Are genetics/talent overrated?

Who would have thought ?

Even if genetics are way more important than you think, there is hope: according to Epstein, “improvability” or “response to training” are also genetic.

In other words, you won’t know until you try, and try for several years.

Newer research suggests the opposite. Gordon, Browman, et al found that " for endurance sports, genetic predisposition is the primary determinant for success, especially in running." Subpopulations exhibit very little deviation (Norwegians, Estonians, and Samoans). They said that cycling data was problematic due to the culture of doping. In other words, train all you want, but if your wearing the wrong genes, your are as good as neked.

I sure hope so.

Talent is overrated unless you want to get to the top (elite or sub-elite). Who wants that lifestyle anyway?

Genetics are unlikely to hinder you from winning your small-town local turkey trot in a 19:xx, but at the top level they (and the right hot sauce ??) will determine who is successful.

Are they? wrote:

Is it just your mind keeping you from being a champion? Maybe it’s time to believe, and start training properly NOW!

Do you not think mindset is also partly genetic?

newer research wrote:

Newer research suggests the opposite. Gordon, Browman, et al found that " for endurance sports, genetic predisposition is the primary determinant for success, especially in running." Subpopulations exhibit very little deviation (Norwegians, Estonians, and Samoans). They said that cycling data was problematic due to the culture of doping. In other words, train all you want, but if your wearing the wrong genes, your are as good as neked.

I am declaring “fake news”... not out if ignorance, but out of hope :-/

Are they? wrote:

Is it just your mind keeping you from being a champion? Maybe it’s time to believe, and start training properly NOW!

If you want to be elite at sport, genetics is pretty much all that matters. You will not be at the top without the genetics, no matter how hard you work.

If you want to have fun, then whatever you want to delude yourself into believing should get you through it.

newer research wrote:

Newer research suggests the opposite. Gordon, Browman, et al found that " for endurance sports, genetic predisposition is the primary determinant for success, especially in running." Subpopulations exhibit very little deviation (Norwegians, Estonians, and Samoans). They said that cycling data was problematic due to the culture of doping. In other words, train all you want, but if your wearing the wrong genes, your are as good as neked.

For Example:

1) Ivy League Top 1% 'Genius™' (SuperHigh IQ™) Genes + Ivy League Top 1% Citius™ (Faster) Genes + Top 1% Fortius™ (Stronger) Genes (all at the same time) =

Alpha™)

Beta™)

Gamma™)

Delta Force™)

Epsilon™)

Zeta™)

Eta™)

Theta™)

Oh well.

It's not a BIG surprise.

Yes genetics/talent is overrated. Anyone can be a sub 3:50 miler if they just trained extremely hard.

Talent is not overrated whatsoever. Given the exact same or oftentimes less training, the athlete with a notable talent advantage will win nearly 100% of the time. Hence why Grant Fisher was able to go undefeated in HS competition even when he was running 30 miles a week. By training more/more effectively, a less-talented individual can perform at the same level or even outperform a more-talented one, but the deficit will be flipped once the more-talented athlete puts in commensurate training.

The talent disparity is more easily visible in shorter-distance outcomes, but it is detectable at longer distances as well. Which US marathoners of this century were the best HS athletes? Rupp, Hall, Ritz, Meb. Who have the fastest prs? Rupp, Hall, Ritz, Meb.

Most guys running 13:59 on 80mpw and 2-3 quality sessions a week would say no.

Most guys running 16:59 on 80mpw and 2-3 quality sessions a week would say yes.

Talent is eveything in all sports. Once you get to a certain level, everyone trains enough to maximize their ability and the guys with most talent will have the most success. I had big goals and trained hard, but I couldn't get below 14:50 in college.

So in your mind, the starting left tackle from your city’s NFL team could have instead become a world class marathon runner if he’d just worked really hard at it and trained properly?

SDSU Aztec wrote:

Talent is eveything in all sports. Once you get to a certain level, everyone trains enough to maximize their ability and the guys with most talent will have the most success. I had big goals and trained hard, but I couldn't get below 14:50 in college.

+1

Obviously talent matters. There are kids that go out for cross country and can run sub-17 with no running background. Then there are people who start off over 20:00 and have to put in years to get down to the same time.

tfrrsftw wrote:

Talent is not overrated whatsoever. Given the exact same or oftentimes less training, the athlete with a notable talent advantage will win nearly 100% of the time. Hence why Grant Fisher was able to go undefeated in HS competition even when he was running 30 miles a week. By training more/more effectively, a less-talented individual can perform at the same level or even outperform a more-talented one, but the deficit will be flipped once the more-talented athlete puts in commensurate training.

The talent disparity is more easily visible in shorter-distance outcomes, but it is detectable at longer distances as well. Which US marathoners of this century were the best HS athletes? Rupp, Hall, Ritz, Meb. Who have the fastest prs? Rupp, Hall, Ritz, Meb.

Not quite. You can have athletes with a very high ceiling that will be terrible at first go, but with training can become amazing. There are also athletes who can run quite fast with very little training but don't improve much when they start ramping it up. Obviously you can be anything in-between. Have you not read The Sports Gene? The best athletes will have naturally high fitness and be high responders to training.

Are they? wrote:

Is it just your mind keeping you from being a champion? Maybe it’s time to believe, and start training properly NOW!

Let’s think. Usain Bolt ran 19s for 200m as a skinny 17 year old. All just hard work.

What do you think wrote:

Are they? wrote:

Is it just your mind keeping you from being a champion? Maybe it’s time to believe, and start training properly NOW!

Let’s think. Usain Bolt ran 19s for 200m as a skinny 17 year old. All just hard work.

This. Plus he was a low responder too.