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Women may prevent, delay "middle-aged spread" by lifting weights
By Steven Reinberg
WHAT: Women who lift weights twice a week can prevent or at least slow
the "middle-aged spread," researchers reported at the American Heart
Association's 46th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease
Epidemiology and Prevention. A study of 164 overweight and obese (BMI
25-35) Minnesota women 24 to 44 years old found that strength training
with weights dramatically reduced the increase in abdominal fat in
premenopausal participants compared to similar women who merely
received advice about exercise.
FINDINGS: The Strong Healthy and Empowered (SHE) study examined whether
twice-weekly strength training would prevent increases in
intra-abdominal and total body fat in women who were overweight or
obese. The women initially were stratified by baseline percentage body
fat and age. The strength training group participated in supervised
strengthening classes for 16 weeks, and had booster sessions four times
yearly with certified fitness professionals over two years. The control
group received a brochure recommending 30 minutes to an hour of
exercise most days of the week. All of the women were asked not to
change their diets in ways that might lead to weight changes while they
were participating in the study. Average age of the women was 36 years,
approximately 40 percent of the sample was non-Caucasian, about
two-thirds were college educated and about half had children under five
years old at home. All had similar calorie intakes. On average, the
women completed 70 percent of all prescribed exercise sessions over two
years.
Women in a two-year weight-training program decreased body fat
percentage by 3.7 percent, while body fat percentage remained stable in
the controls. The strength training reduced intra-abdominal fat, which
is more closely associated with heart disease and metabolic
disturbances. More specifically, the women who did strength training
experienced a 7 percent increase in intra-abdominal fat compared to a
21 percent increase in intra-abdominal fat among controls, a difference
of 15 percentage points. "On average, women in the middle years of
their lives gain one to two pounds a year and most of this is assumed
to be fat," said study lead author Kathryn H. Schmitz, Ph.D., assistant
professor, Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the
University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. "This study shows that
strength training can prevent increases in body fat percentage and
attenuate increases in the fat depot most closely associated with heart
disease. While an annual weight gain of one to two pounds doesn't sound
like much, over 10 to 20 years the gain is significant."
The American Heart Association recommends strength training as a
complement to aerobic physical activity. Always consult your personal
physician before starting any exercise program. For more information on
preventing heart disease and stroke in women join the Go Red For Women
movement, call 1-888-MY-HEART or visit goredforwomen.org.
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