Could The Body's Response To Exercise Be An Active (intelligent) One?

[bodacious]

This is relatively speculative, but it's an idea that's been growing in my mind for some time now, and wanted to bounce it off someone.

We know that our body changes physically in response to various forms of exercise (marathon running, weightlifting, climbing, etc.), in order to become more efficient at that task.

Currently, the mainstream understanding (at least my understanding) has been that this happens in a very passive mechanistic way. For example: If a rugby player was to take up marathon running instead, he or she would lose a lot of fat and muscle. This is because they're a) burning more calories than they used to, b) exercising extended periods of time without glucose, causing the body to break down its own lean tissue to provide extra glucose. These changes are by-products of the changes you've made to the system—in the same way that a pot of water will boil more vigorously if you turn up the gas.

I wonder if this process is as passive as we're led to believe though?

There's an anecdote of an Olympic weightlifter who had injured his shoulder and was unable to train for several months. His coach instructed him to sit in the sauna every day and mentally rehearse his lifts. The lifter experienced very little loss in strength, despite not training for months, and posted a good total at the Olympics once he had recovered.

There are other (small) studies showing this: Request Rejected

There are studies that show that squatting alone can cause muscles elsewhere, not directly used in the back squat, to grow (e.g. biceps).

I wonder how much of the changes the body undergoes when a new exercise regimen is introduced are mediated by the brain? What I'm supposing, is something along the lines of: The brain is updating its model of the individual and the daily tasks the individual will perform (e.g. I need to run long distances now), then signalling various changes to take place in the body for those tasks to be performed more efficiently.

Any takers?

 

[Tenacity]

This is interesting. Supposing this is true, what applications do you think this could have?

 

[bodacious]

In terms of applications, I'm not sure. Perhaps exercising in a more mindful state will yield better results? Ray has already mentioned that walking in a stimulating environment burns more calories than running on a static treadmill does.

Recent research here in Scotland has showed that exercising at max capacity for as little as 15 seconds per day (not a typo) can result in improvements in metabolic function. This is generally attributed to changes in mitochondria increasing EPOC. Perhaps there is more to it?

This phenomenon is already proven within the brain itself, and Ray talks about the cerebral cortex as an "organ of purpose".

Lastly, there's a logic fallacy called the swimmer's body fallacy. When someone confuses cause and effect. "I want a swimmer's body, so I will swim". Nassim Taleb argues that people who have such a body will naturally gravitate to swimming (either because they're good at it, or selected to do it), and so they swim BECAUSE of their body, they don't have that body BECAUSE they swim.

I love Taleb, but that logic fallacy needs a new name—Google "Otto and Ewald twins"