An updated version of the previous presentations on the variablity of individual responses to exercise, health and nutrition practices.

1. One Size Fits One
Unravelling individual genetics, biomechanics and physiology
Sept 28
10:15 a.m.

2. Charlie Hoolihan, CES, PES, CSCS
Director of Training, Pelican Athletic Club
Mandeville, LA.
Session Date
One Size Fits One:
Unravelling individual genetics, biomechanics and physiology

3. Session Date
A Few Disclosures
English major
But a coach of
swimmers, triathletes
and runners since the
last century
Developed strength,
conditioning, personal
training and weight loss
programming since
2002
Former D1 Collegiate
Sprinter
Who was trained old
school swimming
distance style…
And sucked

4. • Female accountant
• 39 years old, married, two kids
• Wants to lose 30 lbs. by her 40th
birthday, May 2 in five months
• Needs to workout at 5:30 a.m.
Session Date
Case Study – New Years resolution

5. • Bring it sistah!
• Three days per week
(Two strength/one HIIT strength)
• Two days HIIT on own
• One day best hour cardio
• Keto!
Session Date
Trainer’s response.

6. “When the human body is
concerned, we are dealing with a
system that is so complex with so
many interrelated variables, we can
do nothing but be humble about our
beliefs and recommendations.”
• Chris Beardsley , Strength
and Conditioning Research
Session Date
A Humble Offering

7. Every Body is Different in research and science
• Every BODY is different.
• Research underway as can be contradicting all or
some elements of what we are saying today.
• Science and practical experience go hand in hand.
• 1 in 5 low or non-responders.
• 1 in 5 are high or super responders
• Placebo responses in controls are 15-30%.
• Higher responses in pharmaceuticals and rate
seems to be growing in US as a whole.
• Most exercise science research subjects are young
males.
• Most aging exercise science subjects are frail and
sedentary.

8. These are not excuses. they’re puzzle parts

9. Why is Ozzy
alive?
• “Given the swimming
pools of booze I've guzzled
over the years—not to
mention all of the cocaine,
morphine, sleeping pills,
cough syrup, LSD,
Rohypnol…you name it—
there's really no plausible
medical reason why I
should still be alive”
Ozzie Osborne, 2010

10. Neanderthal DNA and ADH4
• About 5% of individuals of N. European
descent have small remnants of
Neanderthal DNA
• ADH4 is the genetic variant responsible
for metabolizing alcohol in the liver. Ozzie
has both.
• Workout tip for those of us with low ADH4!
• Avoid alcohol the night after a big workout!
• Glycogen, lactate and liquor, oh my!

12. We base our aspirations, respect (sometimes
adulation) and training around unique high responders

13. • 350 miles straight
without stopping.
• 80 hours and 44 min.
• 445 CPK levels after 25
straight marathons.
• Normal response –
1800, after one in
moderately fit.
Session Date
Dean Karnazes

14. • 188’ arctic under ice
swim and other frigid
feats.
• He and his twin have high
amounts of brown fat %
• Some limited correlations for
his breathing technique
Session Date
Wim Hof

15. Session Date
Take the coach/trainer challenge!
Gold in 100WR /200 WR. Faltered in the 300
Unlimited finances, facilities, resources to get Bolt to win 1500 and Eluid the 800

16. Positive
epigenetic
Factors can
influence
genes
Environmental, lifestyle even pre and
postnatal factors which influence the
expression or activation of specific
genes.
• Working out with weights,
• running long distance
• or sprints,
• eating specific foods or drinking
cheap whiskey.
• quality of sleep
• lifestyle stressors all qualify as
epigenetic factors.
• More later…

17. Variability from endurance to strength
• More than 50% of the people in the US have a higher % of fast twitch
fibers. (Bouchard, 1999)
• In a large cohort cardiovascular training study improvements in VO2
max ranged from 0-1000% under the same workout conditions!
(Bouchard, 1999)
• In a strength training study strength and hypertrophy improvements
ranged from 0-54% under the same workout conditions! (Petrella,
2008; Roth 2007)
• A review of HIIT studies found 22% failed to improve their oxygen
transport, 44% didn’t improve a time to exhaustion test and 50%
didn’t improve lactate threshold. (Giles, 2015)

18. What’s the most important characteristic of an
MLB hitter
20:10 Eyesight

19. Difference between great
runners and great swimmers
Belly button!
Swimmers have longer torsos
Runners have longer lets

20. Fiber
types
• Muscle biopsies have been in existence since the mid to late 1800s
– fiber types known since middle of last century.
• Training based on fiber type is still not as pervasive as it should be.

21. Differences
in aerobic
and
resistance
trained
hearts
• Aerobic trained eccentric hypertrophy due to repeated
contractions
• Bigger chamber for more blood volume
• Resistance training
• Larger and stronger muscle walls due to increased blood
pressure of 1.5 to 3 x greater than normal
(Greg Nuckols – Stronger by Science)

22. Range of motion according to 13 texts
13 different text books. 30-80 shoulder extension!!! 0-50 hip extension!!!
Hamstring test

23. Long Torso and arms plus secret
weapon = Big Deadlifts

24. Session Date
Short limbs, torso etc
Naim Suleymanoglu
4’10” – short appendage ratio
Snatch: 152.5k 1988 WR gold
Clean and jerk :190k WR gold

25. • Myostatin is a
protein which
signals muscle
growth to stop
after a certain size
• Low levels of
myostatin can
result in larger
muscle sizes.
Session Date
Influence of muscle size

26. Influences of muscle size –
satellite cells
• Satellite cells - stem cells responsible for the
repair and growth of muscle after workout or
trauma damage
• can exist in variable amounts and respond
differently to strength training programming by
increasing from 0 to 60%.
• (Roth, 2007 and Petrella, 2008)
• Via Bret Contreras

27. Shoulder
variability –
overhead
athletes and
clients

28. Session Date
Factors affecting squat depth
On the other hand: Short limbs = less distance to travel
Wall Test

29. Hips
• Hips in a deep socket with a thick neck
limiting range of motion while a shallow
socket with a thin neck expanding it. (Dean
Sommerset, 2017).

30. Celtic hips + Type 3 Acromiom
What is the goal?
Cross Fit Open?
Healthy weight, active life,
long health span?
Session Date
This may be the best she can do

31. - Deep squat – vertical jumping strength.
Half and quarter – running strength Session Date
Squat depth goals…

32. Session Date
Biomechanical variables cause ideal squat
mechanics in babies vs adults

33. Session Date
On the other hand…
On the other hand: Short limbs = less distance to travel
Pushup demo

34. s
Session Date
Muscle/Tendon relationship
• Short muscle
belly/long tendon
GUNS!
• Also greater
mechanical
advantage like a
see-saw

35. The magic of HIIT is
also variable
A review of five studies it was found
22% of the participants failed to
improve their oxygen transport, 44%
didn’t improve a time to exhaustion
test and 50% didn’t improve lactate
threshold. (Gurd et al, 2015)

36. Responders, non-responders and poor responders
Studies which find non-response tend to be around 2.5 hrs per week at low to moderate intensity.
This study manipulated the number of sessions while others have manipulated intensity but response is
Not always proportionate to increases
Gifted
responders>>>

37. Session Date
The neuroscience of motivation

38. “16 human studies conducted as of this writing
(circa 2011) have found a large contribution of
heredity to the amount of voluntary physical
activity
the largest study of 37,501 twin pairs concluded
about 50-75%of the variation in the amount of
exercise people undertook was attributable to
their genetic inheritance.”
Session Date
The genetic neuroscience of of
activity!

39. - Neurotransmitter
levels are
individual.
- The number of
receptors are
individual.
- The rate of re-
uptake is individual
Session Date
The brain chemistry of it all…

40. - Topic 1 Summary
- Topic 2 Summary
- Topic 3 Summary
- Topic 4 Summary
Session Date
Agenda

41. Overgeneralization Alert!!
• Dopamine – gets you to the workout.
• Octopamine reduces the willingness to go to workout.
(*in fruit flys)
• Epinephrine/Norepinephrine – power up the workout.
• Endorphin – suppresses the discomfort of the workout
• Serotonin – influences emotional response to the
workout (Central Governor Theory)
Session Date
Exercise Neurotransmitters

42. • Dopaminergic pathways are linked
with movement pathways.
• Emotion affects movement.
Structures involved in guiding
behavior, act as a crossroads for the
emotion circuit to directly influence the
movement circuit to control action.
Motivation/movement circuits
may be totally different in
individuals!
Session Date
This just in! -Neuroscience News

43. • “It worked for me”
• “that dude/chick in the gym”
• “Anyone who has lost weight is an expert”
• Keto, paleo, vegan,
• 3 Days of hot dogs; 3 days of hard boiled eggs; 3 days of
grapefruit, magic soup.
• Some of these may be detrimental some individual's health.
• Some genes respond to high carbs diets to increase chances of
metabolic syndrome.
• Some genes respond to high fat diets to increase cholesterol
and other cardiovascular issues
Session Date
Stop the Madness!!

44. How to ruin a
good cup of
coffee
and make a lot
of money

45. Low carb?
low fat?
High protein?
A study in 2005 tested four diets
Atkins (ultra-low-carb)
Zone (40-30-30)
Ornish (very low-fat left over from
the 80s no fat hysteria
Low-fat diet following the federal
Food Pyramid.
All lost weight

46. - Matched genotypes for CHO
preference or fat preference
- 5.3% weight loss for matched
genotypes vs 2.3% unmatched
- Matched genotypes on strictest
macros
- 6.8 % vs 1.4%
No particular diet “Won”
Session Date
Matched Genetics Study, 2005

47. Three genes in the fat burning “zone”

48. Body fat has
nothing to
do with the
“zone”

49. • Easy Jumping Jacks
• What does the heart rate chart say
• What zone are you in.
• What are the variables which affect “zone” other
than age.
Session Date
Heart rate charts, zones and games
of chance

50. Carbs are death!!
2.5 billion
carb eaters-
Huh?

51. Carb response

52. Carb glycemic response - Dieter

53. Caffeine response
Faster Slower
Slower
Nanci Guest RD -

54. 25% of Labs carry
the POMC gene
making them
permanently hungry
and loyal to those
who provide food.
Session Date
Stop Labrorador Obesity

55. • There are about 185 genes implicated in obesity giving
some individuals a tendency to gain more with than
another on a similar set of circumstances. (Scott-Dixon
et al, 2017)
• 12 pairs of twins
• 84 days over a 100-day period of overfeeding by 1,000
calories per day.
• sedentary lifestyle during this time.
• The average weight gain was 17.86 pounds, but the range
went from 9.48 pounds to 29.32 pounds.
• Abdominal fat variability -no increase to a 200% increase.
(Bouchard, et al 1997
Session Date
Genetics 1

56. FTO gene is associated with more body fat, weight and
difficulty losing weight in several diverse populations
from North Americans to Asians. To what extent is not
known at this time.
• Other related weight related genes are
• LEP, which is related to leptin, a hormone that senses how
much stored fat we have.
• GHRL related to for ghrelin, a potent stimulator of hunger
• DRD2, an influencer of dopamine, related to the
neurobiological reward and decision-making pathways
(which are also involved in addictions.
• Nanci Guest
Session Date
Genetics 2

57. Just move more eat less
You just are lazy and have no will
power!
Nope, Sorry,
Here’s some more possibilities
1. Infection and immune impairment
1. Adipocytes and macrophages have similar comp.
2. Epigenetics
1. Things which can cause negative or positive gene expression.
3. Maternal age and body weight
1. Children of mothers over 35 have greater percentage of being
overweight
2. Heavier parents beget heavier children
4. Sleep debt – hunger hormone cascades!
5. Endocrine disruptors – ditto sleep note
6. Pharmaceuticals – a lot of common prescriptions cause weight gain.

58. Variance in Posture or
malalignments
condiserations
 Pain is in the body of the
believer
 Not all so-called arthokinetic
“disfunctions” produce pain or
negative medical outcomes.
 Nocebo effect
 Use your words wisely

59. Scoliosis as a deadlifting strategy (or vice versa)
Lamar Gant
123 and 132 lb. classifications
• World record deadlift 688 lbs
• World record in bench press 336
• World record in squats 595
His disfunction was an advantage.

60. Session Date
Male and female exercise variabilities
• Females tend to have more slow- twitch fibers than men
• more efficient at utilizing lipids (fats) as fuel in general.
• More efficient endurance like profile where higher repetitions during strength training
may be more effective.
• More overall volume during workouts
• Anti-catabolic effect of estrogen which reduces protein breakdown and reduces the
overtraining risk.

61. • Are better with steady state training than HIIT
• Should do less explosive training and HIIT because glucose (sugar)
metabolism fuels these two modalities.
• Steady state cardio and slower lifting tempos area more effective
training modalities.
• Will take longer to recover from HIIT or explosive training.
• They produce less metabolic byproducts.
• They can train with greater frequency and typically don’t need as
much rest between sets or work efforts.
(Menno Henslemans – Baysian body building)
Session Date
Male and Female variabilities part 2

62. Session Date
Monthly variabilities
• Strength training is more efficient
during the first half prior to ovulation
(follicular phase) due to the peak
circulations in estrogen and
testosterone.
• Both are anti-catabolic hormones
which fall during the second half of
the cycle and progesterone – a
catabolic hormone – increases

63. - 24 hours to two
weeks to return
to full strength
- Age and
gender
- Other lifestyle
inflammatory
conditions
Session Date
Recovery variabilities

64. - Weakness and fatigue are not
requirements.
- Exercise attenuates most of aging issues.
- But
- Inflammaging – more inflammatory
responses and ROS
- Weird peripheral hemodynamics – the body
wants us to slow down?
- Ibuprophin response – ironically may not
interfere with muscle repair.
- Fast twitch fibers re-routed w slow twitch
neurons.
Session Date
Aging variabilities

65. Training, competing and sleep phenotypes
• Genetic preference for wake-up time - Early A.M
intermediate A.M. and late A.M.
• Endurance test at different times of day mostly based on
time between waking and working out.
• Range of 7-26% difference between optimal and sub-
optimal performance.
• Late A.M. seemed to perform poorly the in early trials.
• 2008 Beijing Olympics - a 1% increase in the 9.93 s time
gained by 4th in 100 m would have resulted in the silver
medal. Women’s 400 m , a 1% improvement would have
won a gold medal for the fourth-place competitor.
• Knowing your preference and working around
disadvantageous competition or workout time could make
a big difference in competition/workout performance

66. These are not excuses, they’re our challenges

67. Session Date
Know your clients/athletes
• Athletic background? Fast twitch/slow twitch?
• Vary the workouts
• Six to 12 weeks of a specific strength or conditioning program
with specific volume, frequency and work effort should provide
significant improvement from a high responder to that modality.
• A Minimal response would indicate a need for a change.
• The key is to make sure coaches and trainers have a wide variety
of options available to make significant adjustments.

68. Ask questions about nutrition
• If you are trying to lose weight, are you in a daily caloric deficit and are you
losing weight at a rate consistent with the deficit?
• Does your diet include the correct amount of micronutrients (vitamins and
minerals) to maintain healthy physiological functions such as immune
response.
• Are you effectively tracking intake to make sure it’s consistent with your
goals?
• Do you have energy to perform daily workouts and your regular daily
activities?
• Does the diet severely restrict certain substrates or nutrients like
carbohydrates, fats or animal protein. If so re-ask above questions with this
in mind.

69. Change the workout
• 14 cross-country skiers,completed the
previous year at 83% low intensity training
and 17% high intensity training
• Athletes who had responded poorly to the
training.
• doubled their high intensity volume
• reduced long distance training by 22%.
• The results of this switch produced improved
oxygen transport (VO2max) power output and
overall competitive results in the
experimental group.
(Gaskill, 1999)

70. Magness: Slow twitch vs fast twitch endurance

71. Sleep timing strategy
• Find baseline sleep needs
• No alarm waking
• Find opimtal sleep rhythms
• Bedtime is bedtime
• Periodize sleep restriction.
• Hormonal rates return to baseline
after two or three days of sleep
disruption
• Prioritize sleep

72. PAP Recovery test
PAVariable recovery rates
Found optimal individual
recovery rates (2-10 min) which
provided most response from
resisted sprints and sprints in
order to maximize the
effectiveness of the training.
Simplifaster.com

73. Genetic testing?? It’s getting better than 10
years ago but in the too early
stages to be definitive.
Because of so many
variables, cofactors,
epigenetics and analytics, it
provides clues at best
Disease screenings are fairly
accurate.
Fitness/Nutrition not so
much and sometimes logic
and patience fills in the gaps.
Intrigued by Nutrigenomix
report…BUT not
recommending.

74. • Female accountant
• 10 lb. weight loss and exhausted
after diligently following program.
• Genetics?
• Workout?
• Time of day?
• Diet?
• Employment – time of year
Session Date
Case Study – May 2

75. Email: Charlie@thepac.com
FB: Charlie Hoolihan:
IG: charliehoolihan
SlideShare: Search Charlie Hoolihan
Uploaded 10/1/2019
Session Date
One Size Fits One:
Unravelling individual genetics, biomechanics and physiologies

76. 1. Neurotransmitters are
synthesized.
2. Then stored
3. Then stimulated to
release.
4.
Session Date
Briefly