Have You Got The "Fat Burning Gene?" (Read This, It Will Shock You!)

This week saw Usain Bolt set a new 100 metre world record at the World Athletics Championships.

Bolt ran a super quick time of 9.58 seconds, eleven hundreths of a second quicker than his last record.

What an amazing effort. Here's how it looked if you missed it:



Yep, you guessed it! The rumours have already started circulating as to whether Usain is on peformance enhancing drugs or not. Alot of people this week appear to have already assumed he is guilty of doping. This is a real shame, especially when it takes the gloss off the amazing feat that Bolt has achieved.

We shouldn't be so quick to judge especially when none of us have any proof.

Whether he did or not, (we'll never know) the truth of the matter is that Usain Bolt is an amazing athlete.

Don't get me wrong, I'm personally dead against any kind of drug or steroid use to improve performance in sport but... you have to take your hat off to Bolt. This is the fastest that any man has run in the history of 100 metres - natural or not.

So why is Bolt streets ahead of everyone else out there at this moment in time?

Let's put the steroid debate aside for 2 minutes and look abit deeper than this:

Firstly, Bolt is 6 feet 5 inches. He needed 41 strides to win gold on Sunday whilst Tyson Gay who took silver with an amazing time of 9.71 seconds needed 45. Due to his longer strides, he's basically covering more ground than his rivals.

Secondly, Bolt is super-confident. Everytime I watch him, he's always really relaxed. He laughs and jokes with his fellow Jamaicans before every race whilst everyone else looks real tense and nervous.

It's almost like he KNOWS he's gonna win before the race has even started. Any sport physchologist will tell you that this inner-confidence and relaxed state of mind would definitely have a benefit before any sporting event.

Thirdly, in countries where black people are in majority (such as Jamaica, Africa etc.), research suggests that black people have significantly higher amounts of "fast twitch" muscle fibers - the kind that are responsible for short, explosive bursts of action- than white people do (That's why you won't ever see a white man in the 100 metre final!).

But that's not all though, recent research has discovered a super-fast twitch fibre that is ONLY found in Jamaicans. (You can read more about this here)

So you could say that Usain Bolt is genetically gifted right?

He has all the attributes to be the best sprinter that ever lived. He's tall, his strides are longer and being a Jamaican, has a high percentage of super-fast twitch muscle fibers.

So what's this got to do with your Fat Loss Plan I hear you say?

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

And that's my point!!!

Read on, let me explain what I'm going on about.

More often than not, if we see someone with a great physique or someone who is making great improvements in their fitness or health, we sometimes presume that they've been genetically gifted at birth or are taking some kind of supplement or steroid. This is the reason why they're successful with their fat loss plan.

Funny how we're quick to judge isn't it!

We don't stop to think that this person might have made some changes to their diet or some improvements to their training do we?

We don't stop to think that this person leads a healthy life and makes better choices than someone who is over weight do we!

Many people that I've come across during my 10 years as a fat loss coach are under the illusion that fat loss success comes out of a bottle or is pre-determined at birth.

Ony last week I actually over heard a couple of guys talking in the free weights room about me when I was working out saying "Oh, he's real lean, he MUST be on steroids." I think they thought they were being quiet, but I heard nonetheless!

I've also heard two woman talking (check this out!) about another woman saying that "she has better genetics than us so it's easier for her to lose weight."

Let me put everyone in the picture...

When it comes to Fat Loss, none of us have "superior fat burning" genetics to others.

Sure, your genetics may play a part in the 100 metre World Athletics Final like it did for Usain Bolt but NOT as a part of your Fat Loss plan.

It comes down to how many calories you're consuming and how many you're expending.

That's it! Not rocket science right?

Unless you're Usain Bolt, you haven't won the genetic lottery!!!

No one has inherited a unique "Fat Burning Gene."

There is NO such thing!

This is a great quote that I read somewhere this week:

"Genetics make up 1% of your fat loss plan, the other 99% is diet, training and down right hard work."

So true right?

Unless you're Usian Bolt no one has superior genetics when it comes to fat loss.

It comes down to good food, good training, the right amount of recovery and maintaining a positive can-do attitude throughout.

It's time for us to take 100% responsibility for our actions and stop the talk of "genetic lotteries" OK?

Peace out,

Sam Winkworth
CPT, SPN