FH Newsletter: Episode 4

Stoked to be back for another edition of FITTER HUMANS!

Have to start by thanking all of you. Thank you for being here and I am so that we’re welcoming more and more FITTER HUMANS each week. I love that we all share the same goal and trust me, in time we are all going to become FITTER HUMANS together.

If you are new here, I’m Daniel Guzman and I’ve spent the first decade of my professional life working on the front lines of professional soccer.

I’ve accrued over 25,482 hours testing and experimenting the best protocols to improve human performance and I am on a mission to be the leader in the applied sports genetics space.

If enhancing your physical performance or mental acuteness aren’t on your agenda, then this newsletter is not for you.

However, if envisioning yourself a year from now, declaring, “I am FITTER than I was last year,” resonates with you, then grab a seat and become a part of the FH tribe.

Welcome to the FH family. Couldn’t be happier to have you here.

FITTER Genes 🧬: Endurance & ACE

Your current athletic status is made up of your genetics and your environment. The training environments you have exposed yourself to plays a role in how your genetics are expressed. Lets talk endurance today!

Cool story. Every summer, from the age of 6 to 14, my mom made myself and my 3 siblings, run or bike every morning before breakfast. There was a route we took from our house, down McBean Parkway, down to Fairview Drive until we hit a specific sign that said “Valencia-Northbridge”… and then we turned back! It was probably 3.5 miles round trip from my house. Talk about exposing my genetics to a specific environmental stimulus, my genes were getting endurance work 5 days a week!

“Self-pat on the back” - as a kid I won every single mile assessment at school (shout out B Thrush my childhood best friend 😁 who was always chasing and pushing me along.) I know the training environment my mom put me in contributed to by physical performance in sports. Thanks mom ❤️ 

What is endurance?

One simple way, is to define endurance as the ability to maintain an activity for an extended period of time. We all have felt our endurance base be challenged by fatigue as volume, intensity and duration progresses. Remember: Our genetics give us insight into how we respond to endurance activities.

The ACE gene or Angiotensin 1 converting enzyme 🧬

Let’s look at the science of one of the associated genes: ACE. The ACE gene is short for Angiotensin 1 converting enzyme. This SNP plays a central role in the RAAS system which plays a vital role in blood pressure, salt-sensitive hypertension, cardiovascular health, and cardiorespiratory efficiency (endurance) (info from 3X4 Genetics).

A Systematic Review and Meta Analysis of 366 articles on the ACE gene found the II genotype to have significant indications of high performance in endurance athletes (Ma, 2013). The research of genetics and endurance is fascinating and something you should dive deeper into if you want to maximize your genetic output.

So why is this important and how can we use this information practically?

It’s important to drive this point home each week: genetics is about the insight you gain about who you are and understanding your responsiveness to the decisions you make on a daily basis. When you start a journey to become a FITTER HUMAN, you should always start with a needs analysis. You start by looking at your current state of fitness, your previous history and relative information to create an ideal plan to a fitter you. By understanding your responsiveness to endurance, you can make much more accurate decisions about your training plan.

If you have low responsiveness to endurance training, it could mean a slower implementation of endurance training is more reasonable in your training plan. On the opposite end, if you have a very high responsiveness to endurance, you may be able to have a higher ratio of endurance sessions in your weekly training to see benefits. Of course, the more efficient you are in a specific training stimulus the less fatigue you would accumulate (when volume/intensity are programmed appropriately).

If you are just starting your endurance journey with some friends, do not be discouraged if you all have various degrees of success in the beginning! Your genetics are unique, your training journey will be too!

FITTER Stat of the week

It had to be LeBron James this week. The NBA future Hall of Famer is the all time leader in points scored at 40,017 as of the last game. Incredible!

QUICK FH POLL:

FITTER Groceries

Ask and you shall receive! I am in fact a Trader Joe’s man myself and so I’ve compiled my top 10 Trader Joe’s grocery list for the week. I am a creature of consistency and habit, which means I always grab similar items when I go shopping for my family. Besides fundamental proteins, below are some fun items I always add to my cart.

1. Pink Lady Apples

2. Cremini Mushrooms

3. Cage Free Brown Eggs

4. Coconut Whip Cream

5. Frozen Jasmine Rice

6. Almond Butter (Salted)

7. Kale, Cashew & Basil Pesto

8. Frozen Wild Blueberries

9. Hot & Sweet Jalapeños

10. Absolutely Acerola Cherry Shot

Always looking for TJ item recommendations. Please respond if you have anything to add to my list above!!!

FITTER Ideas

Here’s some awesome content I was motivated by this week:

Been putting out tons of content on my Instagram, but here are a few of my favorites:

danielpguzman

View more on Instagram

FITTER Newsletters

Special shoutout this week to another FITTER newsletter that I started reading which is 10almonds. Check it out below!

POLL: Always striving to make this the best possible newsletter so looking for your feedback:

P.s. please reply to this email with any/all feedback. I love hearing from you all!

Hope to see all of you FITTER HUMANS next week!

-Daniel Guzman-