Genetics and the Jock: Inside the New Science of Athletic Excellence
3rd August 2013
In the future, however, you might be able to develop a training plan that has nothing to do with external edicts, generalized principles, or even trial and error. Instead, you’d train according to your own genetic athletic profile — an array of genes that determine what kind of exercise, done for how long and how often, your body will best respond to.
That’s only one of the tantalizing suggestions that David Epstein, a senior writer at Sports Illustrated, offers up in his new book The Sports Gene (Penguin). In a wide-ranging exploration of the links between genetics and athleticism — many of which are still being unraveled by scientists around the world — Epstein offers a fascinating look at how genetic research is already transforming sports science. Along the way, he digs into controversial questions about gender and race, examines the latest in genetic testing that purports to spot athletic traits, and unravels how some of the world’s best athletes — from Usain Bolt to Michael Jordan — attained the pinnacle of sporting success.