2. Epigenetics
1. Things which can cause negative or positive gene
expression.
3. Maternal age and body weight
1. Children of mothers over 35 have greater percentage of
being overweight
2. Heavier parents beget heavier children
4. Sleep debt – hunger hormone cascades!
5. Endocrine disruptors – ditto sleep note
6. Pharmaceuticals – a lot of common prescriptions cause
weight gain.

48. For the Corrective
exercise, bad posture
is death crowd
 Pain is in the body of the
believer
 Not all so-called
arthokinetic “disfunctions”
produce pain or negative
medical outcomes.
 Nocebo effect
 Use your words wisely

49. Scoliosis as a deadlifting strategy (or vice versa)
Lamar Gant
123 and 132 lb. classifications
• World record deadlift 688 lbs
• World record in bench press 336
• World record in squats 595
His disfunction was an advantage.

50. Male and female
• Females tend to have more slow- twitch fibers than men
• more efficient at utilizing lipids (fats) as fuel in general.
• More efficient endurance like profile where higher repetitions during
strength training may be more effective.
• More overall volume during workouts
• Anti-catabolic effect of estrogen which reduces protein breakdown and
reduces the overtraining risk.
• Are better with steady state training than high intensity interval training
• Should do less explosive training because glucose (sugar) metabolism fuels
these two modalities.
(Menno Henslemans – Baysian body building)

51. Male and Female part 2
• Steady state cardio and slower lifting tempos area more effective
training modalities.
• They produce less metabolic byproducts.
• They can train with greater frequency and typically don’t need as much
rest between sets or work efforts.
• Are better with steady state training than high intensity interval training
and should do less explosive training because glucose (sugar)
metabolism fuels these two modalities. On average it will take longer for
a woman to recover from an explosive or high sprint training session

52. Female cycles and training
• Strength training is more
efficient during the first half
prior to ovulation (follicular
phase) due to the peak
circulations in estrogen and
testosterone.
• Both are anti-catabolic
hormones which fall during the
second half of the cycle and
progesterone – a catabolic
hormone – increases

53. Recovery
24 hours to two weeks or more to return to strength.
Iowa State and Oregon

54. Training, competing and sleep phenotypes
• Genetic preference for wake-up time - Early A.M
intermediate A.M. and late A.M.
• Endurance test at different times of day mostly based on
time between waking and working out.
• Range of 7-26% difference between optimal and sub-
optimal performance.
• Late A.M. seemed to perform poorly the in early trials.
• 2008 Beijing Olympics - a 1% increase in the 9.93 s time
gained by 4th in 100 m would have resulted in the silver
medal. Women’s 400 m , a 1% improvement would have
won a gold medal for the fourth-place competitor.
• Knowing your preference and working around
disadvantageous competition or workout time could make
a big difference in competition/workout performance

55. These are not excuses, they’re our challenges

56. Know your clients/athletes
• Athletic background? Fast twitch/slow twitch.
• Vary the workouts
• Six to 12 weeks of a specific strength or conditioning program with specific
volume, frequency and work effort should provide significant improvement
from a high responder to that modality. A minimal response would indicate
a need for a change. The key is to make sure coaches and trainers have a
wide variety of options available to make significant adjustments.

57. Ask questions about nutrition
• If you are trying to lose weight, are you in a daily caloric deficit and are you
losing weight at a rate consistent with the deficit?
• Does your diet include the correct amount of micronutrients (vitamins and
minerals) to maintain healthy physiological functions such as immune
response.
• Are you effectively tracking intake to make sure it’s consistent with your
goals?
• Do you have energy to perform daily workouts and your regular daily
activities?
• Does the diet severely restrict certain substrates or nutrients like
carbohydrates, fats or animal protein. If so re-ask above questions with this
in mind.

58. Change the workout
• 14 cross-country skiers,completed the
previous year at 83% low intensity training
and 17% high intensity training
• Athletes who had responded poorly to the
training.
• doubled their high intensity volume
• reduced long distance training by 22%.
• The results of this switch produced
improved oxygen transport (VO2max)
power output and overall competitive
results in the experimental group.
(Gaskill, 1999)

59. Sleep timing strategy
• Find baseline sleep needs
• No alarm waking
• Find opimtal sleep rhythms
• Bedtime is bedtime
• Periodize sleep restriction.
• Hormonal rates return to baseline
after two or three days of sleep
disruption
• Prioritize sleep

60. PAP Recovery test
PAP recovery rates
Found optimal individual
recovery rates (2-10 min) which
provided most response from
resisted sprints and sprints in
order to maximize the
effectiveness of the training.
Simplifaster.com

61. Magness: Slow twitch vs fast twitch endurance

62. Genetic testing?? It’s getting better than 10
years ago but in the too early
stages to be definitive.
Because of so many variables,
cofactors, epigenetics and
analytics, it provides clues at
best
Disease screenings are fairly
accurate.
Fitness/Nutrition not so
much and sometimes logic
and patience fills in the gaps.
Intrigued by Nutrigenomix
report…BUT not
recommending.

63. Thanks and my contacts
Social Media
Just health and fitness related information and perhaps some random
music info. No rants, politics, or bare-chested workouts in a thong.
• Charlie Hoolihan – FB
• @charliehoolihan on IG
• Charlie@thepac.com
• Slides will be up on www.slideshare.net
• Search my name.