Physical activity intervention flexibility and body composition
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The effect of physical activity intervention flexibility on the timecourse of changes in body composition and metabolism
IRAS ID
136741
Contact name
Andrew Blannin
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Birmingham
Research summary
Many exercise interventions ‘prescribe’ the recommended 30 minutes of exercise per day using one mode of exercise. This is not optimal. Firstly, we all have preferences for the way we take exercise, so prescribing one mode will not tap into everyone’s preference. Secondly, by sticking to one activity the participants are more likely to become ‘stale’, which is not good for motivation. What is needed is a more flexible physical activity programme, with more emphasis on body composition instead of body weight. Therefore, a better approach might be to offer a portfolio of activities from which each participant can pick and choose, to facilitate greater amounts physical activity. We propose an alternative points-based system to account for the different intensities of a variety of activities. Our aim is therefore to compare body composition changes induced by this points-based system against the traditional 5x30minute prescription.
This study will randomly assign 60 previously sedentary, overweight but weight stable, middle-aged women to one of 3 groups:
1) Prescribed exercise programme (5x30 minutes per week of a chosen activity)
2) Points-based system for physical activity (accumulating a volume of physical activity from a variety of activities that are ‘weighted’ based on intensity and mode of exercise)
3) Sedentary controls
The interventions will last 12 weeks and we will capture data at baseline, after 4 weeks of the interventions, after 12 weeks of the interventions, and after 12 weeks follow-up. At those data capture points we will measure body composition, resting and exercising fat burning capacity, body shape, muscle tone, physical activity levels, dietary intake and self perception of appearance and body shape. In summary, we will measure a series of important markers such as body composition across 4 time points in 3 groups. Statistical analysis will be used to determine which intervention produces the best outcomes.REC name
West Midlands - Solihull Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/WM/0331
Date of REC Opinion
16 Sep 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion