The Law of Opportunity
If we were to look at the top at
hletes in the sport and single out a reason for why particular individuals have been able to outperform the rest of the field I believe that the general consensus would be genetics. We would conclude that the athletes at the head of the class happened to be blessed with the right set of parents that allowed them to hit the genetic lottery – that they are genetic outliers.
To a certain degree, I also believe that’s true. Bodybuilding is no different than any other sport; there is an obvious genetic component that separates the professional or the top level amateur from the rest of us. However, if we agree that genetics separate the elite from the rest of us, what separates the elite from each other? In a world dominated by the genetic elite, what are the underlying factors that determine success and failure?
Let’s take a look at Jay Cutler, a 4x Mr. Olympia winner, 3x Arnold Classic Champion, and an athlete who most would agree has been blessed with a tremendous amount of genetic gifts. At the 1993 NPC Teen Nationals a very raw nineteen year old Jay Cutler famously took second overall behind Branch Warren in an incredibly talented lineup that included four future pros other than Jay and Branch.
Jay’s tremendous success is in part due to his tireless work ethic, a quality that he has become synonymous with throughout the course of his career. But perhaps the most important component to Jay’s success was the day he met a fellow Massachusetts resident and future bodybuilding guru – Chris Aceto.
By the time Jay and Chris first met; Chris was already a well established industry presence who knew what it took to develop a championship physique. For Jay, having the opportunity to have one of the preeminent minds in bodybuilding with a proven track record of being able to develop world class physiques at his disposal in his formative years was an unbelievable advantage that other athletes, even those with an equal amount of genetic potential, quite simply didn’t have.
It wasn’t just genetics that turned Jay Cutler into a bodybuilding legend, it was genetics coupled with a tremendous work ethic and a once in a lifetime opportunity to have world class guidance when he needed it most.
No conversation about genetics, or superior genetic potential, is complete without mentioning the greatest bodybuilder to ever walk the planet, Ronnie Coleman.jpg)
. Ronnie was given an unbelievable set of genetic gifts that was so superior, it’s reasonable to assume that there will never be another athlete capable of matching his mind blowing, caricature-esque level of crazy muscularity. But despite all of the mythical greatness that is Ronnie Coleman, if it wasn’t for Metroflex owner Brian Dobson, the bodybuilding landscape as it exists today would be totally different.
Brian’s ability to lure Ronnie to Metroflex under the guise of a free membership may be the single most important event in our generation of the sport. If Ronnie had never met Brian, and Brian never gets the opportunity to nurture and guide a future 8x Mr. Olympia, imagine how much differently we would view the careers of Flex Wheeler, Kevin Levrone, Shawn Ray, and even Jay Cutler had they not run into the unstoppable force that was Ronnie Coleman.
Even for the most superior set of muscle building genetics to ever walk the planet, if it wasn’t for a chance encounter under the right set of circumstances the opportunity to cultivate a generational talent would’ve never existed.
The rule of opportunity doesn’t just apply to athletes. We don’t have to look very far to see where having extraordinary opportunity can pave the way for future industry success. Before RxMuscle, and before Species, even before Muscular Development, Dave Palumbo was regarded as one of the greatest minds in the bodybuilding industry. Like Jay and Ronnie, Dave’s success has been in large part due to a unique sequence of opportunities that allowed him to develop an uncommon blend of in the trenches broscience logic that’s supported by years of formal medical school training. However, it isn’t time spent in the gym, or time spent in the classroom memorizing an endless sea of facts that turned Dave’s situation from unique to extraordinary, it was his relationship with Met-Rx founder Dr. Scott Connelly.
Just as opportunity brought Jay Cutler to Chris Aceto during a critical time when his physique was essentially a blank canvas ready to be transformed; opportunity 
brought Dr. Connelly to Dave as his mind was beginning to bridge the gap between formal education and practical real world application.
Imagine the advantage that any student would have if they were able to study under one of the world’s foremost experts in their field during a time when they were most in need of teaching. What greater advantage to developing nutritional expertise could a person get than having direct access to the mind that is responsible for developing the product that literally changed the world of nutritional supplements?
Those specific set of circumstances, combining Dave’s unique background with Dr. Connelly’s world class expertise, provided an opportunity to develop an affluent knowledge that quite simply was not available to anyone else.
We have a tendency to view people that have achieved the pinnacle of success as having extraordinary genetic advantages that the rest of us just do not have, and in most cases that’s true. However, if we closely examine those that we view as genetic outliers we see that it’s opportunity that truly sets them apart. If we step outside the world of bodybuilding we’re able to see the same common thread woven throughout the elite.
Michael Jordan was coached by Dean Smith and Phil Ja
ckson, two of the most successful coaches of all time. Joe Montana was coached by Bill Walsh, the man responsible for revolutionizing the way offense was played in the NFL. Bill Gates just so happened to attend a high school that had a computer lab in the 1970’s during a time when most colleges had yet to have such technology.
Extraordinary minds and extraordinary genetic talent are required to achieve levels of greatness that we can only marvel at in astonishment, but that isn’t enough in itself to develop generational talent. It also requires a very specific set of circumstances, and a series of very extraordinary opportunities to separate the could-be-greats from those who go on to become legends.
