A Gene called ACE (possibly why some never improve) (Read 617 times)

Wow, that is really interesting. DH and his mom's family are fairly "naturally" athletic (my MIL had been one of those age group placers in running races for decades...even without a lot of formal training or high mileage and her younger sister still runs sub-4 marathons in her 50s), but they are all also on blood pressure meds and some of them on statins (high cholesterol also runs in that family). I have blood pressure that is definitely on the low side...I frequently see stars if I get up from a seated position too fast or if I straighten-up to quickly after tying my shoes. And I'm pokey. Even with all the mileage I've put in I still am far slower than a lot of people my age just getting started running. So maybe not being a natural athlete can be a good thing in terms of heart attack and stroke risk...? If so, I'll take it.

Not a lot new there, really. I mean, it's nice to put names on things I guess. Anyone who has trained for any kind of sport already knows that the folks who gain muscle easily struggle to gain endurance, whereas the folks that are hard-gainers in the gym do well with the cardio. Proving once again that unless you are looking to be elite in a particular sport you are probably better off being somewhere in the middle. Oh, and further proving that I have no business running.

Interesting video jimmyb. I have to consider that there were many factors that were not mentioned, however. They tested the recruits for a 1.5 mile race. What was the entry level of fitness of the recruits? Could they already run a mile without a problem? The level of training prior to entering camp was unknown. It was a test with a range over a few months of improvement. Many of the people here on the running boards have been running and improving for YEARS so can the study be reasonabley extrapolated over that long of a time frame? There has to be more than one gene that contributes to athletic ability, don't you all think? It is more complicated than "high responder/low responder" or II ACE/DD ACE I believe. One could be a "low responder" but have a very high VO2 max starting value, for instance. In which case, that person starts so far ahead of the rest of the masses that it doesn't matter as much until he gets to an elite level. Or...one could be an extremely high responder with low blood pressure/low ACE expression going for him yet have such a low pain threshold that he never trains hard enough to improve. Until such time as scientists figure it all out and can say without a doubt that I am wasting my time, I'm going to keep training and exercising to take it to the next level.