Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the energy expenditure (EE) of different exercise intervention modes commonly employed in youth obesity programs. Individual heart rate (HR) - EE relationships were obtained in 20 obese adolescents (13.6 +/- 1.4 years, BMI 31.8 +/- 4.1 kg/m2, peak VO2 30.1 +/- 4.9 ml/kg/min) attending inpatient comprehensive multidisciplinary intervention and EE was calculated from HR during different exercise therapy modes. Per week, a cumulative EE above baseline of 7 829 +/- 2 229 kJ/week was induced by 7.5 h of structured exercise intervention. EE [kJ/kg/h] of walking (14.0 +/- 2.9) differed significantly from swimming (19.9 +/- 5.9), water games (18.0 +/- 4.4), 65-85 W cycle ergometry (19.6 +/- 3.7), strength/stability circuit (18.9 +/- 3.7), small group games/relays (19.0 +/- 5.4) and team sports (20.6 +/- 7.0) (p < 0.05). Since the energy cost of all exercise modes except walking was comparable, priority should be given to the adolescents' preferences to promote long-term activity behaviour change. Verf.-Referat