In the past several years, though, there has been growing scientific interest in delving into the various “’omics” of exercise. In broad terms, “’omics” refers to the identification and study of molecules related to different biological processes and how they work together. Genomics, for example, looks at molecules related to the operations of genes; metabolomics at those involved in our metabolisms, and so on.

But one of the more compelling ’omics fields is proteomics, because it focuses on proteins, which are expressed by genes and subsequently jump-start countless other physiological processes throughout our bodies.

Proteins are at the heart of our busy interior biology.

But almost nothing has been known about the proteomics of people who exercise and whether and how they might differ from those of people who rarely move and what it might mean if they do.

So, for the new study, which was published in November in the Journal of Applied Physiology, researchers at the University of Colorado, Boulder, set out to look at various people’s proteins.

They first gathered 31 healthy young men and women, about half of whom exercised regularly, while the rest did not. They also recruited an additional group of 16 healthy middle-aged and older men, half of whom were physically active and half of whom were sedentary.