Are there people in this world that can never ever get fit?

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i think your right that that is what is believed by many people. i'd say that it's really not the case though and there is not a lot of science to support it. i'm also cautious about things like that because it can lead to discrimination and fatalism

There seem to be biological variance between people that nurture didn't cause. Compare an Olympic runner to a power lifter in a World's Strongest Man competition. Although they are both elite athletes, I doubt they would have the same success if they chose the other's sport and trained accordingly.

Eh, it depends. Olympic like, distance runner, perhaps. Sprinting, though, it's actually fairly close. Supposedly when tested, Olympic style weightlifters did almost as well in track and field events as other Olympians, and the light/middleweight Olympic lifters when compared with Olympic sprinters were actually as fast as the sprinters out to 40-50 yards, but the sprinters had more top end (aerobic capacity, basically.) So distance running is maybe off the table, but sprinters and high jump and things like that, it's possible those athletes could be competitive. Olympic lifting is a bit different, though, as powerlifting isn't really about explosive power, whereas Olympic style lifting is pretty much jumping up with the weight very quickly, whereas a deadlift or a squat can go up as slow as possible as long as it doesn't go down again. But yeah, sprinters and the like actually train with the Olympic lifts, squat, etc. I've even heard some sprinters have double bodyweight benchpresses for the sole purpose of having a slightly better start. So I don't know how they'd do in an aerobic sport, but for a lot of strength athletes, their anaerobic capacity is quite high in general.

I know Mariusz Pudzianowski swims 3 miles a day actually, so his aerobic capacity is high, that's why I think he managed to dominate world's strongest man, he has more aerobic capacity than everyone else, and a ridiculous high (900lb deadlift, anyone?) anaerobic capacity too, basically making him a Super Saiyan.

Replying to the initial post, there are definitely people who have a very difficult time gaining muscle, usually skinny people who can easily get toned but not muscular. They often have to force themselves to eat huge amounts of calories to put on weight. For those people, I would say yes, trying to build muscle could be a waste of time because it is not natural for your body, you will have to put 3x the effort into it and the muscle will all start to go away immediately if you let off your routine.

However, as for fitness in general, unless you are physically unable, cardio exercise is good for pretty much everyone, even if it is just walking. Cardio will reduce blood pressure and reduce stress, reduce inflammation and the experience of pain and help relieve depression. Eating healthier and getting to a healthy weight is similarly beneficial.

The systems for calculating the ideal weight range based on height are very crude. If you have lots of muscle you may be overweight according to some of these systems, even though you have very little fat.

A better test would be to get the subjects to undergo physical exercises tasks. These could include the distance that somebody is able to walk/run/climb stairs without becoming out of breath to test their cardiovascular system. The ability to lift their own bodyweight using their arms would assess the strength to weight ratio.

Basic fitness for everyday life is something that most people should be able to achieve though diet and exercise.

Unless someone is virtually completely paralyzed, presently dying, or suffering some extremely serious disease or injury that makes exercise dangerous, there is no way they cannot benefit from a healthy diet and regular exercise.

Genetics may play some role in how muscular a person can become, how quickly they see results from exercise, and how likely they are to consume more calories than they expend. However, that does not mean there is no point to working out or eating properly.

Even if a person will never be a marathon runner or an MMA fighter or a professional baseball player, they can still be much healthier and fitter if they exercise and consume a correct amount of calories from nutritious sources. Little by little, it makes a difference.

Last edited by 6655321 on 27 Aug 2012, 4:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

If it were true, than "The Biggest Loser" show would not be successful

Seriously, though, I read this one story on a man who lost hundreds of pounds for the birth of his daughter, and just trying to look it up, I found other stories where men were morbidly obese, but were able to go back to a healthy weight after they had some motivational reason to do so.

For the most part though, that applies to extremely muscular people (or people with large frame sizes). Sometimes BMI may tend to actually misidentify obese people as non-obese than the other way around.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_mass ... ortcomings

Another way weight ranges based on height may be calculated is by mortality findings. For example, the range of weights of the people of that height who had the lowest risk of death in a given time period, on average.

Last edited by 6655321 on 27 Aug 2012, 4:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I'd say a big part of it is believing in yourself.

If a person believes he or she can lose weight, their odds of success are much better. If someone doesn't believe they can lose the weight, they probably won't.

Sometimes i feel like I am one of them. An hour of exercise seems like an eternity and I have never been very good at anything requiring endurance but I work my butt off at it and try to put in the best effort I can. I feel like I am just treading water. I have gotten some encouragement lately so increasing the daily workout to an hour has produced better results.

(Market success of scripted reality shows [which have been indicted for encouraging extremely-unhealthy practices] and other)
individual anecdotes do not for categorical declarations make.

Very difficult to extricate weight from other variables, though- see the "Why do poor people become fat?" thread, for instance.

(It's called a joke)

Do you have any factual evidence to add to or refute my claims? Or did you just come here to criticize my obviously not scientific observation?

I worked with someone once who was addicted to exercise, spent all her free time at the gym, couldn't not exercise. She lost weight, her periods stopped, and she had stress injuries. So yes, someone can need to be told to cut back. But I would think only a physical illness of some kind that precluded movement or weakened someone too much to exercise at all would cause someone to not benefit from some exercise.

I've been told and have read that regular exercise helps reduce the frequency of migraines, but I've found that when I start an exercise routine my migraines increase. I've not hit the point where they reduced, and it also causes me to need LOTS of sleep. I mean unreasonable amounts. I can handle a little regular walking, but any more than that and I'm sleeping too much and having headaches. I have no idea why.

Each person needs to find the balance that's right for them.

+1

That people lose weight on a ratings-driven reality TV show with the help of nutritionists, trainers, and militant monitoring of their food,
and that you apparently read about some huge men who lost some weight?

No, why would I try to refute that? It's utterly-irrelevant to the thread, which is asking if it's justifiable to make a categorical declaration about 7+ billion humans.

It isn't.