A LIMITED NUMBER OF PHENOTYPES

by M. Doug McGuff, M.D.

I have made mention of my friend Dr. Lance Reese in previous articles. He is probably the most intelligent person I have ever known. Lance has a penchant for making incredibly brief statements that have profound significance. I think this is an amazing talent, but Lance just shrugs it off as a fact of life.

One day we were discussing our residency training, and I made note of how a common acquaintance looked and acted just like another person we had both encountered during our training. Lance initially said nothing, but then casually commented... “there truly are a limited number of phenotypes”.

I had never really thought about it before, but this statement had profound implications. Allow me to explain. A genotype is the specific genetic information encoded by a person’s (or organism’s) DNA. A phenotype is the external, physical expression of the genotype given a specific environment and set of stimuli. Even though the variety of genotype is potentially limitless, the phenotypic expression of these individual genomes is limited to some degree. This explains why every once in a great while you may come across someone who appears to be your long lost twin. A couple of years ago, I was driving along with my wife when I looked in my rearview mirror and saw none other than yours truly driving the car behind me. I pulled into the other lane and allowed the car to pass us and then we followed it to, of all places, the local Gold’s Gym. We sat about twenty yards away and watched in awe as my spitting image got out of the car and walked into the building. Not just his face, but his entire body and the way he carried himself was almost exactly like me. I was tempted to go in and introduce myself, but it all seemed too weird.

A good example of very similar phenotypes involves a prior training client of the late Mike Mentzer. Roland Kickinger spent time under the tutelage of Mike Mentzer when he first came to America. Currently, he stars in the popular TV comedy Son of the Beach. Mike noted that Kickinger looked so much like Arnold Schwarzenneger that “I had to suppress the urge to punch him in the face”. (For those who don’t know, Mike and Arnold had a less than friendly relationship during their competitive days). The resemblance is truly uncanny. Not only the facial features, but the muscular structure are almost identical. The long biceps, the blocky triceps, the expansive thorax with broad pectorals is almost identical to Arnold. This would not be as shocking if the resemblance were to anyone other than Arnold. It’s just that Arnold’s physique was so unique. No one in the bodybuilding world has produced anything similar to Arnold, with the exception of this one near carbon-copy.

Such similarities are not isolated to bodybuilding, but can be found throughout life in general, and sports in particular. This fact is the basis for an outstanding book that my wife gave me for Christmas this year. The book is entitled Athlete, by Howard Schatz. Schatz is a physician who is a renowned sports photographer. The book is a compilation of photographs depicting athletes from all disciplines of sports. It contains some of the most amazing action photography you will ever see. But more important is its exploration of phenotype.

Scattered throughout the action photos are two-page spreads that show various types of athletes standing side-by-side against a black backdrop. In the same photo, you can compare the physique of a top basketball player, downhill skier, sprint cyclist, sprinter, and gymnast. You can see each particular phenotype represented at its best; what it looks like with the most muscle, least fat, and best metabolic condition. Most of these genotypes, even with the best training do not express phenotypes of a competitive bodybuilder. The genotype that allows the phenotype of a competitive bodybuilder is extremely rare. Many genotypes, while ideal for a particular sport, can never be made to express the phenotype of a bodybuilder. The book even includes examples of natural and drug-enhanced bodybuilders, which serves to drive this point home. Even though most of the athletes profiled do not have the aesthetics of a competitive bodybuilder, they are still extraordinarily beautiful. You can easily discern the ideal bodytypes for certain sports. With little effort you can select an athlete from a particular sport, and in another section identify another athlete from the same sport just by recognizing the phenotype.

The example of the phenotypic resemblance between Arnold Schwarzenneger and Roland Kickinger is extremely rare because the genotype for successful bodybuilding is so rare. (This statement ignores modern day drug-enhanced bodybuilders who all look like the same bloated gargoyle because they all abuse the same growth-enhancing drugs). By looking at athletes from all types of sports, we get a much broader sampling of genotypes and their phenotypic expression. Very few of us with an interest in bodybuilding possess the genotype that will allow the phenotypic expression that produces a bodybuilder physique. But as you browse the pages of Athlete, I am certain you will find some phenotypes that resemble your own.

When you find an athlete that has a bodytype similar to your own, study the photo closely. While it may not win a bodybuilding contest, it does demonstrate what an ideal phenotypic representation of a genotype similar to your own might look like. Now with this more realistic frame of reference, take a look at what you have accomplished with your training. Like me, you might be quite impressed. Rather than measuring ourselves against a genotype unlike ours, whose phenotype we might never match, we can measure our accomplishments against a more realistic standard. When you do so, you can have more realistic expectations for your training. As you strive to add muscle and decrease bodyfat, pause from time to time and compare yourself to the photos in this book...I bet you will be quite proud of what you have accomplished.