Batman and the Human Genome 1.2

 

So how do we go about emulating the level of attainment that Batman displays in both physical and mental skills?

As suggested before we know it takes on average 10,000 hours of high level training to approach mastery in any discipline. Bruce Wayne has the luxury of wealth to allow him to access this high level training, and due to his lack of life demands he can devote his entire day to training (stimulus/stress) and restorative measures to enable adaptation to the imposed demands. For those who aren’t quite in the same socio-economic bracket as Mr. Wayne, don’t despair. As with everything in the Human body, interconnections are key. This means that there is always overlap between processes, so it’s not necessary or even desirable to set aside a period of time for each specific component, rather with the right planning components can be developed concurrently.

We’ll leave the planning aside for now, as it’s an interesting piece of the puzzle in its own right. For now we need to address exactly which components we are looking to develop in order to attain ‘Batman-esque’ status.

Physical attributes

A good place to begin is with fitness. What is fitness? Most people if asked, would usually respond with ‘being able to run without getting out of breath’, or something very similar. There is a little truth to this statement; however, fitness almost means something else entirely. The definition of Fitness is ‘the ability to meet the demands of your environment’. The previous ‘layman’s’ response can be an almost perfect answer if the demands of the environment require that attribute. However if the demands of the environment require you to be able to exert a large amount of force then being able to sustain activity for a long period of time (endurance) isn’t being fit for purpose, maximum strength would be the most appropriate ability to be considered ‘fit’.

Look around Nature; you will see the most amazing examples of fitness. The two main variables are form (the structure) and function (the way the structure works). Look at an Anteater, its form; long snout and tongue, allows it to reach in and access the ant colony’s mound. Perfect; maybe not for the ants, but the Anteater is a contented fellow. This is fitness.

This specific fitness has obviously occurred over thousands and millions of years of evolution; those whose form and function (traits) were more able to accomplish the task, were able to survive and pass on their particular genome (or at least parts of it). This is (in part) the way evolution works.

Through sexual reproduction, half of the genome of each parent organism is combined to create a whole new genome in the offspring. This is obviously not exactly the same as either of the parents because there is contribution from both of the parents genome, but also because mutations can occur either from the sexual reproduction process itself or from mutations that are already present in the parents genome. The point being once this recombination has occurred, the genome is set.

However, just because the genome is set doesn’t mean that it can only be expressed in one way. The expression of the genome caused by environmental factors is known as the phenome. The phenome is plastic. We can’t (really) change the genomic side of the equation, but we can change the environment.

By altering the environment in particular ways, the expression of the genome is changed, and this can change your form and function. This is how we adapt or develop fitness. And the more specific we are with our imposed demands (environmental stress) the more specific our adaptation to it will be.

So fitness is a pretty open term, but we can start to pin point the various physical fitness’s that Batman requires to be fit for purpose. These fitness’s include (but are not limited to): Muscular Strength; Muscular Endurance; Cardio-Respiratory; Body Composition; Flexibility; Agility; Balance; Co-ordination; Power; Speed of Reaction; and Speed. Under each of these fitness’s there are many sub-divisions as you get more and more specific with your definition, but those are the biggies.

Expressing the genetic components needed to allow an adaptation to be able to develop these components, as stated, is down to environment. That environment is what we’ll be looking at here.