Met-levels For Upper- And Lower-body Elastic Resistance Exercise

Abstract

Moderate-intensity physical activity (MIPA) is classified as 3-6 metabolic equivalents (METs) by the ACSM. Although, caloric expenditure of over 800 activities has been reported (Ainsworth et al., 2011), there is little research regarding the intensity of elastic resistance training. PURPOSE: To determine the intensity of elastic resistance exercises associated with 7 levels of elastic resistance bands by assessing MET-levels. METHOD: 70 university students (32 male; 38 female) ages 18-25 (22.0 ± 0.2 years; 73.6 ± 1.9 kg; 174.0 ± 1.1 cm (mean ± SE)), completed 16 min of 5 upper- and 7 lower-body exercises (10 reps each) using 2 levels of bands while expired air was analyzed. After assessing resting metabolic rate, a video led participants through 11 exercises using one level of resistance and then again using a higher level of resistance so that each band level was used by 20 participants. VO2 was measured during each exercise and averaged to determine metabolic cost of upper- and lower-body exercise, and overall cost for each band. METs were calculated from relative VO2. RESULTS: At rest, MET-level was 1.14 ± 0.03. MET-levels for each level of resistance are provided in Table 1.Table 1: MET-level of each band color (mean ± SE)CONCLUSION: Elastic resistance bands generally provide MIPA (3-6 METs) as defined by the ACSM. All band levels resulted in an average of 3-6 METs for lower-body exercises while only black, silver, and gold resulted in 3-6 METs for upper-body exercise. Overall, MET-levels averaged 2.90 to 3.73 for the 7 band levels when performing the exercises in this study. These results will provide health and fitness professionals with guidelines for maximum impact of this equipment on weight loss/management and other health outcomes as this protocol is a feasible approach for achieving MIPA. Supported by TheraBand