• Question: why does our bodies performance decreases when we stop exercising?

    Asked by rafi8 to Audra, Fiona, Gavin, Justin, Steve on 13 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Gavin Devereux

      Gavin Devereux answered on 12 Mar 2012:

      That’s a brilliant question!

      Without getting too boring and academic about it, what you describe is called ‘detraining’.

      Basically, almost all of the changes that happen when you repeatedly exercise reverse, and return to how they were when you started. There are lots and lots of changes, and it often depends on what type of exercise you do, as to which will happen first/the most.

      My research isn’t concerned with performance really, but health (blood pressure). I had a group of people who managed to reduce their blood pressure (which is good) after 4 weeks of a certain type of exercise. It went down further after 8 weeks (even better). However, it took less than 1 week for all of those positive changes to disappear! They all returned to the same blood pressure they had before they started the exercise.

    • Photo: Justin Lawley

      Justin Lawley answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      Indeed, I like to think of the human body as an awesome chameleon. Chameleons can change their colour depending on their surroundings, which is very cool by the way. Now we can’t do that but we do make many changes inside our bodies depending on what we are doing. For example, if you lift heavy weights you body will think ok that was really heavy and not easy, so I will change a few things to make it easier next time i.e. you get bigger muscles. If you start trying to run long distances, then your body will adapt to make this easier next time by changing your bodies ability to use oxygen. Unfortunately, your body also is amazing at being efficient so if you stop lifting weights or running long distances then you body realises you don’t need those changes anymore and takes them away. Thus you go back to where you were before.

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