Health Farm

-- Blood proteins suggest how physiology is likely to react to workouts

We know exercise is great for health and longevity.

But while plenty of data explains how and why exercise is beneficial, predicting how our bodies will respond to certain exercise has remained a mystery – until now.

A new study of more than 650 men and women provides useful clues to determine the type of exercise best suited to our physiology.

Specifically, researchers identified 102 proteins in the blood that tended to predict people’s physical responses to exercise.

Higher and lower levels of these molecules predicted the extent to which someone’s aerobic capacity would increase, if at all, with a certain type of exercise.

Someone whose bloodstream protein signature suggests they might gain little fitness from a moderate aerobic exercise, for instance, might gain greater benefit from higher-intensity workouts or resistance training.