We all know about how many benefits exercise can have in our daily lives. We work out to lose weight, to tone the muscles and stay healthier overall. Did you ever wonder why some people tend to put on muscle mass more readily? Or why some people lose weight really well in response to exercise while others don’t? Or how some people can run a marathon while others really struggle with such long distance? Or why some people’s muscles hurt a great deal after an intense workout? We can help you answer those questions. Your genes contain a lot of information, including how the energy is deposited and retrieved, how fast the muscle cells metabolize lactate and whether you are more suited for endurance or power exercise. Knowing what your genetic information is will help you determine intensity of your fitness routine, type of exercise and even the duration of the work out.

We test for the specific variations in an individual’s DNA to help design a workout routine that will fit your individual requirements and produce the best results for you.

Exercise 101

Exercise

Exercise is any physical activity that will help to improve or sustain physical fitness or overall health and wellness of an individual. Exercise is achieved through muscle action, a process which results in the lengthening or contraction of muscles. Each muscle cell contains fibers, which are made up of strands called actin and myosin. Actin provides structural support for myosin during muscle contraction, while myosin generates the power for the muscle contraction.

Muscle fibers can be slow twitch or fast twitch.  Slow twitch muscles use oxygen more efficiently and generate more energy for extended muscle contractions over a long period of time.  This causes the muscles to fire slower than fast twitch muscles, and allows longer use before fatigue.  Fast twitch muscles use metabolism without oxygen to create energy.  This allows them to be much better at short bursts of speed or strength, but fatigues them more quickly. Composition of the fibers in the muscle cells helps to determine whether an individual is better suited for power or endurance performance.

When a muscle uses up all available oxygen, it begins to generate a byproduct of energy creation called lactate. Normally, lactate stays in the muscles at a low concentration, when its production increases due to exercise the cells begin to transport it out. Increased levels of lactate have been associated with muscle fatigue.

Exercise is often used as an aid in weight loss. Physical activity generates some of the hormones that trigger fat breakdown. The extent of weight loss depends on a person's unique response to those hormones.

Skeletal Muscle Structure(video)

DNA
DNA is a long chain molecule inside our cells that contains the genetic information that is the basis of all known life. DNA is often compared to a set of instructions or a blueprint. Not only does it carry the information needed to make an organism but also all the information needed for it to change, live from day to day and reproduce. These instructions are written in nucleotides; adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine (or A, C, G, T). Each nucleotide is part of a matching pair along the double-helix-shaped chain of DNA. DNA affects the body by controlling what proteins are made. The DNA acts as a recipe book for proteins; each recipe or gene corresponding to a particular protein. Genes are the functional units of DNA. In the DNA molecule the nucleotides are divided into groups of 3 called codons. Each codon corresponds to an amino acid. These groups of codons are split into genes and each functioning gene has a start codon indicating the beginning point for protein synthesis and a stop codon to terminate the process. When needed, genes are copied into a messenger RNA (mRNA) molecule during a process called transcription. mRNA molecules then carry the genetic information out of the cell and are used to make proteins in a process called translation.

Transcription and Translation (video)

Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP)
Everyone has sections of DNA that are unique to that particular individual. One kind of such genetic variation is called single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) located at a very specific location. These variations in individual's genetic material may be beneficial in some circumstances, and problematic in others. Some SNPs have been very strongly associated with body’s response to physical activity.