A Comparison Of The Effects Of Continuous Aerobic, Intermittent Aerobic, And Resistance Exercise On Resting Metabolic Rate At 12 And 21 Hours Post-Exercise

Abstract

PURPOSE: To compare the acute effects of similar bouts of continuous aerobic (CA), intermittent aerobic (IA), and resistance (R) exercise on post exercise resting metabolic rate (RMR). METHODS: Ten moderately active, non-smoking, male college students, participated (age: 24.1 ±2.1 yrs; BMI: 25.2 ± 4.4 kg/m2; % Body Fat: 11.1 ± 3.6%) in the study. Subjects underwent one control session (C) and three exercise bouts (CA, IA, R) while keeping rate of oxygen uptake (VO2: ∼12.5 ± 1.8 ml/kg/min), exercise duration (∼45 min), and kilocalorie expenditure (∼216 ± 19 kcal) constant during the three exercise bouts. RMR was measured at 12 hours and 21 hours post exercise. Repeated Measures Analyses of Variances were used to determine significant differences across conditions and Tukey HSD post hoc tests were used to determine the location of significance. Significance was accepted at p< 0.05. RESULTS: Resistance and intermittent aerobic exercise had significantly elevated metabolic rates at 12 hours post exercise from the control and continuous aerobic exercise (C: 4.1 ± 0.6; CA: 4.3 ± 0.6; IA: 4.6 ± 0.6; R: 4.7 ± 0.7 ml/kg/min). At 21 hours post exercise RMR was significantly higher for the resistance exercise compared to all other conditions and the intermittent aerobic exercise was significantly higher compared to the control and continuous aerobic exercise (C:3.3 ± 0.4; CA: 3.3 ± 0.4; IA: 3.5 ± 0.4; R: 3.7 ± 0.5 ml/kg/min). CONCLUSIONS: This study found that resistance exercise has the greatest effect on 21-hour RMR, but intermittent aerobic exercise can also significantly increase RMR up to 21 hours post exercise. These results indicate a possible role for resistance or intermittent aerobic exercise in controlling body weight.