Purpose: To compare the effects of three bouts of exercise, resistance (RE), continuous aerobic (CA), and intermittent aerobic (IA), matched for energy expenditure (kcal) and rate of oxygen consumption (VO2), on 12h post exercise metabolic rate and basal metabolic rate (BMR). Ten healthy men (age: 22 ± 2 yrs, height: 173.8 ± 11.6 cm, weight: 77.1 ± 16.4 kg, VO2max: 34.5 ± 6.1 ml/kg/min) were recruited to participate in this study. 12h post exercise and BMR were measured on four sessions over a four week period: control, RE, CA, and IA. For each session, subjects performed exercise at 9.00 am and returned to the laboratory at 9.00 pm to have their 12 h post exercise metabolic rate measured and to stay overnight in the laboratory, to have their BMR measured the following morning. For RE session, subjects performed one circuit of five exercises vertical butterflys, squats, toe raises, lateral pulldowns, and triceps press downs at approximatedly 50-60% of their maximal lifts. Each set was performed until failure, and followed by 60s of rest. The circuit was repeated for a total of 45 min of exercise. VO2 was measured continuously and used for calculating the total amount of energy expenditure (216 ± 19 kcal) and average rate of VO2 (12.5 ± 1.8 ml/kg/min). For CA, subjects cycled at a work load that produced the same average rate of VO2 at each subject's average rate of VO2 during the RE. For IA, subjects cycled at high intensity interval between 90%-100% of VO2max for 30 seconds and a low intensity interval at 20-30% of VO2max. For the low intensity interval, subjects cycled until the average rate of VO2 in that interval matched the average rate of VO2 during the RE. For both CA and IA, subjects cycled until spending the same amount of kcal measured during RE (exercise duration; CA: 43.2 ± 2.3; IA: 43.5 ± 1.8min). For 12h post exercise metabolic rate, RE caused greater increases in metabolic rate compared to the control (14.6%), CA (9.3%) and IA (4.4%). IA also had significantly higher metabolic rate compared to the control (9.8%) and CA (4.7%). BMR was significantly higher after RE compared to the control (15.6%), CA (12.1%), and IA (12.1%). These results suggest that RE has greater effects on BMR compared to CA and IA, indicating the importance of further research to examine a possible role for RE in controlling body weight.
