Strength training twice a week reduces percent body fat in women 25-44 by 3.7%

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Thursday, September 13, 2007 7:56 am Email this article
Women who were 25- to 44-years-old and did strength training twice a week for two years reduced their percent body fat by 3.7 percent compared to a decrease of 0.1 percent for the control group according to a study by Kathryn H. Schmitz at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA and others.

After two years, belly fat had increased by 7 percent in the strength training group compared with an increase of 21 percent for the control group.

Conclusion

Conclusion: Strength training helps reduce percent body fat and reduces the increase in belly fat in women

“This study suggests that strength training is an efficacious intervention for preventing percentage body fat increases and attenuating intraabdominal fat increases in overweight and obese premenopausal women,” the authors concluded.

 

Subjects

Subjects: 164 overweight and obese women

The study involved 164 overweight and obese women with a body mass index (BMI) of 25-35.

 

Comment

Comment: New book recommends weight training to reduce weight without increasing hunger

There is a new book—which I can’t remember the name of right now—that recommends spending all of the time you spend exercising doing strength training.

The author, who I saw interviewed on television, said that he found that women lost more weight by doing this and they did not report an increase in hunger as is the case when people do a lot of aerobic exercise, such as walking, trying to lose weight.

I agree with this idea completely.

REFERENCE

Schmitz K, Hannan P, Stovitz S, Bryan C, Warren M, Jensen M. Strength training and adiposity in premenopausal women: Strong, healthy, and empowered study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Sep, 86(3):566-72.

AUTHOR’S CONTACT INFORMATION

Kathryn H. Schmitz
Division of Clinical Epidemiology
University of Pennsylvania
423 Guardian Drive
9th Floor Blockley Drive
Philadelphia, PA 19072
USA
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

 

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