ArticleSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2019
Do Non-Responders to Exercise Exist-and If So, What Should We Do About Them?
Article in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 78 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
78 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Near transfer to an unrelated N-back task mediates the effect of N-back working memory training on matrix reasoning.Nature human behaviour · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- International Exercise Recommendations in Older Adults (ICFSR): Expert Consensus Guidelines.The journal of nutrition, health & aging · 2021Guideline
- Myokine Circulating Levels in Postmenopausal Women with Overweight or Obesity: Effects of Resistance Training and/or DHA-RichNutrients · 2025Trial
- Working Women Walking Program: A Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial.Journal of physical activity & health · 2025Trial
- Variability in resistance training trajectories of breast cancer patients undergoing therapy.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2024Trial
- The Impact of Personalized versus Standardized Cardiorespiratory and Muscular Training on Health-Related Outcomes and Rate of Responders.Journal of sports science & medicine · 2024Trial
- Strength gains after 12 weeks of resistance training correlate with neurochemical markers of brain health in older adults: a randomized controlGeroScience · 2023Trial
- A single session of mindfulness meditation may acutely enhance cognitive performance regardless of meditation experience.PloS one · 2023Trial
- All Is Relative-A Call for Considering "Physiologically Informed" Control Conditions to Improve the Mechanistic Understanding of the Effects of Physical Exercise on Cognition.Scandinavian journal of psychology · 2026Review
- Exploring Factors to Explain Interindividual Responses to Running Economy in Advanced Footwear Technology Shoes: A Randomised Crossover Laboratory Trial with an Explanatory Predictor Analysis.Sports medicine - open · 2026Article
- Baseline Oral Microbiota Richness Is Associated with Training-Induced Improvements in Relative Handgrip Strength in Older Adults.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Precision Exercise for Breast Cancer-Related Outcomes: Towards Personalised Training Based on Tumour, Treatment and Patient Characteristics.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Review
- Article
- Beyond Static Assessment: A Proof-of-Concept Evaluation of Functional Data Analysis for Assessing Physiological Responses to High-Intensity Effort.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2026Article
- The chemistry of the nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathway: regulating muscle oxygenation and exercise performance.RSC advances · 2026Review
- Differential effects of voluntary exercise and Totum-448, a plant-based formulation, in a hamster model of MASLD.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Physiological and Recovery Responses to Dietary Polyphenols in the Context of Exercise: Relevance for Muscle Aging and Sarcopenia.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Functional and muscle recovery after critical illness: current and future nutritional, physical and metabolic strategies.Annals of intensive care · 2026Review
- Physical exercise as a modulator of the sleep-obesity interaction: metabolic, neuroendocrine and circadian mechanisms.Frontiers in sleep · 2026Review
18 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
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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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.