What’s a “Natural Athlete”?
Have you ever heard of someone—maybe even yourself—being called a “natural athlete”? It’s meant as a compliment, for sure, and there is some truth in it. A natural athlete is a phrase referring to someone who is typically great at about every sport, has the muscles, physique or characteristics of an athlete since an early age, and can seemingly effortlessly engage in a challenging sport or athletic feat without struggle. When observing a great athlete in action, sports announcers may even remark, “Only a natural athlete can do that.” Or they may say, “You can’t teach that.”
Genetics are even involved with those who seem to be born with strong athletic capacities and traits. In fact, there are over 200 genetic variances tied to physical performance and fitness. Obviously, tall height (which is approximately 80 percent genetic) is a desired trait for basketball players. Whether a person is tall and lean or shorter, muscular and more compact is also marked by strong genetic determination.
Even muscle fiber mix can influence how well a person’s muscles work in training or sports. There are two types of muscle fiber: Type I fibers (or slow-twitch) and Type II fibers (or fast-twitch). Slow-twitch ones are highly efficient—geared for endurance, although they’re the smaller, weaker ones of the muscle fibers. Fast-twitch muscle fibers are larger and more powerful strength-wise but less efficient and aren’t built for endurance. Muscle fiber ratios (slow-twitch vs. fast-twitch) are believed to be mostly set at birth, but there is debate about whether those can be changed or influenced through training.
Do Genetics Alone Determine Fitness Potential?
Genetics—which are rather complicated in general, let alone in fitness—are not the final say in determining physical performance. A person’s DNA is only one aspect, but environmental factors, such as exercise training and more, are a big part of the equation, too. In a European Journal of Applied Physiology study of identical twins—one known as the “trained twin,” or “TT,” and one known as the “untrained twin,’ or “UT”—researchers looked the differences in the twins (based on their lifestyle), despite their identical DNA.
TT was active and athletic, serving as a high school track coach who also regularly competed in triathlons and marathons. By contrast, UT was mostly sedentary. He was a truck driver and did not exercise.
The study showed some predictable results, including that TT weighed 22 pounds less than UT, had 8.6% lower body fat percentage, greater VO2 max (aerobic endurance measurement), lower blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar than UT. What struck the researchers the most, however, was their muscle fiber difference, which was a larger discovery than previous studies ever found. TT’s thigh muscles consisted of 94% slow-twitch fibers, while UT’s thigh muscles had a 40-60 split of slow-twitch to fast-twitch. TT’s years of endurance training had a significant, positive effect on his body.
The takeaway? Healthy habits, such as exercise training, matter—for these study subjects and for you—for athletic ability and performance, regardless of genetics. You may start with good genes, but it’s what you do in your daily regimen and choices that determine your success.
Here are some recognizable high-performing athletes who share genetics and have leveraged those, along with other factors, to achieve admirable success:
Peyton Manning and Eli Manning
Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce
Zack Martin and Nick Martin
J.J. Watt. T.J. Watt and Derek Watt
Stephen Curry and Seth Curry
Caleb Martin and Cody Martin
Joey Anderson and Mikey Anderson
Seth Jones and Caleb Jones
Eric Staal, Marc Staal and Jordan Staal
Aaron Holiday, Jrue Holiday and Justin Holiday
Bo Naylor and Josh Naylor
Aaron Nola and Austin Nola
Katie Lou and Karlie Samuelson
Genetic Influence and Its Impact on Young Athletes and Their Performance.
Let’s take a closer look at genetic influence on athletic performance overall and, particularly, if it is relevant to young athletes. While studies are ongoing for this topic, this past study in Current Opinion in Pediatrics titled “Genetic Influence on Athletic Performance,” sheds some light on the topic. As in past studies on genetics and athletic performance, this study highlights that more than 200 genetic variants are associated with physical performance, while more than 20 variants are connected to elite athletes.
The study’s authors point out that gene variants have the potential to contribute to how well athletes perform. For example, the gene variants ACE I/D and ACTN3 R577X are often shown to be associated with endurance (ACE I/I) and power-related performance (ACTN3 R/R).
However, none of these gene variants can be seen as predicting an athlete’s ultimate performance. Why? There are other variables involved, including what sport it is, its requirements and more, since every sport demands specific physical requirements—which can vary from sport to sport. Additionally, a person’s cognitive factors, injury susceptibility and environmental factors—such as nutrition, training, discipline and more—are involved in determining athletic performance and success.
The study’s authors came to this conclusion: Elite status results from the interaction of an optimal combination of genetically driven physical and mental traits with the ideal environment for athletic success.
What Performance Characteristics Help Determine Elite Athletes?
Determining specific performance characteristics of elite athletes does not have a clear-cut answer, even though studies have approached this topic. While more studies need to be conducted for certain conclusions, an article in Sports Health gives some insight into this intriguing topic.
To begin with, the study authors defined an elite athlete by varying criteria, such as those who were drafted vs. those who were not; seen as having higher performance ability vs. their peers in the same sport; playing the sport at a higher level and having endurance markers, including running economy (or efficiency), VO2 max (the maximum rate oxygen is taken from the air and sent to cells for cellular respiration during physical activity) and AT (oxygen used during exercise).
Among the areas of discussion, the authors posed these questions: Are elite athletes simply of a different genetic makeup than non-elite athletes? Can performance variables such as strength, power, endurance and agility be trained at a level sufficient to make one an elite athlete?
They explore some variables that have, in the past, been discussed and investigated, such as anthropometric (basically, body measurements) and physiological (relating to how the body functions) characteristics, balance, the role of the athlete on the team, length of training, type of performance training, talent development (and growing that talent), and physical performance.
The authors explore a variety of types of sports, and it’s an informative read. For example, successful football players typically are larger in height and weight compared to those who don’t play football professionally. Likewise, they possess a variety of movement patterns as well as the ability to excel at running drills, vertical jump height, bench press and more. Interestingly, a test that predicted football ability included the Margaria-Kalamen power test during which an athlete goes up a flight of 12 stairs, 3 at a time, as fast as possible. In another area, football playing ability corresponded to vertical jump for all positions. Yet another determined that sprints and shuttle runs were key, despite a person’s height, weight or body fat percentage.
The bottom line? Overall, available studies point towards power, speed and agility playing into performance more than a person’s height or weight. For elite endurance athletes, such as runners, VO2 max, running economy, anthropometry and various training techniques can help determine success. For VO2 max, genetic, environmental and training factors can play into it. For instance, one study suggested that 20% to 25% of aerobic capacity variability at a high altitude is due to genetics, while another study of twins, showed the genetic effect at 40%. However, it’s also important to include running economy, which is the amount of oxygen a person’s body uses to run at a certain speed or intensity. Together, VO2 max and running economy have been used to estimate a marathon pace in elite runners.
But don’t forget about something called AT, which is the oxygen consumed during exercise. AT measures for athletes may be one of the greatest predictors of race performance in running events and endurance cycling. It also relates to Olympic triathlon performance. Body height, weight and skinfold thickness are also associated with performance. For instance, low body fat percentages and faster race times are correlated, and elite endurance athletes typically are slimmer than lower-level athletes or sedentary people. Training can also help endurance performance, including personal best marathon time, longest training session, training intensity and training volume, which all correlate with successful performance.
It takes a variety of characteristics to help predict performance in elite athletes, and can depend on the person, genetics, the sport, management of oxygen, body build and measurements, height, weight, training and more. Successful sports performance in adolescents, too, is impacted by a wide range of factors, including physical traits as well as genetics and training.