The Polygraph and "Working Out": A Possible Aid? ?

[MissionPoly-ban]

I am in the process of reading an article titled "A Taxonomy of Polygraph Counter and Counter-Countermeasures" published in a professional journal.

I will be posting more information about this article when I am
done reading it in its entirety.  If anyone has read the article already, feel free to critique it for us, as I plan on doing in the near future.

But before I get into the full content of the article,  I would like to start a discussion on something I ran across in the first couple pages of the article that really caught my attention.

The writer of the article made a comment about what he called a "creative" countermeasure that some have tried to use when facing a polygraph test:  

***Working out prior to a test to the point of exhaustion, with a combination of intense weightlifting and aerobic work.

The writer of the article mentions that people try and do this prior to a polygraph test in an effort to "kill their nerves," in a sense, so that when they go in for the polygraph test, they are not as edgy and likely to react so strongly to the questions asked during the test.

I am trying to determine if working your body out to exhaustion would have any effect on polygraph results at all?

Here are my insights and thoughts about this topic:

I am an avid weightlifter.  I lift weights quite a bit, and sometimes put in up to 2 1/2 hours of intense weighlifting.
When I do put in my best effort into a workout (meaning lifting like a crazy mother fu$#@%), I come home and, after cleaning up, feel like my body is totally numb and relaxed.
I don't feel edgy at all, and it feels like my nerves have been "killed," so to speak.  Nothing really seems to get me worked up after a workout like that, and I assume this is because my energy has been spent to the extreme.  
Ultimately, workouts are a way to relieve stress.

Would it possible that a gut-wrenching workout (and I am talking taking it to the maximum effort) done soon before a polygraph test benefit someone facing a polygraph test?

While one would not need to go through with the effort of a gut-wrenching workout for a control questions (probable-lie) test, simply because other countermeasure can help you pass when used properly during the test (i.e. biting ones tongue),
might it be possible that a gut-wrenching workout may help someone out facing an Irrelevant/Relevant polygraph format?

The reason I say this is because a Global type test (that doesn't use control questions) is scored in a ranking type manner, and so they see if any questions had a heightened reaction in comparison to the norm of reactions.

If one was to go through a Ball-Busting workout prior to the test, leaving their body nearly numb from exhaustion, might this aid someone taking an Irrelevant/Relevant type of polygraph test? I am wondering because maybe the persons body will be so worn out that they will not really react to anything with much significance, and so when a rank of reactions is done, there won't be any areas where the person
reacted to unproportionately.  Also, would a workout prior to a Global type test possibly aid a person in passing if they also kept carefull monitoring of their breathing, making sure they keep a uniform pace the whole way through?

Any ideas or reactions to this topic?  Is working out hard before a poly a waste of time? Might it help in an Irrelevant/Relevant formatted test?  

Netnin

[J.B. McCloughan]

Netin,

There are some current studies available on the internet that may answer some of your questions.  Conduct a search at; http://www.jap.physiology.org .  

There are many factors to consider in the implementation of a heavy exercise program and its effect on a person's physiology and physiological responses.  In my opinion, I would refrain from suggesting its use for fear of adverse effects.

[J.B. McCloughan]

Netin,

Here is a study you may be interested in.  This site is also searchable for further studies.

From:http://www.hhpub.com/journals/jop/2001/abstv15i2.html

Abstract

Effects of Physical Training on Endocrine and Autonomic Response to Acute Stress
A. Salvador, J. Ricarte, E. González-Bono, and L. Moya-Albiol

The effects of physical training on autonomic response to acute stress are controversial. In this study, heart rate (HR) and skin conductance level (SCL) were continuously recorded in response to a mental stressor in a sample of elite athletes before and after a period of training and competition. The free testosterone to cortisol ratio (FTCR) and the Profile of Mood States (POMS) were used as markers of training impact. After the training, the men and women showed a significant FTCR decrement, although mood and the autonomic response to the acute stressor were not strongly altered. Although men showed significantly lower HR values after training, the results suggest that subjects suffered a transitory state of hormonal overstrain rather than a serious problem of adaptation to training.