“Public-health campaigns regularly plug exercise as a sure-fire way to avoid an early grave. But that message may be too simplistic. For an unhappy few, even quite strenuous exercise may have no effect on their fitness or their risk of developing diseases like diabetes…
Previous reports indicated that there are huge variations in ‘trainability’ between subjects. For example, the team found that training improved maximum oxygen consumption, a measure of a person’s ability to perform work, by 17% on average.
But the most trainable volunteers gained over 40%, and the least trainable showed no improvement at all. Similar patterns were seen with cardiac output, blood pressure, heart rate and other markers of fitness…
‘We need to recognise that although on average exercise may have clear benefits, it may not work for everyone,’ says Mark Hargreaves of Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. ‘Some people may do better to change their diet.'”
More here at New Scientist.