WALK. The participants were instructed to walk daily, at first week 12minutes/day, week II 16mins/day, week III 20mins/day, week IV 24 mins/day, week V 28mins/day, week VI 32mins/day at a pace that would moderately increase heart rate and result in sweating

HULA. The participants were instructed to hula hoop daily, at first week 6minutes/day, week II 8mins/day, week III 10mins/day, week IV 12 mins/day, week V 14mins/day, week VI 16mins/day

The primary objective was to evaluate the change in the % fat in the android region as measured by DEXA during 6 weeks of HULA as compared to WALK

The secondary objectives included the comparison of differences in waist circumference (cm), relative and absolute trunk and limb muscle mass as measured by DEXA (% and kg), fasting plasma glucose (mmol/l), fasting serum insulin (mU/l), liver enzymes (U/l), fasting plasma LDL and HDL cholesterol and triglycerides (mmol/l). Gene expression was analyzed in adipose tissue biopsies collected before and after each exercise intervention.

To determine the effects of HULA compared to WALK on adipose tissue inflammation, a needle aspiration biopsy of abdominal s.c. adipose tissue was taken under local anesthesia with lidocaine before and after each exercise intervention. The adipose tissue sample was immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen and then stored at -80°C until analysis. Total RNA from s.c. AT was isolated.Relative quantification for the genes of interest (see list below) was carried out using normalization to the 36B4 and β-actin mRNA values.

ABCA1 Adiponectin ANGPTL8 CHOP CD4 CD8 CD68 ETFDH FOXP3 GLUT4 MCP-1 MRC-1 PGC-1α VEGF-A β-actin