If your goal is to lose weight and maintain optimal health and fitness, the quality of the exercises and the chosen nutrition plan are more important than the quantity“, says the scientist Pavel Arciero. He also has the results to prove it.

In an article, published by The Journal of Applied Physiology, Arciero and his colleges report about the benefits of a training program, which includes resistance exercises, interval exercises, stretching and endurance exercises. A regular protein intake through the day will reduce the overall fat, including the belly fat. It will increase the lean body mass and will help in achieving optimal levels of blood pressure, blood sugar and insulin. A member of the Advisory Board of the American heart association and a member of American college of Sports Medicine and the Obesity society, Arciero is very well familiar with the recommendations of exercises and nutrition plans, published by such organizations.

“They're well intended, but they're complex and they're not being communicated in a way that's easy for the public to understand and incorporate in their daily lifestyle. I wanted to test an exercise protocol with a nutritional component that's simple and understandable for people.” says Arciero.

In order to conduct the survey, Arciero enlisted 36 women and 21 men volunteers at an age from 35 to 57 years, who can be described as “out of shape”. They trained less than 60 minutes per week, they have not done any endurance workouts for 10 years and they can be described as obese or overweight, having an average body mass index of 28,6 and an average body fat percentage of 36,6%.

Dividing the people randomly in three groups, Arciero conducted a 16-week survey, in which all people consumed the same amount of whey protein - 60 grams per day, but trained differently. The first group followed a sedentary lifestyle, the second did intensive resistance trainings 4 times a week, and the third group followed multi-dimensional scheme which included resistance exercises, interval exercises, stretching and constant time under tension exercises.

When the experiment ended, Arciero found out that the third group had the biggest health improvements, including the biggest reduction of weight, fat percentage, waist size and blood sugar. In addition, this group also had the biggest increase of lean body mass.

An interesting fact is that all groups showed improvement, including the first group, which followed a sedentary lifestyle with only a daily scheme of 60 grams of whey protein. This finding supports an earlier research led by Arciero’s team, according to which, an increased protein intake by 35% leads to body fat reduction, including reduction of belly fat. In general, the research supports the thesis that the quality of the performed exercises is more important than the quantity.

“It's very difficult to just lift weights, or only do the treadmill or the elliptical machine and be healthy," says Arciero. "Your exercise regimen needs to encompass as much of what makes you a fully integrated living person as possible.” says Arciero. “It's not about simply doing more exercise," he continues. "It's about doing the appropriate range of exercises and activities that most effectively promote health and fitness.”

My Body Creator has a database, which includes hundreds of different 12-week workout programs, adapted to the different types of users’ physical characteristics and desired goals. The workouts are diverse and there is an option to change certain exercises, if desired. In addition there are descriptions of how the exercises must be performed. (extended sets, interval exercises, pyramids, forced exercises till failure, constant time under tension, basic exercises etc…). The software also strictly monitors the resting time between sets and between exercises.

P. J. Arciero, D. Baur, S. Connelly, M. J. Ormsbee. Timed-daily Ingestion of Whey Protein and Exercise Training Reduces Visceral Adipose Tissue Mass and Improves Insulin Resistance: The PRISE Study. Journal of Applied Physiology, 2014