Table 2.

Comparison of effects of aerobic exercise with resistance exercise on health and fitness variables.

Variable	Aerobic Exercise	Resistance Exercise
Total body fat	⇊	↓
Intra-abdominal fat	⇊	↓↔
Lean body mass	↔	⇈
Body weight	↓	↔
Resting metabolic rate	↑	⇈
Muscular strength	↔	↑↑↑
Muscular mass	↔	⇈
Muscular power	↔	↑
Capillary density	↑	↔
Mitochondrial volume	⇈	↓↔
Mitochondrial density	⇈	↓↔
Basal insulin levels	↓	↓
Insulin sensitivity	⇈	⇈
Insulin response to glucose challenge	⇊	⇊
Resting heart rate	⇊	↔
SBP at rest	⇊	↓
DBP at rest	⇊	↓
Peak VO2	↑↑↑	↑ ↔
Submaximal and maximal endurance time	↑↑↑	⇈
Submaximal exercise rate-pressure product	↓↓↓	⇊

↑ Indicates increased; ↓, decreased; ↔, negligible effect; 1 arrow, small effect; 2 arrows, moderate effect; 3 arrows, large effect.

Abbreviations: SBP, systolic blood pressure; DBP, diastolic blood pressure.