Regional fat mobilization and training type on sedentary, premenopausal overweight and obese women
Funding agencies:: Grants from Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (SFRH/BD/25584/2005) and Portuguese Institute of Sport (28/DSFRH/DF/2005) supported this study.
Disclosure:: The authors have no competing interests.
Author Contributions: : EAC wrote the manuscript, performed statistical analyses and obtained data. FA edited the manuscript, corrected and wrote the final approval of the submitted and published versions. RSP and MJV carried out the intervention and obtained data. PMS conceived and designed the study. LBS conceived and designed the study, edited the manuscript.
Abstract
Objective
Little is known about the influence of different training types on relative fat mobilization with exercise. The purpose of this study was to analyze the changes induced by aerobic training (AT), resistance (RT) or a combination of both (AT+RT) on total fat mass (TFM) and regional fat mass (RFM). Further, the relative contribution of different regions, upper limbs (UL), lower limbs (LL), and trunk (Tr), were compared.
Design and Methods
Forty‐five overweight and premenopausal women were randomized in either AT, RT or AT+RT. All training groups exercised for the same duration (60 min), 3 times per week for 5 months. Body composition was estimated using dual energy X‐ray absorptiometry.
Results
TFM decreased significantly in all groups (−4.6 ± 1.9 kg; −3.8 ± 2.6 kg, and −4.7 ± 3.0 kg in AT, RT, and AT+RT groups respectively; P < 0.001). The relative contribution of FM into each segment changed significantly: TrFM represented 46.6% ± 5.8% of TFM at baseline and reduced to 43.1% ± 5.5% (P < 0.001); LLFM was 39.7% ± 5.8% vs. 41.6% ± 5.7% (P < 0.01); ULFM was 11.3% ± 1.3% vs. 12.2% ± 1.4% (P < 0.01).
Conclusion
Training type did not influence changes of TFM and RFM. Fat mobilization came predominantly from Tr in all training protocols. These findings suggest that overweight and obese women can reduce TFM and RFM, independently of training type.
