Do you consider yourself a sedentary, out of weight person with high cholesterol level or, simply, do you not like how you feel about yourself? Do not think that to start shaping your silhouette or to improve the latest blood tests you need a radical change in your day to day or a superhuman effort. You will simply have to do a little more sport than you have done the previous week, and continue like this successively.

Our body is efficient by nature and, to put it colloquially, tends to be a bit lazy. In other words, it spends as little as possible and adapts to the needs that are demanded of it.

It has a very simple explanation and is based on the fact that our body has a medium-term memory and evolves according to it. If it detects that a system is not being used, it stops prioritizing its operation and tends to disable it.

Let’s take an example. If I have my body used to sitting, the energy expenditure it requires is minimal. This slows down metabolism or energy consumption and spends less energy per unit of time. If the diet does not vary, we continue to consume the same calories but we spend less and less which leads to increase body weight and fat percentage, which in addition to modifying the physical appearance, are risk factors for several pathologies.

With sport the opposite is intended. It is about subjecting the body to a greater physical stress than it is normally exposed to. For example, if I spend most of the time of the day sitting, you can start by alternating sitting with standing and taking short walks.

This accelerates metabolism or energy expenditure, increases glucose stores which reduces the amount of sugar that is stored as fat and a host of other benefits.

In short, many systems have to adapt to these new demands and the operation of all of them will be greater and faster. In training jargon, this is known as the supercompensation principle.

To finish convincing you, we want to give you several reasons why it is preferable to do little to do a lot:

  • The stimulus must be high enough to be an incentive to the body but should not exceed the threshold that produces excessive stress This would take several days to recover, and even expose the body to be more prone to catch a cold or infection.
  • It is easier for you to adhere to a sports practice that is acceptable for your conditions and that supposes a tolerable effort than to do it to something that you consider a real torture.
  • As we have already said, the idea is to be a little better every day. For this you must have room for improvement and progression. It is preferable to take a small step every day to a stride every month.