The effects of aerobic fitness on resting metabolic rate

A cross-sectional study was designed to determine the relationship between aerobic fitness and resting metabolic rate (RMR) in 69 males exhibiting a wide range of aerobic fitness levels (V̇O2max = 32.8–78.1 mL · kg−1 · min−1). The results of this study indicated that RMR was not significantly different between trained and untrained individuals when expressed in kJ · kg fat-free weight−1 · hr−1 or using an ANCOVA with fat-free weight as the covariate and RMR as the dependent variable (F ratio = 0.353, P < 0.70). In addition, this study also failed to support a previously suggested hypothesis that an elevated RMR may only be observed in those individuals exhibiting both high V̇O2max values and currently training a minimum of 1216 h/wk. Thus, the results of this study strongly suggest that RMR is independent of both a person's current aerobic level and training status.