Effects of "Exercise Snack" in Individuals With Obesity (OBEXSNACK)

November 9, 2026 updated by: Istituto Auxologico Italiano

Effects of "Exercise Snack" on Physical Fitness,Vbody Composition, Enjoyment and Quality of Life in Outpatients With Obesity

Obesity is associated with reduced physical fitness, functional limitations, and poorer quality of life (Kell et al., 2001). Nutritional support and supervised exercise can improve weight management and physical health, but low motivation and perceived lack of time often limit participation to physical activity (Alberga et al., 2013; Baillot et al., 2021). Evidence shows that shorter-time exercise strategies may help overcome these barriers and support training adherence (Poon et al., 2020). Brief activity bouts distributed throughout the day, including vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity and structured "exercise snacks," may help to improve cardiorespiratory fitness, muscle function, and metabolic health (Islam et al., 2022; Ahmadi et al., 2024; Wang et al., 2024). Observational evidence also links VILPA to lower mortality risk (Stamatakis et al., 2023). Combining brief exercise bouts with education to interrupt prolonged sitting may therefore address both insufficient physical activity and sedentary behaviour (Dunstan et al., 2021; Dogra et al., 2022; Pinto et al., 2023). Generally, research has largely focused on healthy, inactive adults, with limited evidence in people with overweight or obesity (Jones et al., 2024). Rafiei et al. (2021) reported acute improvements in insulin and non-esterified fatty acid responses following brief stair-climbing bouts compared with prolonged sitting in adults with obesity. Schmidt et al. (2001) found comparable improvements in body composition and aerobic fitness following accumulated or continuous exercise during caloric restriction. The effects of exercise snacks combined with education to reduce sedentary behaviour nevertheless remain unclear. This study aims to evaluate the effects of an exercise-snacking programme on body composition, physical fitness, quality of life, and exercise adherence in adults with obesity.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

8

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • Italy
    • Mi
      • Milan, Mi, Italy, 20145
        • Recruiting
        • Istituto Auxologico Italiano IRCCS
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

30 years to 70 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Male or female gender
  • Body Mass Index more than 30 kg/m2
  • Participation in physical activity fewer than twice per week
  • informed consent signature

Exclusion Criteria:

  • aged more than 70 years
  • history of disabling musculoskeletal or osteoarticular conditions that prevent regular participation in physical activity, with a pain score > of 7 out of 10 arbitrary units on the visual analogue scale (VAS)
  • history of hip or knee replacement
  • Surgery within the 6 months preceding the study
  • presence of severe hip or knee osteoarthrosis
  • presence of cardiac, neurological or psychiatric disordes

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Exercise Snack Group

Exercise snacks activity throughout the day
Other: Exercise snack

10-week-home-based training protocol to improve cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength and stability performed through a short bout of physical activity called "exercise snack". The programme consists of high-intensity home-based exercises performed in five 2-minute bouts per day, spaced 2 hours apart, for 7 days (10 minutes of exercise per day).
Experimental: Traditional Fitness Group

Conventional circuit training exercise
Other: Conventional exercise training

10-week-home-based training protocol to improve cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength and stability performed through a circuit-training mode. The programme consists of home-based exercises performed in a circuit-training format (time of work per set 20 s, time of rest between each exercise 10 s, time of rest between sets 2 min, total volume 3 sets) for a duration of 35 min with a frequency of 3 days per week while performing traditional strength and postural control exercises.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change from baseline fat mass at ten weeks
Time Frame: up to ten weeks

Fat mass percentage measurement using a bioelectric impedance analysis
up to ten weeks
Change from baseline fat free mass at ten weeks
Time Frame: up to ten weeks

Fat free mass percentage measurement using a bioelectric impedance analysis
up to ten weeks
Change from baseline waist circumference at ten weeks
Time Frame: up to ten weeks

Waist circumference using a 200 centimeters tape measure in centimeters
up to ten weeks
Change from baseline weight at ten weeks
Time Frame: up to ten weeks

Body weight using a calibrated weight scale in kilograms
up to ten weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change from baseline body balance at ten weeks
Time Frame: up to ten weeks

Body stability using the modified version of the Balance Error Scoring System protocol in arbitrary units with a 0-30 point scale in which lower scores mean a better outcome
up to ten weeks
Change from baseline upper-body muscular strength at ten weeks
Time Frame: up to ten weeks

Maximal isometric grip strength in kilograms using the handgrip dynamometer
up to ten weeks
Change from baseline lower-body muscular strength at six weeks
Time Frame: up to ten weeks

Amount of time in seconds during a chair raise using the Five Repetition Sit-To-Stand protocol
up to ten weeks
Change from baseline cardiorespiratory fitness at ten weeks
Time Frame: up to ten weeks

Heart rate monitor in beats per minute during a 45-second squat exercise using the Ruffier-Dickson squat test protocol
up to ten weeks
Change from baseline amount of physical activity at ten weeks
Time Frame: up to ten weeks

Weekly amount of physical activity and sedentary time using the short-form International Physical Activity Questionnaire expressed in mets per week
up to ten weeks
Change from baseline enjoyment at ten weeks
Time Frame: up to ten weeks

Exercise enjoyment using the short-form PACES scale questionnaire in arbitrary units with a 0-5 point scale in which higher scores mean a better outcome
up to ten weeks
Change from baseline adherence at ten weeks
Time Frame: up to ten weeks

Exercise enjoyment using the Exercise Adherence Rating Scale questionnaire in arbitrary units with a 0-5 point scale in which higher scores mean a better outcome
up to ten weeks
Change from baseline quality of life perception at ten weeks
Time Frame: up to ten weeks

Subjective quality of life perception using the using the EuroQol EQ-5D VAS in arbitrary units with a 0-100 point scale in which higher scores mean a better outcome
up to ten weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Istituto Auxologico Italiano

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Luca Cavaggioni, PhD, Istituto Auxologico Italiano IRCCS

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

November 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

February 25, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

March 31, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 9, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 9, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

November 13, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

November 13, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 9, 2026

Last Verified

November 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 43C504

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Subscribe