Showing posts with label weights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weights. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Trying to Shed That Belly? Step Off the Treadmill and Grab Some Weights, Boys & Girls! 19x More Visceral, 1.5x Higher Subcutaneous Fat Loss W/ Resistance Training in Youths
![]() |
| Specifically for teenagers it may be important to work out in both aerobic and anaerobic workouts. So, this would be another reason to favor the combined over the other regimen. |
So, what I actually wanted to tell you is that a recent study from the Universities of Ottawa and Calgary (Alberta. 2015), clearly contradicts the average commercial gym chain trainer's recommendation and shows that belly fat loss is better achieved with diet + resistance training.
Are you looking for muscle builders for the year 2015? Find inspiration in these articles:
The subjects of the study were youngsters, 304 (! the high number of participants is a huge plus of the study) 14-18 year-old overweight and obese teenagers (mean body fat almost 50%!), to be specific, who were randomized to four different treatments for 22 weeks:![]() |
| Table 1: Training progression in the Aerobic and Resistance group (Alberga. 2015) |
- aerobic training (Aerobic),
- resistance training (Resistance),
- combined aerobic
+ resistance training (Combined) or - non-exercising control group (Control)
- Resistance: The duration of each session progressed to a maximum of about 45 min. Exercises were primarily performed on weight machines, and when required with dumbbells (lateral raise, shrugs, bicep curls, front raise, preacher curl, dumbbell pullover) or by using one's own body weight as resistance (lunges, sit-ups and abdominal crunches).
Participants alternated among exercises from groups A1, A2, B1 and B2 shown in Table 2. Participants were asked to rest for ~ 2 min between sets and were instructed on proper breathing techniques.
Table 2: Overview of the individual workouts in the Resistance group (Alberga. 2015). - Aerobic: Participants randomized to the aerobic training group underwent a 22-week program (Table 1, left) wherein the exercise intensity and duration increased progressively to a maximum of 45 min per session. Exercise was performed on a cycle ergometer, elliptical or treadmill and participants were free to vary the machine(s) used. Exercise intensity was standardized using heart rate monitors (Polar Electro Oy, Kempele, Finland).
- Combined: This group performed the full exercise programs done by both the aerobic and resistance training groups (Table 1, left + right) during each session for a total of 4 times per week for a maximum of 90 min per session.
Now for simplicity we assume that you'd actually achieve not just similar, but rather the exact same results as the virtual "average" study participant from Alberta's trial. In this case, I bet that most of you would prefer to lose -22.7 cm² subcutaneous body fat with resistance training than -16.2 cm² or -18.7 cm² with either aerobic or combined training. Specifically in view of the fact that only resistant and combined training triggered measurable reductions in visceral body fat, too.
On the other hand, a closer look at the body fat data in Figure 1 also shows that aerobic training is the only form of training that will reduce the deep subcutaneous fat, significantly. Plus: When it's done in combination with resistance training the reductions in subcutaneous fat at L4L5, which represents the area between 4th and 5th Lumbar vertebrae, are still statistically significant and not significantly smaller than those the subjects in the resistance training only arm of the study achieved.
![]() |
| Figure 2: Changes in Apo-B and Apo-B/A ratio in the three exercise and the control group (Alberta. 2015). |
This obviously leads back to Energy restriction and adherence - the two usual suspects. Without them, any effort to shed the hated body fat must fail. With them, however, only perseverance and consistency may keep from achieving your fat loss goals.
You don't believe that? Well, check out the data in Figure 3. Dansiger and his colleagues from the Tufts University tried to find out which diet, i.e. Ornish, Zone, Weight Watchers, or Atkins die, would cut the most body weight. What they found, though, was that it's always the diet the subjects could adhere to that worked the best. Against that background, it's no wonder that, in the study at hand, only those participants who had more than the minimal 70% adherence to their (aerobic) workout regimen actually lost significant amounts of deep subcutaneous fat tissue.. speaking of adherence, there were no significant differences in adherence between the three training regimen; only the control treatment on the couch obviously had 100% adherence ;-) | Comment on FB!
- Alberga, A. S., et al. "Effects of aerobic and resistance training on abdominal fat, apolipoproteins and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein in adolescents with obesity: the HEARTY randomized clinical trial." International journal of obesity (2005) (2015).
- Dansinger, Michael L., et al. "Comparison of the Atkins, Ornish, Weight Watchers, and Zone diets for weight loss and heart disease risk reduction: a randomized trial." Jama 293.1 (2005): 43-53.
- Thompson, A., and J. Danesh. "Associations between apolipoprotein B, apolipoprotein AI, the apolipoprotein B/AI ratio and coronary heart disease: a literature‐based meta‐analysis of prospective studies." Journal of internal medicine 259.5 (2006): 481-492.
- Walldius, G., and I. Jungner. "The apoB/apoA‐I ratio: a strong, new risk factor for cardiovascular disease and a target for lipid‐lowering therapy–a review of the evidence." Journal of internal medicine 259.5 (2006): 493-519.
Labels:
adolescence,
adolescents,
aerobic exercise,
ApoB,
cardio,
cholesterol,
combined training,
concomitant training,
health,
heart health,
lose fat,
obesity,
resistance training,
weight training,
weights,
youths
Cardio After Weights! Doing Resistance Before Endurance Training Has More Beneficial Effects on Leptin, Cortisol, Testosterone and Body Composition in Young Men
And don't worry, we are not talking about useless acute-phase data that shows no correlation with either strength or muscle gains, or fat loss (West. 2012). Sheikholeslami-Vatani and colleagues conducted an eight-week study on thirty obese young male students without continuous exercise history (age: 23.2±1.4 year, BMI: 31.8±1.6 kg/m²).
You can learn more about the optimal exercise order at the waredownloadsoft
"running with 70—75% of maximal heart rate (HRmax) for 10 minutes which gradually increased to 80% HRmax for 21.5 minutes [plus] resistance training consisted of 3 sets of 8 repetitions at 80% of 1 repetition maximum (1RM) in 5 resistance exercises (leg extensions, lying leg curl, triceps pushdown, bench press and lateral pull down)" (Sheikholeslami-Vatani. 2015).In-between the endurance and resistance (or vice versa) training parts of the workouts, the subjects rested for 5 minutes. Blood sampling and skin-fold measurements to asses the body composition was conducted 48 hours before the start of the course and again 48 hours after the last training session (learn why waiting longer for the body comp test may have been better, but no study does that).
normalization of leptin levels (health)
Similar gains w/ weights vs. cardio first in trained men | more. - slight increases in testosterone (health)
- increases in cortisol (which are benign | learn why)
- significant reductions in body fat (health + physique)
- increases in fat free mass (health and physique)
In that, the resistance training first (CER) group came off slightly better in all tested study outcomes. Statistical significant inter-group differences, however, were observed only in comparison to the control group. In view of the fact that the body fat (total and %) improvement reached statistical significance compared to control only in the endurance first, group, yet not in the strength first group, one may still argue that the difference between cardio first (CER) and weights first (CRE) was "almost significant" ;-)
![]() |
| Weights or Cardio? What's the Best Visceral Fat Burner + How Often, Long and Intense Do You Have to Train | Learn more! |
- Sheikholeslami-Vatani, D., et al. "The effect of concurrent training order on hormonal responses and body composition in obese men." Science & Sports (2015).
- West, Daniel WD, and Stuart M. Phillips. "Associations of exercise-induced hormone profiles and gains in strength and hypertrophy in a large cohort after weight training." European journal of applied physiology 112.7 (2012): 2693-2702.
Resistance Training, Not Starving Yourself or "Cardio" is Key to Successful Fat (!) Loss -- Metabolic Stress Appears to Determine Improvements in Body Composition & Health
![]() |
| Just look at the guys surrounding you, girls. How on earth will you get bulky if they are training like maniacs and still look like size-zero bans? |
In his review, the scientists focused on comparing changes from treatment program for adults who are overfat based on analysis of aggregated effect size (ES) of inducing changes from 66-population based studies, and 162-studywise groups.
Learn more about dieting and not ruining your metabolism @ www.waredownloadsoft.com
Clark's analysis of this large dataset yielded both, obvious and less obvious results. The realization that "a hypocaloric balance [=dietary restriction] is necessary for changing body composition" (Clark. 2015), for example is hardly surprising."resistance training (RT) was more effective than endurance training (ET) or combination of RT and ET, particularly when progressive training volume of 2-to-3 sets for 6-to-10 reps at an intensity of ≥75% 1RM, utilizing whole body and free-weight exercises, at altering body compositional measures (ES of 0.47, 0.30, and 0.40 for loss of BM, FM, and retention of FFM respectively)" (Clark. 2015)Now, while this may still be in line with at least some of the mainstream recommendations, Clark's observation that the RT regimen was also more effective at reducing total cholesterol (ES = 0.85), triglycerides (ES = 0.86) and low-density lipoproteins (ES = 0.60), as well as at reducing fasting insulin levels (ES = 3.5) than endurance training or endurance training and resistance training in combination emphasizes how much of a game changer (intense!) resistance training can actually be.
Avoid black and white thinking! Despite the fact that the meta-analysis at hand shows on average that interventions that focus on diet + resistance training are the most effective ones. It would be haphazard to conclude that doing a moderate amount of cardio would be counter-productive. If you use it, to eat more, it may in fact impair your results. If you go for a 20-minute jog at a moderate pace thrice per week, though, this is neither going to burn away muscle mass, nor stalling your fat loss. As discussed below, the lack of additional effects of combined training in the meta-analysis at hand may well be caused by factors that have nothing to do with the often-heard-off ill effects of moderate intensity cardio.
Bottom line: If you still need material to convince your significant other that hitting the weights is not only more time-efficient and less daunting than hours on the treadmill, but also more effective when it comes to improving his/her body composition and/or health, I'd suggest you print this article and pin it on your fridge.
Eventually, though, the article has another, even more important message than "resistance beats cardio training". Which one? Well, there is "no relationship between any treatments effectiveness for inducing acute changes in energetic balance with the effectiveness for induced responses to body composition or biomarkers of health from said treatment program" (Clark. 2015). A revelation that reinforces the idea that our individual body composition is not a function of energy intakes vs. expenditure. The effects of metabolic stress, which is obviously greater for resistance and HIIT training (compared to steady state, the HIIT studies in the meta-analysis yielded better results, too), on the other hand is still underappreciated by both practitioners and scientists of who James E. Clark is one of the first to conclude that the "focus of treatment should be on producing a large metabolic stress (as induced by RT or high levels of ET [don't overdo it on "cardio", though | learn why]) rather than an energetic imbalance for adults who are overfat" (Clark. 2015) | Comment on Facebook!
References:![]() |
| Losing Weight Doesn't Have to Ruin Your Metabolism | more |
- Clark, James E. "Diet, exercise or diet with exercise: comparing the effectiveness of treatment options for weight-loss and changes in fitness for adults (18–65 years old) who are overfat, or obese; systematic review and meta-analysis." Journal of Diabetes & Metabolic Disorders 14.1 (2015): 31.
- Cuff, Darcye J., et al. "Effective exercise modality to reduce insulin resistance in women with type 2 diabetes." Diabetes care 26.11 (2003): 2977-2982.
- Donnelly, Joseph E., et al. "Effects of a very-low-calorie diet and physical-training regimens on body composition and resting metabolic rate in obese females." The American journal of clinical nutrition 54.1 (1991): 56-61.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)

























