The Adverse Effects of Inactivity

William Smith is the President / CEO and Founder of the INTRAFITT Corporation which was established in California in 1992. Will has won more than twenty-eight bodybuilding championships and is also known for his role as “THUNDER” on television’s American Gladiator between 1990 – 1992. He is a National and International Speaker on Performance Nutrition and Exercise Science.

It should now be clear that regular and consistent prolonged exercise performed at a moderate level of intensity is intrinsically involved in favorably altering the body’s chemistry.  Unfortunately, when regular and consistent exercise is not maintained, unfavorable biochemical changes are likely to occur.  Insulin  Resistance (the inability of the cells of the body to take up and use glucose efficiently) for example, is a condition that may result from years of inactivity combined with poor eating habits.  Although insulin is a hormone that is essential to live, prolonged and excess exposure to the peripheral tissues can actually inhibit lipolysis and accelerate fat stores within the body.  In fact, laboratory experiments have shown that animals injected with insulin became fatter even with no extra eating involved.

People suffering from insulin resistance may often encounter symptoms associated with hypoglycemia such as sugar cravings and lethargy because the glucose is not being used efficiently in their bodies.  In order to compensate for this metabolic aberration, the pancreatic cells will  often over-secrete insulin in an attempt to force the much-needed glucose into the target cells.  As a result, hyperinsulinemia can initiate two processes that may occur simultaneously:

1.  An increase of blood plasma lipogenesis (conversion of blood glucose to blood lipids).
2.  Non-reactive hypoglycemia resulting in unacceptably low levels of blood sugar, thus creating extreme hunger, lethargy, and acute headaches.

Most people who have extremely high levels of body fat usually have some degree of insulin resistance, which may predispose these individuals toward type II diabetes.  Insulin resistance can be exacerbated by inactivity, loss of lean tissue and as mentioned earlier, being extremely overweight.  In order to control the amount of insulin secreted by the body, proper diet and exercise must become a regular part of day-to-day activities.

Visit us any time at www.intrafitt.com to reprogram your body to be fit and lean for life.  Learn about our certification programs and lots of additional information available on our site.

In honor and strength,

Will Smith/aka Thunder of the American Gladiators

Email me any time at gladiator@intrafitt.com

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