The Effects of Aerobics to the Body Fat of IPB Female Students

Regular physical activity can have a positive impact on a person's fitness, including increasing the ability of oxygen consumption and cardiac output; increasing the heart rate; decreasing blood value; increasing work efficiency of the heart; being able to increase body metabolism; improving muscle capacity; and preventing obesity. Physical activity can be done with sports which one of them is aerobic exercise. Aerobics consist of moderate intensity (low impact) and high intensity (high impact).

Three researchers, Budi Setiawan and Rimbawan from the Department of Community Nutrition, Faculty of Human Ecology (Fema), Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB), and Mury Kuswari from the Department of Nutrition Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Esa Unggul University, Jakarta, conducted a research related to the influence of moderate intensity of aerobics to the body fat.

"The objective of this research is to analyze the effect of moderate intensity of aerobics (low impact) on body fat of female students of IPB," said Budi.

This study used the quasi-experimental design with 21 female students aged 18-21 years as the subjects divided into three groups of treatment doing moderate-intensity aerobic exercise for eight weeks. The first group was given treatment twice a week, the second group was three times a week, and the third group was four times a week. Primary data observed were body fat (triceps, abdomen and quadriceps).

From the results, the researchers found that in the third group there was a noticeable decrease between before and after treatment, namely 6.6 cm triceps, 5.4 cm abdomen and 9.4 cm quadriceps.

"The frequency of moderate intensity of aerobic exercise performed four times a week has been shown to significantly lower the lipid folds of the triceps, abdomen and quadriceps. Moderately aerobic exercise intensity with the frequency of three times a week can significantly lower the fat folds of the thighs. The frequency of aerobic exercise as many as twice a week can reduce the fat folds under the skin significantly in triceps, abdomen and quadriceps," explained Budi.

He added that the frequency of moderate aerobic exercise for four times a week has the best function to lose body fat compared to the experiments with the frequency of twice and three times a week. (TK)