My Fitness Assessment with Pathway Ome

Learning more about my fitness abilities through genetic testing

Have you ever wondered why your body responds to food or exercise the way it does? As I delve deeper into my fitty lifestyle, I want to know more about my body and how I can hit my goals and follow a sustainable and realistic lifestyle. I was introduced to Pathway Ome which is a genetic testing service that can give you good insight on what I’m working with.

Pathway is a huge genetics testing lab and they sent me their Sport IQ test which lets you take a look and see if you are predisposed for certain conditions/injuries and determining where my strengths and weaknesses may be based on a comparison of my genetic makeup against a database of thousands of others. Phew. Everyone catch their breath after that sentence? Haha!

I am just starting to get into Obstacle Course racing (think Epic Series, Rugged Maniac and Spartan) and it never hurts to see where I MAY have a leg up on a certain ability that I may want to pursue more. I know I plan to compete in an elite course in 2019 so I wanted to know where my weaknesses are to give those areas special attention.

The Sport IQ also gives you some info on your predisposed weight situation. If you wanted to dig more into what diets would be ideal for your genetic makeup, the Fit IQ or Pathway Fit tests give you more information on those — but I was most interested in my sports ability at the time of choosing so I’m going to share what I found out with you guys!

First off, I should explain that the process is super easy. You can order a kit online or at certain stores and do a simple cheek swab with a big q-tip. You then mail off your swabs in the provided envelope and casing and within a few weeks you are emailed a nice (downloadable) report you can mull over when you’ve got down time. I love how easy the report is to read. You don’t need to be a scientist to understand, and they write it in a way that is easy to move through.

I think the first thing I noticed on my report was my health predispositions: That sadly, I am predisposed to regain any weight that I try to lose. And that I am genetically predisposed for being obese. Well isn’t that just a slap in the face! It also tells me I need to stay on top of my diet if I want to keep up the results I’ve been getting. It took me about two years to lose the weight I gained from having my daughter and it was really hard. So I will always try to keep that in the back of my mind!

What the report also told me though was that I would do well with endurance type sports (think long distance running) and that my body would best respond to a combination of cardio and strength training. For one reason, strength training increases fat loss, improves bone density, and will help me hit some goals I’ve been going for. It also give recommendations on how often I should be doing these things  (how long and for how many reps) but I honestly defer that to my trainers who have helped me leaps in bounds in my strength abilities. The report is a good guesstimate while my trainers can visually see where I am at. I just did VO2 and RMR (resting heart rate) testing this week at a totally unrelated facility that show I’m much stronger than I thought I was which was exciting news!

Some other interesting things pointed out to me was that with my genotype, I am expected to have long recovery times (which is so true). When I have a race coming up, I pay more attention to my breathing patterns and try to adjust my rep counts so that I can maximize my performance while mid-race. Knowing when to stop and recover is important for my type of races — just as important as telling yourself to push through to the next mark. As I continue to sign up for more races, it’s a good reminder to always keep my recovery times in check so that I have good results.

Lucky for me the report said I have a normal propensity for typical injuries like knee, ankle, and achilles tendon issues (which basically means I’m just like everyone else) – but increased risk of hamstring injuries, insomnia and anxiety. Well…knowing myself I know I can be a big ball of anxiety and I get all antsy before a competition so that’s no news! But being at risk for hamstring injury is news to me — and will make me make sure that I take extra precaution to avoid sprains and tears with proper stretching.

I find all of of this information helpful in confirming some guesses I made about myself, and learned some new things that will help guide me into being the athlete I want to be. I would never tell anyone to solely rely on this report as a testament to their health in anyway, but it does give you some good insight if you are an athlete looking to improve.

And guess what friends. If sports and nutrition really isn’t your thing, that’s ok (thanks for reading btw!) – they also have a Skin IQ test which helps you figure out what type of skincare products/ingredients would work best for your genotype and what conditions you may be predisposed for to keep an eye on. There are also ones for mental health, pain medication, and cardiac health if those are things that you want more insight on.

I find all this information fascinating to look through! And I love that it’s so readily available to common folk like you and me! The tests are in the $100-$200 range depending on what you’re looking for and can be purchased online at Walmart, CVS and Amazon.

For more information you can visit Pathway on Instagram, Facebook or their website.

Do these types of tests interest you? Share in the comment section below what your thoughts are!