Is getting fit easier for some people?

Here's a slightly disheartening article about a study that found that while some people made great gains in a few weeks, others made little or no gains. It's not all bad though because even those whose fitness didn't improve still improved their health overall!

Quote :

Is getting fit easier for some people?

* 06 January 2010
* Magazine issue 2742. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.

While physical activity is an essential part of getting fit, it's not the whole story. An individual's fitness level also depends on how they respond to that activity, which is largely determined by their genes.

The landmark research in this field is the Heritage family study, begun in the 1990s. US and Canadian researchers recruited 481 sedentary people from 98 families, and subjected them to a rigorous 20-week training programme. They then put them through a battery of tests.

While many people's aerobic fitness improved dramatically, others showed a less marked response. The disheartening news is that about 1 in 10 showed no change whatsoever in their aerobic fitness, despite doing 45 minutes of vigorous exercise three times a week for the final six weeks of the programme (Journal of Applied Physiology, vol 87, p 1003).

The degree of response turned out to be largely down to the participants' genes. If your parents find it hard to get fit, there's a good chance you will too. "We had families where all of them were low responders and other families where they were all high responders," says Claude Bouchard, now director of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who led the study.

Happily, even those whose aerobic fitness did not change had lower blood pressure and cholesterol, more normal insulin levels, and less abdominal fat. "You're never a complete non-responder," says Bouchard.

Well, it is better than nothing. Just need to exercise patience a little more. It isn't like a video game where you hang out in the gym a solid 10 hours and you are as fit as can be (I'll see you in the hospital LOL)

NiYan wrote:

Well, it is better than nothing. Just need to exercise patience a little more. It isn't like a video game where you hang out in the gym a solid 10 hours and you are as fit as can be (I'll see you in the hospital LOL)

True. Patience should be part of everybody's workout plan.
I've never been a fast-gainer, and now with more candles on the birthday cake it takes longer still to produce the progress I'm after.
But the magic does work! As long as I keep a regular and sensible workout schedule I gain strength and stay in pretty good shape.

I'm having fun too.