#85: David Epstein

The Primal Kitchen Podcast

Mark Sisson & Morgan Zanotti

Fitness, Entrepreneur, Sisson, Parenting, Health, Wellness, Weightloss, Primal, Paleo, Nutrition, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 717 Ratings

🗓️ 15 September 2015

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Host Brad Kearns welcomes the red-hot author David Epstein to the show, on the heels of his whirlwind global tour to promote his bestselling book, The Sports Gene: Inside the science of extraordinary athletic performance. This is widely regarded as the seminal book on the topic of genetics in sports, and in it Dave dispels many widely held misconceptions and prejudices that people harbor relating to how genetics affects athletic performance.

In this conversation, Epstein discusses the pop culture of the “10,000 Hour Rule” (first presented by Dr. K. Anders Ericsson, Ph.D, and popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in the book Outliers.) Epstein dispels the accuracy of science behind the concept and the practical application of the concept. Basically, it’s BS! Genetic factors are relevant, as illustrated by the amazing “Tale of Two High Jumpers” featured in Chapter 2 in the book. Besides great physical attributes, there are genetic elements to the all-important athletic success factor of “desire to train.” People (like phenomenal ultra-athlete Pam Reed) have different dopamine response systems.

When it comes to stereotyping, for example, “Jamaicans are fast sprinters,” one must not overlook cultural factors. In Jamaica, youth track and field is king—there is no falling through the cracks or diverting to other sports. Epstein also writes for the progressive journalism nonprofit called ProPublica.org, which preserves the tradition of long-form investigative journalism. He had a huge impact with his recent article on the doping suspicions surrounding top track field coach Alberto Salazar. Enjoy the show and grab the book on amazon.com!

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today's podcast is brought to you by Casper. Get $50 toward any mattress purchase by visiting
0:07.6	casper.com slash primal and using promo code primal. Welcome to the primal blueprint podcast, featuring
0:16.5	fresh and lively commentary on all things primal, including Q&A sessions with primal blueprint
0:22.5	founder, Mark Sisson.
0:24.7	Special guest interviews hosted by Mark Sisson in conversations with Primal Blueprint
0:29.4	authors and other health and fitness experts.
0:32.6	The show is presented by Damage Control, Master Formula, the world's most potent multivitamin, mineral, antioxidant, anti-aging supplement, available at primalbluprint.com.
0:45.7	Past episodes are available for download or to review written summaries at blog.com.
0:53.7	And now, here's your host, Brad Kearns.
0:57.8	Welcome, listeners, and after a year of trying and admiring from afar, I have finally
1:03.6	secured the incredible interview guest of David Epstein, author of The Sports Gene and many
1:09.4	other excellent articles and stories in the realm
1:13.5	of sports and research. And you're into all kinds of stuff, huh, Dave? I am. And first off, I apologize,
1:20.4	it took so long to get me on here. I didn't expect anyone other than, like, my mother's book club
1:24.3	to read my book. And so I wasn't prepared for sort of the deluge of email,
1:27.8	so I appreciate you following up. Well, I think it's, I think undoubtedly the, you know,
1:34.2	the seminal book on sports and genetics that's ever been written. I don't think anyone would
1:38.0	argue that, especially you or your mom. Certainly not my mom yet, but I didn't know, you know,
1:43.1	when I went into it, you're right, I'm interested in a lot of different things. And going into it, it was just sort of, you know, 15 of my own deepest questions about the interplay of nature and nurture and athleticism that had lodged in my head, either from my own experience as an athlete or from watching or talking to other
2:02.1	athletes. So I wasn't prepared to learn that there is many kind of physiology nerds out there
2:10.0	as me, I guess. Yeah, that's great. And you really, you went really deep into it and examine some of
2:16.2	these notions that we've long held, as conventional
	...

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