I agree with icklemoley that a lot of people are quick to blame genetics rather than taking a good, hard look at the amount of effort spent training and, more importantly, eating "right". It is true that some people have to work a bit harder to get the same results -- but, really, the limiting factor is diet and exercise. Of course, the diet and exercise must be tailored to your goals. That means you have to know what your goals are and what exercises you need to be doing and how often and what your diet needs to be like. Many people don't have all that information and/or aren't putting it into practice. If you ask them, they will say they are eating "right" and exercising but don't see any changes. Ask them about their protein intake...are they getting 1 g per pound of bodyweight everyday spaced between 5 or 6 meals? Probably not. Are they doing HEAVY resistance training (ie, heavy is not an at-home Cathe workout -- it is something like 2X your BodyWeight for squats, BodyWeight for bench press, etc)? Probably not. Are they getting an hour of cardio (intense) at least 3 times a week and then low-to-moderate intensity all the other days. Probably not. Are they drinking lots of water? Getting enough vitamins and minerals? Avoiding alcohol? Not eating before bedtime? Do they cycle their training for building mass and cutting fat? Limiting carbs? Most likely they're NOT doing all of that the majority of the time. Easier to blame genetics.
On the flip side -- one of my big pet peeves is when someone will tell me that my successes are due to genetics. My family is NOT genetically gifted by any means. I am the only one who exercises or knows anything about nutrition. I didn't even looked like I worked out up until 2 years ago when I finally stopped my whining and started figuring out what it took for me to look the way I wanted. For months at a time, I ate mostly protein. No bread. No rice. Very little sugar. Tuna, chicken, protein bars, protein drinks, water, salad -- that's it -- for months. No cheating. No alcohol. Exercise every day for up to 4 hours (yes, that was extreme and didn't last much longer than 6 weeks). Incorporated endurance weight training (like Cathe's DVDs), heavy weight training, cardio intervals, stretching. Up to 150 grams of protein per day. That's what did it for me and I was in the best shape. People could tell I worked out -- but they would always shrug it off and say, "you're so lucky with your genetics". Yep -- has nothing to do with my sweating through 4 hours of workouts and watching everything that goes into my mouth.
Okay...sorry for the tirade there. Essentially what I'm saying is that we all have the potential to do amazing things -- but what WILL we do? I think the genetics excuse, for MYSELF (yes...I used to say the same thing) and for others, is just easier than what it actually takes. And the next time you see someone who looks great don't be too quick to brush off their hard work by suggesting that it comes naturally. They may be up at 4:00am doing a killer workout while you're still snoozing
Shonie
