Study highlights best exercise plan for overweight youth
Combining aerobic exercise and resistance training could be the answer for overweight teens, according to researchers from the University of Calgary's Faculty of Medicine.
"Adolescents who are overweight are typically advised to exercise more," says Dr. Ron Sigal of the University of Calgary's Institute for Public Health and Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta. "But there is limited evidence on what type of exercise is best in order to lose fat."
In the study, 304 overweight teenagers in the greater Ottawa area of Canada between the ages of 14 and 18 were given the same four-week exercise and diet plan.
After the initial intervention, they were divided at random into four exercise groups: resistance training with fixed and free-weights; aerobic training on treadmills, elliptical machines and free bikes; a combination of these two methods; and a fourth group that did nothing.
Working with personal trainers, the three groups that exercised worked out four days per week for 22 weeks and all reduced their body fat similarly and effectively and much more than the diet-only control group, although the combined group fared the best.
"Remarkably, among participants who completed at least 70 per cent of the prescribed exercise sessions, waist circumference decreased close to seven centimeters in those randomized to combined aerobic plus resistance exercise," says co-principal researcher Dr. Glen Kenny of the University of Ottawa.
Those who did just one type of exercise lost only four centimeters around the waist, says Kenny. Body fat changes were measured using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology.
The study was published in JAMA Pediatrics.
