Honours students Blake Collins and Joshua Cooper, with the help of their lecturer Dr Cheyne Donges from the School of Human Movement Studies at CSU, want to conduct more research to determine how certain types of exercise affect visceral fat of the abdomen.

They will be assisted by Professor Rob Robergs and David Adams.

One student will be looking at deep tummy fat and how it can be changed with interval exercise in comparison with endurance exercises.

The other student will focus more on the heart and the way it beats after these kinds of exercise. Dr Donges will supervise the tests.

By the end of the study, which will be conducted three days a week over 12 weeks, they hope to be able to definitively say that high intensity interval exercise conducted in a short period of time is more beneficial than endurance training that takes more time to complete, as theories have suggested is the case.

“At the moment there has been no research to show whether interval training affects visceral fat,” Dr Donges said.

To be able to test this appropriately, the students will require the help of 70 participants. The findings will be used for each to write their thesis.

Dr Donges said participants need to be middle-aged men, between the ages of 40 and 60, who are busy with work and do not follow a regular exercise regime.

Participants must also be non-smokers and not taking any blood pressure medications. Those who wish to be part of the study – and who meet the above criteria – should send an email to blcollins@ csu.edu.au with their name, age and best contact number.

Registration is open now and the study will officially begin in April. Please note, those involved in the 12-week training study conducted in 2011 are not eligible.