January is a month of trying out new fitness routines for many us. We resolve to get to the gym more often, take a walk every day, or to spend our free time in less sedentary ways. Discounted gym memberships and special offers on online training programs make it easier to begin a new routine. However, for many people, no results are achieved after a month or more, despite faithfully sticking to an exercise program. This leads to discouragement, and often, abandoning the original fitness goal. Why does this happen, and what can be done about it?
How Exercise Can Lead to Weight Gain
I wrote an article last month about how exercise can lead to weight gain. To summarize, there are two primary mistakes that people new to exercise can make in terms of weight loss. Many people, especially those used to sedentary levels of physical activity, experience exercise as strenuous in the beginning of a new routine and overestimate the number of calories they burn. As a result, they believe that they can consume more calories as a reward. For example, 30 minutes spent riding a stationary bike at a moderate pace will burn a little over 300 calories for a person weighing 185 pounds. A couple of candy bars or two slices of pizza exceeds that amount. If someone trying to lose weight exercises for half an hour and decides to have an extra meal or high calorie snack afterwards, weight gain will be the result.
The second mistake is something called “compensatory inactivity.” Similar to the first mistake, people often believe they have burned more calories than they actually have during a workout. As a result, they may spend the rest of the day being more sedentary than usual. An hour at the gym will not result in weight loss if the rest of the day is spent primarily sitting and being inactive.
Why Some People Do Not Respond to Exercise
That being said, fitness scientists have discovered a group of people who experience little to no fitness improvement from exercise, even when the routine is followed faithfully and paired with a sensible diet. A study that first appeared in 2001 in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise analyzed dozens of endurance exercise results. They revealed that generally speaking, endurance training improved the fitness endurance of participants. However, the individual results from these experiments differed dramatically. Some participants improved endurance by 100 percent, while others responded not at all, or even became less fit by following the exact same routine. Researchers refer to this group as “nonresponders.” Age, sex, and ethnicity did not account for the differences in results, though the trait seemed to run in families. Since this initial study, many others have reported the wide variety of responses people can have to the same workout routine.
New Hope for Nonresponders
A study published this past December in PLOS One offers new hope for nonresponders. Researchers recruited a team of 21 people to measure their responses to different types of endurance training. They measured the participants’ V02 max, heart rate, and other physical markers of fitness prior to exposing them to a three-week exercise routine. The participants first exercised through riding a stationary bicycle at a moderate pace for 30 minutes four times per week. Fitness levels were then measured again. Several months later, the same participants exercised using high-intensity training intervals. They rode at their maximum capacity, at a strenuous pace, for about 20 seconds, and then rested for 10 seconds, and repeated this cycle eight times. They also followed this routine for three weeks, four times per week.
As a group, both types of endurance training were effective. Fitness levels improved after both three-week periods. As noted in previous studies, individual results varied considerably. Approximately a third of participants did not respond to each type of endurance training. However, the good news is that no one failed to respond at all. In other words, nonresponders to one type of exercise responded to the other type.
Dr. Brendon Gurd of Queen’s University oversaw the study. He reported to the New York Times that this is great news for those who have not shown fitness improvement in the past, as now there is a simple trial-and-error process that can be used to identify the correct type of exercise for everybody. He advises to begin by exercising briskly for several minutes and then measuring pulse. Then, begin a new fitness routine. After about a month of exercise, measure your pulse again. It should be lower, and your exercise of choice should feel easier. If you have not responded, try a different form of exercise, varying the intensity, until you find something that lowers your baseline pulse.
Are you exercising specifically to lose weight? Just exercising isn’t enough. You need to pair protein with that new regimen. Try my protein powder for weight loss that combines high quality protein from two sources to build up your lean muscle mass, improve your metabolism, and keep you feeling full longer between meals.
