Endurance exercise but not high-intensity interval training improves abdominal fat distribution in overweight adults

prescribed a home program consisting of jumping exercises twice weekly on alternate days to the clinic sessions. BMD of the total hip, femoral neck (FN) and lumbar spine (LS) were measured by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) at baseline and 9 months. Whole body lean mass and fat mass were also derived by DXA and serum total testosterone was analysed using a Cobas e 411 electrochemiluminescence immunoassayauto-analyser.Datawere assessed for normality and analyses included correlation, ANOVA and ANCOVA using an intention-to-treat approach. Statistical significance was set at an alpha level of 0.05. Results: There was no significant difference (p>0.05) among groups at baseline for age, bodymass index, lean and fatmass, BMD, or testosterone.Mean exercise attendance for the HI and LO groups were 69% and 73%, respectively. Following 9 months of training, there were no significant differences among groups for either hip (total and FN) or LS BMD (p>0.05). Group changeswere−0.3±1.7% (mean± SD),−0.2±1.6% and−1.2±1.7% at the total hip, 0.3±3.0%, −0.7±3.5% and −0.9±4.2% for the FN, and 0.8±3.1%, 0.7±3.3% and −0.3±2.7% at the LS for HI, LO and CO, respectively. In exercisers, body mass was associated with change in total hip BMD (r=0.454, p=0.015). Discussion: In contrast to trials in women, we found no significant effect of IL exercise on hip or lumbar spine BMD, although there was substantial variation within the exercise groups indicating responders and non-responders to the exercise regimen. There were no adverse events and the programwas well tolerated by the men.