Do Non-Responders to Exercise Exist—and If So, What Should We Do About Them?
Open accessAbstract
It is well established that exercise is an important component in the maintenance of good health, and yet recent studies have demonstrated that a sub-section of individuals experience no significant improvements following an exercise training intervention. Such individuals are commonly termed "non-responders". However, recently a number of researchers have taken a skeptical view as to whether exercise non-response either exists, or is clinically relevant. Here, we explore the research underpinning exercise response, to determine whether non-response to exercise actually exists. We discuss the impact of measurement error and assessment type on the identification of "non-responders", and whether such non-response is global- or modality-specific. Additionally, we discuss whether, if non-response to an exercise intervention is meaningful and relevant, certain additional interventions-in the form of increasing exercise intensity, volume, or duration-could be made in order to enhance training adaptations. Consequently, based on our interpretations of the available evidence, we suggest that it is unlikely that global non-responders to exercise exist. Furthermore, we suggest this realization effectively counters the perception that some individuals will not positively respond to exercise, and that in turn, this insight serves to encourage health professionals to create more nuanced, efficacious, and individually-focused exercise prescriptions designed to circumvent and overcome apparent non-responsiveness. Adopting a more individually-adaptive approach to exercise prescription could, subsequently, prove a powerful tool in promoting population health.
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In non-invasive brain stimulation and other intervention studies, non-responders are routinely excluded or treated differently.
“in non-invasive brain stimulation studies84,85 or other intervention studies, such as those focusing on physical exercise or nutrition86–89, ‘non-responders’ are routinely excluded from data analyses or treated differently.”
From Near transfer to an unrelated N-back task mediates the effect of N-back working memory training on matrix reasoning (2022) · cites this paper as [89]
The “Did Not Respond”—Potential Interventions section describes exercise non-responders receiving a modified training intervention, so it supports the possibility of treating them differently. It does not say that non-responders are routinely excluded from data analyses or routinely treated differently in intervention studies. This source addresses exercise, not the brain-stimulation studies cited separately in the sentence. (LLM, conf=0.82)
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- Authors
- Pickering, C., & Kiely, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Lancashire (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Pickering, Craig
- Venue
- Sports Medicine
- Published
- 2018-12-17
- Volume
- 49
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-7
- ISSN
- 0112-1642 (ISSN-L)
- 1179-2035
- PMC
- PMC6349783
- OpenAlex
- W2904417441
- Cited by
- 165
- References
- 67
- Citations by year
- 2026: 21 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 32 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 23.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Sports Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- CLOK (University of Central Lancashire) (acceptedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Nova Science Publishers (Nova Science Publishers, Inc.) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- University of Limerick Institutional Repository (University of Limerick) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- University of Limerick Institutional Repository (University of Limerick)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Cardiovascular and exercise physiology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Orthopedics and Sports Medicine › Sports Performance and Training
- Keywords
- exercise response, exercise training intervention, measurement error, exercise prescription, individualized exercise prescription, exercise intensity, training effects, population health
- MeSH terms
- Biological Variation, Individual, Adaptation, Physiological, Exercise Therapy, Humans, Exercise, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Treatment Failure
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