Metabolic Cost of Bodyweight Training

Bodyweight training has become a popular cardiovascular training choice in fitness centers and athletic performance enhancement facilities. Despite widespread use and growing popularity, little is known about the metabolic demands of such a training method. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to quantify the cardiovascular and metabolic cost from various foundational bodyweight exercises in order to contribute to a better planning of exercise programs in the real world. Ten healthy young adults were assigned to execute seven bodyweight exercises (acute bout) for 30 and 45 seconds. Anthropometric, metabolic, and performance measurements were conducted at baseline. The metabolic cost was estimated from heart rate, blood lactate, resting oxygen uptake, exercise oxygen uptake, and excess post-exercise oxygen consumption measurements using a portable gas analyzer.