1. Characteristics of included studies ‐ baseline.

Study ID	Location	N randomised/ withdrawals	% female	Age	Participant information
Barrett 2012	USA	154/5	81.8	50 years or over	Healthy, sedentary
Barrett 2018	USA	419/29	76	49.6 ± 11.6 years	Healthy, sedentary
Chubak 2006	USA	115/0	100	50 years or over	Overweight/obese, non‐smoking, sedentary postmenopausal women
Ciloğlu 2005	Turkey	90/0	100	45 to 65 years	Sedentary postmenopausal women
Dias 2014	Brazil	16/0	100	58.67 ± 6.12 years	Sedentary postmenopausal women
Klentrou 2002	Canada	20/0	Not reported	25 to 50 years	Sedentary men or women
Manzaneque 2004	Spain	29/3	51.7	18 to 21 years	Healthy, sedentary
Nieman 1990	USA	50/14	100	25 to 45 years	Mildly obese, sedentary women
Nieman 1993	USA	32/2	100	67 to 85 years	Healthy, sedentary
Nieman 1997	USA	102/11	100	25 to 70 years	Obese, sedentary women
Silva 2018	Portugal	38/12	73	71.00 ± 4.05 years	Healthy, sedentary
Sloan 2013	USA	32/0	100	54.1 ± 5.3 years	Healthy postmenopausal women
Weidner 1998	USA	50/0	52	19 to 29 years	Moderately fit, maximal oxygen uptake value corresponding to > 40th percentile for age and gender
Weidner 2003	USA	25/0	68.1	19 to 29 years	Sedentary