Your Body Off Exercise: Here's What Happens!

Time and time again, research has proven the health benefits of exercise. But what about the effects of not exercising? When you quit all physical activity, your body undergoes some pretty dramatic biological changes.

Let’s face it, a sedentary lifestyle is common today. According to a January 2020 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 15 percent of Americans are physically inactive. I would say that statistic is hugely incorrect. Sedentary jobs have increased 83 percent since 1950 according to the American Heart Association. And, Johns Hopkins contends that, “Physically active jobs now make up less than 20 percent of the U.S jobs, down from roughly half of jobs in 1960. The normal office worker sits a shocking 15 hours every single day. And people who have long commutes, even more, says Forbes.com.

Further, virtually all of their discretionary time (82 percent) was spent sitting and watching screens (e.g., television, phones, computers) says journals.lww.com. So yes, colour me skeptical on the official stats.

The problem is this combination of no exercise and a sedentary lifestyle significantly increases your risk of developing a long-list of life-threatening conditions and may even more strongly predict mortality than some other well known diseases. In addition to weight gain (and the potential for obesity), a completely sedentary lifestyle can lead to a host of related complications, including health issues such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and problems with joints and ligaments.

From Fit To Flabby

If you’ve been fit in the past but have given up, there’s bad news. In fact, you’ll feel the effects of not exercising within two weeks. Muscle strength and stamina, and often flexibility, declines pretty quickly also, sometimes in as little as 10 to 14 days after you stop training.

This study from the Journal of Rehabilitation found that muscle mass in young men who had a leg immobilized for two weeks decreased in the limb by between 22-34 per cent.

Yes. Up to a third. And the decline just continues from there.

Here are some of the changes you could experience by quitting your exercise program:

• Within the first few days: Your active heart rate may increase and you may lose some endurance.

• Within the first weeks: The body starts to undergo biological changes in muscle size that can lead to weight gain.

• Over the long-term: Physical inactivity can lead to greater risks for major health problems, from heart disease and diabetes to early death.

Typically, VO2 Max is the first fitness measure to be affected, followed by declines in muscle structure, power, strength, stamina, and coordination. Athletes in detraining mode can also expect to experience a rise in sugar levels and blood pressure.

How fast deconditioning levels drop depends largely on the person’s initial fitness level. As they say: “The fitter you are, the harder you fall.”

The deconditioning an elite athlete experiences after one week might take a sedentary individual one or two months to experience. The elite athlete will still be in better shape than the couch potato, but will have lost a greater percentage of fitness.

Cardio is the first to go, then muscle loss follows. The effect of detraining on the structural system, typically between 10 to 28 days, will manifest as noticeable diminished muscle strength and a loss in power, including speed and agility, mobility, moving from side-to-side, the ability to quickly stop, and a loss of coordination.

The rate of loss is largely dependent on age, as the older we are the faster we lose our muscles. However, even those in their sixties and beyond can gain a good amount of muscle and physiological function depending on effort. This has been proven time and again. But when we stop completely, it’s shocking how much your structural well-being suffers. (Gizmodo.com)

Does Muscle Turn To Fat?

This is a question I get asked often because of the deconditioning effect of athletes over time. But it’s also a big misconception. Muscles do not turn to fat; rather muscle cells —as distinct from fat cells—become smaller, because activities of strength and power are no longer engaged in. Without this type of positive stress on muscles, they have no need to increase in size and strength.

That means your muscles will atrophy, while at the same time fat cells are starting to get larger. This leads to the change in appearance that the novice will misunderstand as muscles turning to fat. Instead of the athlete looking lean and trim, he looks bloated and round. (Men's Journal).

Reverse The Effects

So while physical inactivity can absolutely destroy your health — you can reverse the effects by staying active!

Getting back to regular endurance exercise leads to four major consequences:

1. Increased ability of the heart to eject blood

2. increased ability of the blood vessels to send blood to where it’s needed

3. Increased number of capillaries (the vessels that deliver oxygen and ‘food’ to the muscles)

4. increased size and the number of mitochondria (the “power plants” of the cells).

All these changes lead to the more efficient use of oxygen, as well as nutrients.

Getting back to strength training improves these markers:

1. Muscle strength

2. Power

3. Coordination

4. Stability

5. Flexibility

6. Endocrine measures, such as sugar and fat levels.

Source: Gizmodo.com

In fact, research published in the journal Circulation suggests that even if you're in your 50s or 60s and have been inactive all your life, you can reverse the negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle with regular exercise.

Now get to it and begin to enjoy the effects!