Defy your genetics; nature designed you to hold as little muscle and as much fat as possible. But fail no more. Our plan turns back your evolutionary clock—starting today

Men's Fitness, April, 2005 by Lou Schuler, John Williams

IT'S NO SECRET

what you want from your gym time: more muscle and less fat. In fact, all of us who work out regularly and vigorously order off the same menu. And, unfortunately, we all have our complaints about the service in the Genetics Cafe.

Some of us wonder why the seam-bursting muscles we've worked so hard to pack on can't seem to stretch the sleeves of an extra-small Izod. Others complain that the 200 pounds we've wanted to bench press since high school still feels like a ton. And all of us want to know why that six-pack we ordered still looks suspiciously like a keg.

It's easy to say that our genes don't want us to look the way we think we should--but it's also accurate, especially when you consider what our genetics are up against in a food-filled, movement-deprived world.

But it's not the whole story.

Fact is, in the not-so-distant past, nature experimented with a type of human that really was all the things we want to be: strong, muscular, lean, and athletic.

He was called the Neanderthal, and despite being the strongest, bravest, toughest mofo in the human family tree, he didn't make it, becoming extinct while our more direct ancestors--the muscle-averse, fat-friendly modern humans-rose to the top of the food chain.

The good news is that by understanding the evolution of both the Neanderthal and the modern man, it may finally be possible to surpass your own genetic limitations, combining the best of both species--the brain of a human and the brawn of a caveman--without dropping off the face of the planet in the process.

GENETIC LIMITATION NO. 1: You weren't designed to build massive muscle

If you want to start a fight with an archaeologist, describe a stooped-over, slack-jawed individual as a "Neanderthal" Today, we know that Neanderthals were more like Bulgarian weightlifters than late-night fry cooks. Their shoulders were 8% wider than ours, and muscle attachments suggest pectorals up to twice the size of ours. With upper-arm bones shorter and wider than ours, and forearm bones that were bowed from the thick muscles they supported, these guys could pick you and me up and toss us around like rag dolls. Hell, their women were strong enough to break your heart the old-fashioned way--by hurling a fist through your sternum.

At the same time, their large, football-shaped brains had much more gray matter than we have on the sides and in the rear, the part that deals with visual processing, spatial orientation, and physical movement. Did this translate into agility and coordination that would turn a Jedi green with envy? The verdict is still out on that one, but their bones clearly suggest levels of physical activity and stress far greater than today's standards.

And did we mention their single-digit body fat percentage? Compared to these monsters, Homo sapiens--modern humans--are little more than brains and bones. In fact, we have far less muscle mass, proportionally, than any other mammal.

But we survived, and the Neanderthals didn't. Why?

The best guess is they began competing for resources as global populations grew and the climate worsened. All those muscles jacked up their metabolism to the level of today's elite athletes. Scientists estimate that Neanderthals required upward of 3,000 to 5,500 calories a day, and got almost all of them from animal flesh. In Darwin's world, those who can get by on fewer calories per day win the evolutionary struggle.

Now look at modern humans in contrast. Our relatively scrawny frames mean our ancestors required fewer calories to survive. And because our brains are different from those of Neanderthals, with more gray matter up front, we were able to devise new hunting tricks and strategies. We could trap smaller animals and track bigger animals over longer distances until we could safely take them down.

Neanderthals, by contrast, had a hunting style that could've been designed by Woody Hayes: three yards and a cloud of bison. "Neanderthal spears were humongous, about eight feet long, three inches in diameter--basically a small tree trunk" says Washington University anthropologist Erik Trinkaus, Ph.D. "There's no way that even a Neanderthal was throwing that thing very far" That means close-combat battles with animals that were twice as large and at least as pissed off as one of today's rodeo bulls (which explains why Neanderthal skeletons show the type of bone-snapping, cartilage-ripping trauma seen in modern-day bull riders).

So the next time you flex in front of the mirror and wonder why your biceps are more like molehills than mountains, remember this: lf our bodies had been designed to carry around bulky muscles, modern humans wouldn't have been around long enough to develop a written language that allows us to complain about it.

GENETIC LIMITATION NO. 2:

You were designed to store massive amounts of fat

Blame it on that larger-than-normal brain sitting atop your shoulders. The thinking portions of said brain are about seven times as big as those of other mammals our size, and about three times as big as those of chimps, gorillas, and other primates. And to support all that gray matter and keep it running at its peak, the body needs a constant supply of energy, ensuring not just survival but also our exalted position atop the food chain.