The table below shows the changes in body composition of people who followed several protocols (6 months duration) in order to reduce their fat mass.

Body Composition Time Period Resistance Training Aerobic Training Combination of Aerobic and Resistance Training Nutrition
Body weight (Kg) Before
After
Difference		 100,9
99,1
-1,8		 96
89,4
-6,6		 100
91
-9*		 99,6
90,1
-9,5*
Lean body mass Before
After
Difference		 58,9
64,7
5,8		 57,5
54,2
-3,3*		 59,3
58,3
-1		 57
53,3
-3,7*
Fat body mass Before
After
Difference		 42,1
34,4
-7,7		 38,4
35,2
-3,2		 41,7
32,7
-9*		 42,6
36,8
-5,8
With (*)you may see the most significant decreases

Table 6: Nutrition, resistance training, aerobic training as well as the combination of aerobic and resistance training effect on body composition.

It is observed that the biggest body weight loss was achieved through nutrition and then by the combination of resistance and aerobic exercise. However, the body weight is a wrong indicator, which very often yields wrong conclusions. It is not the body weight that it should concern us but the body composition.

Therefore, it was found that those who did the aerobic training and nutrition reduced their lean mass. As a result, their body weight loss was mainly caused due to the decrease of their lean mass, thus further reducing their basic metabolism and physical function.

On the contrary, those who did only resistance training improved their muscle mass, therefore their body weight wasn’t reduced so much. The same time, those who did aerobic and resistance training didn’t lose any lean mass. As a result of the above, the fat loss was achieved by those who did the combination of aerobic and resistance training and then by those who did only resistance training. The other two groups saw less results.

This happens because those who do resistance training increase their muscle mass and as a result their metabolism.

On the other hand, those who do aerobic exercise are constantly burning energy, even at rest. If they combine it with resistance training, which increases the basic metabolism, they achieve a much higher EPOC after training and their main source of energy is the fat.

Therefore, the combination of aerobic and resistance training helps in body fat and weight reduction. However, it is achieved less muscular hypertrophy than if performed only resistance training.

Another benefit of this training combination is the improvement of the cardiopulmonary system as described in the Table 7.

Parameter of the Cardiorespiratory System Type of training
Aerobic Training Resistance Training Combination of Aerobic & Resistance Training
VO₂ max ↑↑ ↑↔ ↑↑↑
Cardiac Output ↑↔ ↔ ↑↔
Stroke volume ↑ ↔ ↔
Ejection Fraction ↑↔ ↔ ↑↔
End-systolic volume ↔ ↔ ↔
End-diastolic volume ↑↔ ↔ ↑↔
Vascular Function ↑↑ ↑ ↑↑
Angiogenesis ↑ ↑↑ ↑↑

Table 7: Combination of aerobic and resistance training as 1 training unit in selected parameters of the cardiorespiratory system of trainees.

(↓) denotes the decrease, (↑) the increase and (↔) undifferentiation of the function of the parameters. The more arrows, the greater the effect is.

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