Posted by Making your middle more manageable
Researchers reported in the American Journal of Physiology – Endocrinology and Metabolism (1) that doing aerobics increases the loss of visceral fat when compared to strength training.
The study participants consisted of approximately 150 overweight, middle-aged men and women living a sedentary lifestyle with high LDL or low HDL cholesterol. This group was then broken down into three different training activities. One was aerobic, the second strength, and the third combined both aerobic and strength training.
Those in the aerobic training did the equivalent of 12 vigorous miles each week is a treadmill elliptical trainer or stationary bicycle. Evidently, no one thought of doing any of their aerobics outside. Vigorous activity normally means within 60-70% of your target heart rate.
Those doing the strength training performed eight exercises, none of which was listed, for three sets of between 8 to 12 repetitions per set, three times a week. If they were following a normal strength training protocol, these exercises would have been for the large major muscle groups such as the shoulders, chest, back, and legs.
For some unknown reason the study didn’t report what the combination training group did, so we don’t know if they did two days of aerobics and one of strength or two days of strength and one of aerobics or some other scheme.
After eight months, those doing strength training lost only subcutaneous abdominal fat, the fat just below the skin. While those doing the aerobic training, either separately or in combination with strength training, lost the deep belly fat, subcutaneous belly fat and more importantly fat from around the liver. Subsequent testing revealed that the aerobic group was also less insulin resistant. This meant the slender body was producing was more effective at allowing blood sugar into their cells.
This study confirms what other studies have also found that a combination of vigorous aerobic exercise performed on a consistent basis with strength training at least three times a week will help you lose the most fat, decrease your insulin resistance and minimize muscle loss that occurs as we age.
(1) American Journal of Physiology – Endocrinology and Metabolism, 2011, doi: 10. 1152/ajpendo. 00291.2011
Explosivelyfit Strength Training, LLC 