Can You Overcome a Genetic Predisposition?

As genetic testing becomes more popular, one of the major questions surrounding it is: how does this impact me? To start, you must understand genetic predispositions. A genetic predisposition is a person's likelihood to have a particular trait or genotype. There is always a degree to which you can control your abilities and outcomes, but typically, genes determine about 40% of what you're able to do.

There are many types of genetic tests a person can go through: to determine if you have a genetic-related disease such as Huntington's disease; to know if you carry a genetic mutation that can cause disease in your child, such that for as sickle cell anemia; or even to see if you're at risk for developing certain cancers or diseases, such as for Alzheimer's disease.

However, in this article, we will talk specifically about genetic predispositions related to fitness: enhanced genotypes for protein, athletic performance, and more. DNA tests help trainers shape programs for all clients, including those that struggle obesity and weight loss or even athletic performance goals. A genetic test can show a trainer risk factors in specific areas they may never figure out through trial and error.

How to Overcome a Genetic Predisposition

Consider the abilities of a world record swimmer. Their genes determine their optimal potential to become a swimmer, but what they can actually do is determined by their environment, lifestyle, training, and nutrition.

Each of those aspects is vital to the swimmer's success in achieving their goals. And the same is true for your regular clients. Knowing how to fine-tune those key factors determines how well they will do in trying to reach their goals, in spite of their genetic predispositions.

Environmental Factors

One of the major keys to overcoming a genetic predisposition is environmental factors. While easily overlooked at times, these factors can make or break a client's success.

• Are they surrounded by positive people?

• Do those people support your client's goals or are they holding them back?

• Does their schedule support or hinder their progress?

Suppose your client has a weight loss goal. Their genetic test shows that to lose weight, they need to perform strength training four days a week. They also need to tally up 300 minutes per week of cardio training in longer sessions (rather than in short bursts). Your client's environment will play a key role in some of the following ways:

• Do they have access to the equipment needed for their training?

• Does their family support the increased time they're devoting to fitness?

If a person doesn't have the environmental factors to support what they need, it will likely take them longer to achieve their goals and they may give up in the process if they aren't seeing the results.

Lifestyle

These habits often overlap with environmental factors because they tend to go hand in hand. Beyond environment, your client must consider factors such as:

• When they'll schedule a workout each day

• How long they have to workout

• Where they'll eat—at home or on the go

• The time it takes for meal prep

When you have a client who constantly goes out to eat or has commitments limiting their ability to get in their workouts, it will certainly impact how quickly they can achieve their goals.

This is a great time to have a conversation with them about what they can or cannot change about their lifestyle to hit those goals. All these factors will impact just how much they can move beyond their genetic predisposition.

Training

This factor is vital to someone with fitness goals. Whether it is a goal of weight loss or athletic performance, training will be equally important.

Consider our weight loss client from before, who, based on their genetic test, was recommended to do 300 minutes of cardio per week, and strength train four days per week. Without the DNA test, the trainer may have the client do 30 minutes a day of cardio and strength train 2-3 days a week. It will probably take a couple of weeks for them to figure this ratio isn't working the best. Then another round of trial and error will commence. Eventually, they'll find something that works, but it takes a lot longer than if they'd had that map of genetic predispositions right from the start.

And it works for more than just weight loss. A genetic test can also show a trainer if clients are predisposed to be endurance athletes, power athletes, or an equal split. This is an area that as a trainer you have a lot of potential through your programming to help them reach their goals.

If you have clients genetically predisposed to be power athletes, with the proper training and physical activity, they can out-train their genetics and become endurance athletes. Just because they're "built" to be one thing doesn't mean that's their only option. Overcoming predispositions may not be easy or quick, but it can be done.

Training is a huge part of a client hitting their goals and not giving into a genetic predisposition. Training with the proper program design for the client allows them to reach toward their true potential.

Nutrition

This is no different than any of the other factors that have a genetic predisposition. A genetic test can show whether a client should increase their protein or carbohydrate intake or lower their fat intake to achieve their goals.

When a client has an enhanced genotype for protein or carbohydrate intake, they can speed up their weight loss goals or increase their athletic performance with a more calculated change. However, if they don't know this it could be years of trying to study different fad diets to find something that works for them. This is a simple way to use a genetic predisposition to enhance results regardless of if it is to combat obesity or enhance athletic performance.

These are just a few of the areas for which a DNA test for health and fitness can uncover genetic predispositions. If you are interested in learning more, ISSA's DNA-Based Fitness Coach course covers 36 different traits along with how to interpret them so you can help your clients achieve maximum success.