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·m(-2), peak VO(2) 30.1±4.9 ml·kg(-1)·min(-1)) 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(-1) was induced by 7.5 h of structured exercise intervention. EE [kJ·kg(-1)·h(-1)] 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.
© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.