Lipid oxidation and perceived exertion level during exercise in obese: effect of the exercise form

Abstract

Regular exercise is one of the most used solutions to avoid obesity. In this study we compared the amounts of lipid oxidation and the level of perceived exertion in three physical exercises, one continuous and two intermittent in obese. Ten obese men (age 26.01 ± 6.0 years, weight: 104.2 ± 19.4 kg, BMI: 33.5 ± 3.6 kg / m 2 ) performed three 45 minutes exercises during which we measured energy expenditure and the level of perceived exertion. A continuous exercise whose intensity corresponds to the intensity of Fat max, an intermittent exercise which alternate four minutes at the intensity of Fat max -10% and one minute at the fat max intensity +10% (intermittent 1/4), and a second intermittent exercise which alternate two minutes at the intensity of Fat max -10% and one minute at the Fat max intensity +20% (intermittent 1/2). While the total energy expenditure during continuous exercise (321.6 Kcal) is higher than those of the intermittent 1/4 (268.1 Kcal) and the intermittent 1/2 (268.9 Kcal), the amounts of energy from oxidized fats in the three exercises are equivalent: 34,6 Kcal, 31,8 Kcal and 36,2 Kcal respectively for the three exercises. The perceived exertion measured by the Borg scale showed that intermittent exercises causes less fatigue in obese than the continuous exercise.