Blood lipid responses after continuous and accumulated aerobic exercise

The purpose of this study was to compare blood lipid responses to continuous versus accumulated exercise. Nine participants completed the following conditions on separate occasions by treadmill walking/jogging at 70% of VO2max: 1) one 500-kcal session and 2) three 167 kcal sessions. Total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and triglycerides (TG) concentrations were measured from serum samples obtained 24 h prior to and 24 and 48 h after exercise. All blood lipid responses were analyzed in 2 (condition) x 3 (time) repeated measures ANOVAs. HDL-C increased by 7 mg/dL over baseline at 48 h post-exercise with three accumulated sessions versus 2 mg/dL with continuous exercise (P < 0.05). Triglyceride concentrations were unchanged in both conditions. These findings suggest that three smaller bouts accumulated on the same day may have a modestly greater effect for achieving transient increases in HDL-C compared to a continuous bout of similar caloric expenditure.