Metabolic rate in sedentary adults, following different exercise training interventions: The FIT-AGEING randomized controlled trial Amaro Gahete, Francisco José De-la-O, Alejandro Jurado Fasoli, Lucas Sánchez Delgado, Guillermo Ruiz Ruiz, Jonatan Castillo Aguayo, Manuel José Concurrent training Metabolic flexibility Energy metabolism The study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education (FPU13/01393, FPU14/04172 and FPU15/03960), by the University of Granada Plan Propio de Investigación 2016 (Excellence actions: Unit of Excellence on Exercise and Health [UCEES]), Plan Popio de Investigación 2018-Programa Contratos-Puente and Programa Perfeccionamiento de Doctores, and Plan Propio de Investigación 2019-Programa Contratos-Puente, by the Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Conocimiento, Investigación y Universidades, by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), ref. SOMM17/6107/UGR and by Redes Temáticas de Investigación Cooperativa RETIC grant Red SAMID RD16/0022, and the Fundación Alfonso Martín Escudero. Background & aims: This study compares the influence of different exercise training programs on basal metabolic rate (BMR) and fat oxidation, in basal conditions (BFox) and during exercise (MFO), in sedentary, middle-aged adults. Methods: The study subjects of this 12 week-long, randomised controlled trial, were 71 middle-aged adults (age 53.5 ± 4.9 years; 52% women). Subjects were randomly assigned to one of the following groups: (1) no exercise, (2) concurrent training based on international physical activity recommendations (PAR group), (3) high intensity interval training (HIIT group), and (4) high intensity interval training plus whole-body electromyostimulation (HIIT + EMS group). Subject BMR, BFox and MFO were determined by indirect calorimetry before and after the intervention. Results: The HIIT + EMS subjects showed significant increases in BFox following the intervention compared with the control group (all P = 0.043); no such differences were seen in the PAR and HIIT compared with the control group (all P ≥ 0.1). A significant increase in post-intervention MFO was noted for the HIIT and HIIT + EMS group compared to the non-exercise control group (P < 0.05); no such difference was seen in the PAR group compared to the control group (all P ≥ 0.05). Conclusions: Twelve weeks of high intensity interval training plus whole-body electromyostimulation may increase the BFox and MFO of middle-aged sedentary adults. These findings have important clinical implications; a well-designed high-intensity interval training program plus whole-body electromyostimulation might be followed to help combat the appearance of chronic metabolic diseases characterized by metabolic inflexibility in middle-aged sedentary adults, though it will be necessary to determine how long the effects last. 2025-12-19T11:26:43Z 2025-12-19T11:26:43Z 2020-11 journal article Amaro-Gahete, F. J., Jurado-Fasoli, L., Sanchez-Delgado, G., Ruiz, J. R., & Castillo, M. J. (2020). Metabolic rate in sedentary adults, following different exercise training interventions: The FIT-AGEING randomized controlled trial. Clinical nutrition, 39(11), 3230-32400. 10.1016/j.clnu.2020.02.001 0261-5614 1532-1983 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/109017 10.1016/j.clnu.2020.02.001 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ open access Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional Elsevier