![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SCN230126-hiit-seniors-1.jpg\")
Sandra Kershaw-Smith gets moving.<\/p>\nNew research led by University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC) academics is examining how different exercise intensities affect body composition in older adults.<\/p>\n
The study revealed that high intensity interval training (HIIT) may be the optimal exercise for reducing body fat while maintaining muscle mass in older adults.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found that high, medium and low intensity exercises all led to modest fat loss but only HIIT retained lean muscle,\u201d lead author and exercise physiologist Dr Grace Rose said.<\/p>\n
The study examined how the intensity of different exercises could influence body composition in healthy older adults.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile moderate training reduced\u00a0fat\u00a0mass, it also caused a small decline in lean muscle,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth high and moderate intensities improved the composition of weight carried around the middle. Further analysis is needed of the low intensity results.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Rose said the findings were particularly useful because\u00a0body\u00a0composition was implicated in the progression of many chronic diseases as people aged.<\/p>\n
More than 120 healthy older adults from the Greater Brisbane region participated in the study, completing three exercise sessions a week in the gym for six months.<\/p>\n
Their average age was 72 years old and average body mass index was 26kg\/m2, categorised as normal for people aged over 65.<\/p>\n
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Sandra Kershaw-Smith gets moving.<\/p>\n
UniSC Associate Professor of Physiology and co-author Mia Schaumberg welcomed the timing of the paper published in the journal Maturitas, with collaborators including\u00a0UniSC\u2019s Healthy Ageing Research Cluster\u00a0and The University of Queensland.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the festive season now behind most of us and New Year\u2019s resolutions in full swing, this research can help inform people\u2019s plans for healthy ageing in 2026,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHigh intensity training in this study involved repeated short bursts, or intervals, of very hard exercise \u2013 where breathing is heavy and conversation is difficult \u2013 alternated with easier recovery periods.<\/p>\n
\u201cHIIT likely works better because it puts more stress on the muscles, giving the\u00a0body\u00a0a stronger signal to keep muscle tissue rather than lose it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New research led by University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC) academics is examining how different exercise intensities affect…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[64,63,538,137],"class_list":{"0":"post-439785","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fitness","11":"tag-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}