Is there a genetically determined limit to athletic performance?
Former Member
In his autobiographical book The Naturalist, E. O. Wilson suggests that there is a genetically determined limit to an individual's athletic performance which cannot be overcome regardless of the amount of training. Using himself as an example, he describes how he became a serious runner several years after graduating college. The gap between his times and those of the top runners in his age group (expressed as a percentage) remained what it was in college.
I looked at my current times (three years after joining USMS) and found that I am 12% behind in the 1000 and 15% behind in the 500. These percentages are exactly the same as they were in 1978, the last year I swam in college. I know there are exceptions within the ranks of USMS, but I wonder how valid this "rule" really is.
Parents
Former Member
We are not robots. Each and everyone of us has their own strengths and weaknesses. I know it's not PC to say there are genetic predispositions enabling us to excel at some things, and not at others, advantages over someone and disadvantages.
Or as Forest Gump's Momma said, "Don't ever let anybody tell you they're better than you, Forrest. If God intended everybody to be the same, he'd have given us all braces on our legs."
I don't know how you can make a distinction between genetic advantage to baseball, but not swimming. Where'd the term 'he was born to ...." come from? Competitive swimming is as much a skill as serious baseball.
Why is it, olympic swimmers gravitate to a specific stroke? Typically a sprinter won't do as well against a long distancer, and vice versa. You'd think the sprinter has no chance against the world record holder of the 1500m in the 100 free.
We are not robots. Each and everyone of us has their own strengths and weaknesses. I know it's not PC to say there are genetic predispositions enabling us to excel at some things, and not at others, advantages over someone and disadvantages.
Or as Forest Gump's Momma said, "Don't ever let anybody tell you they're better than you, Forrest. If God intended everybody to be the same, he'd have given us all braces on our legs."
I don't know how you can make a distinction between genetic advantage to baseball, but not swimming. Where'd the term 'he was born to ...." come from? Competitive swimming is as much a skill as serious baseball.
Why is it, olympic swimmers gravitate to a specific stroke? Typically a sprinter won't do as well against a long distancer, and vice versa. You'd think the sprinter has no chance against the world record holder of the 1500m in the 100 free.
