When It Comes To Exercise, Different People Get Different Results
When It Comes To Exercise, Different People Get Different Results
It may or may not be common knowledge but there is no one-size-fits-all approach to exercise. Two people of the same body composition doing the same workouts for the same period of time may get very different results.
One person might work hard in the gym for months without much progress, while their training buddy gets stronger in each session.
People’s physiques react differently and most of us probably expect that when we begin a new walking, jogging or weight-training programme with our training partners, we will progress at the same rate and gain comparable physical benefits.
However, research indicates that our physical responses can be individualised. After a few months of running, one person may gain considerable aerobic fitness, while another’s endurance hardly budges.
This is the same for weight training, in which some people build far more strength than others over different time periods.
Research studies have coined the term non-responder as someone who doesn't get the expected results from a specific type of exercise over a specific period of time. Some participants improve a lot, and some don't improve at all, even though they are using the same program.
It can be frustrating for those who put in the effort and don't see the results they want, but we can learn from the research in this area to ensure that everyone gets the maximal benefits of exercise.
In this blog we have summarised 3 tips to help you make the most progress in your exercise and fitness plan.
Have the Other Pieces of a Healthy Lifestyle in Place
Get enough sleep, drink enough water, eat plenty of nutritious foods, move as often as possible throughout the day, and manage your stress. Unless you have these things pretty well under control, you won't know if it's the exercise program that you're not responding to, or if something else in your lifestyle is holding you back.
Please see some of our other blogs that address some of these things.
If One Method Doesn't Work, Try Another
Maybe you have healthy lifestyle habits, and you've been consistent in your exercise for several months without showing the desired results. What should you do?
You could try to increase the intensity or the duration of each session. You could also do more sessions across the week. You could try a different type of training. For strength training, a range of set and rep protocols seems to be effective for different individuals.
If increasing muscle mass is your goal, for example, and the traditional four sets of 8-12 reps haven't worked for you, maybe your body will respond better to heavier weights and fewer reps or lighter weights and more reps.
If you feel like you may need some help or guidance trying new things in the gym, aiming for a particular fitness goals or looking to improve lifestyle and don’t know where to get started, at Stack House Gym we can help you with this.
Our experienced and knowledgeable team and Personal Trainers would be more than happy to sit down with you to discuss all things health and exercise with you. Please see our website for all in house personal trainers who are on hand to help you achieve your goals.
Treat Your Training as a Science Experiment
The most important to understand is that exercise provides a range of different and vital benefits.
It can improve your body composition, decrease your risk of many diseases, improve your performance, your brain function, and your mood, and much more.
Even if you don't see the specific results you're expecting, you will improve your health and fitness in some way as a result of consistent exercise.