I love cardiovascular exercise but believe the role of strength training as a means of bettering health has been severely underrepresented in the research and prescription among health care professionals. The following study hypothesized that “obesity-related risk factors would be greater in response to aerobic exercise than resistance exercise”. However, the results from this study demonstrated that although both modes of exercise where highly successful in controlling obesity, strength training showed greater benefit.

What I found most interesting though was the following observation: “Anecdotally, however, there were differences in how much the boys enjoyed the exercise intervention. In the aerobic group, the participants found the exercise to be boring, whereas those in the resistance group were much more enthusiastic and seemingly enjoyed the exercise intervention. Given the superior improvements with resistance exercise and the enjoyment factor, we propose therefore that resistance exercise may be a better mode of exercise for moderately obese boys of this age group.”

So, parents, encourage your kids to lift weights, climb rocks, practice parkour or any other form of strength training that will keep them engaged and having fun.

Click here to read the full study.

My 5 year old son, demonstrating his rock climbing skills