Everyone is obviously limited by their genetics when it comes to how much strength or mass they can put on, but while this limit exists for everyone is it an asymptote or is there a hard limit after which one cannot gain any more muscle or strength any longer after decades of training?
As in, even after decades of training do you continue to put on muscle at a diminishing rate or do you just hit a hard ceiling, for example let’s say someone has been training with well suited programming for themselves for over 20-30 years now, at this point would this person still be gaining muscle mass at ever decreasing rates (100 grams of total gains on year 30 of training, then 96 grams on year 31, so on and so on, but never reaching absolute zero until they hit an age where muscle just starts declining), or will this person just hit a straight up hard ceiling with enough years of training after which all training can do is maintain until they get too old?
We don’t really know. In my time doing this, I haven’t seen anyone who has maxed out their genetic limit for strength or hypertrophy.
Rather than view the impact of genetics this way, I prefer to acknowledge their role in the response to training, where inter-individual differences are primarily due to genetics.
So some of the best bodybuilders of all time or record setting powerlifters still hadn’t maxed out their limits? What about someone like Sam Watt who has been training for over 35 years now?
Talking about outliers gives us relatively few examples, but there are numerous examples of WR holders getting better throughout much of their competitive career after their first world record. I do not think the discussion about genetic limits is applicable in bodybuilding due to polypharmacy.
Sam Watt’s best raw total was put up just over a year ago, despite his training history.
Genetics play a huge role in response to training, but again, I don’t think most people reach their limits.
Why is that? Is it because people typically age out or get too old to improve anymore? Is that the largest barrier that stops someone from maxxing out their limits?
By extension, if humans didn’t age or die, would they be able to improve indefinitely albeit at diminishing rates as mentioned before? Or would there still be a limit even in this scenario?
Basically just asking if it’s even possible to max out your potential before age eventually catches up to you or if that final factor will always stop someone from getting 100% of the gains they possibly can. Has there ever been anyone at all who has managed to reach their limits unlike most people?
This is mostly conjecture, but I don’t think people don’t train nearly enough during the times were response would be excellent to get close to their genetic limits, even assuming a resource rich environment.
I do think it’s theoretically possible to get there, but how would you know and what would you do differently upon reaching it (if knowable)? I’m sure there have been many examples of fully or near-fully realizing their potential, but again, how would we know?
For me professionally and personally, I don’t really wonder think about it much. I just want to get better and I think that’s possible the vast majority of the time.
Depends on what specific metric you’re looking at. We’ve discussed this relating to strength, power, and to a lesser extent, hypertrophy. In general, the peak performance for strength, power, and muscle mass ranges between the mid 20’s to 30’s. Some elements of conditioning are a bit later. As always, there is significant variation between individuals.
Most importantly, none of this would impact your (or anyone else’s) training. I do not predict you will run up against a genetic limit to your development.