Are you a non-responder when it come to aerobic exercise? Face it, we have all come across that one person who eats whatever he or she wants and does not gain an ounce. We all also know how we feel about those individuals – a little resentful and perhaps a lot jealous.
Many of us know people who can exercise for hours on end and not lose an ounce as compared to someone who can simply take a walk around the block and drop a few pounds.
What makes some individuals so special in the world of exercise? Perhaps it is not luck, how much they exercise, or what they eat. Perhaps, it is simply what their gene pool is made up of.
According to a study performed by the physiologist Dr. Claude Bouchard and his team at Louisiana State University, there are several different types of “responders.” There are low-responders, high-responders, and non-responders.
Over a period of approximately 20 weeks, Dr. Bouchard and his team made the discovery that certain individuals react differently to the same exercise regimen.
The experiment, involving the monitoring of hundreds of volunteers that were typically used to leading a sedentary lifestyle, told the tale. Monitoring the volunteers for how they processed oxygen and pumped blood throughout their bodies, as well as testing things such as pulse and blood pressure, were a big part of the experiment.
The experiment resulted in the discovery that somewhere between 10 and 15 percent of the volunteers did not respond to aerobic exercise while others had moderate success and yet others had a high degree of success. Doing further research will discover which gene could possibly be responsible for the outcome.
We all know that everybody has a different metabolism as well. Therefore, if you have been trying aerobic exercise with little or no results, it may simple be because you are genetically programmed to not respond to those types of activities.
While these studies showed physical improvement in the volunteers, some simply did not respond to the aerobic exercises the way that others did.
It is important to note that with any exercise routine, the advice of your physician and the training by a professional will go a long way toward seeing you reach your goal. Exercise, at least in the early stages, is not something you should approach on your own. Getting the help of a professional trainer is the best way to work around the non-responder in you when it comes to any form of exercise.