Start your 2022 fitness journey through Pennington Biomedical Research Center study

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - “New year, new you” is what many of us say as we set new health goals for the new year.

As people across the Capital Region look to make changes and start their fitness journey, the Pennington Biomedical Research Center has a way to help form some of those better habits.

Dan Rees and Duo Xu from Baton Rouge are taking part in a nationwide study trying to understand people’s responses to exercise.

“I viewed it as you can see, very orchestrated and regimented, and so I know it’s beneficial to me,” said Dan Rees, a participant in the study.

Rees is two weeks in, and others have been at it for over two months, learning the importance of routine with a personal trainer.

“I think the benefit is really approaching the new year’s, and people want to make a difference in their health,” said Dr. Eric Ravussin,

Associate Executive Director for Clinical Science at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

One of the study’s primary investigators, Dr. Eric Ravussin, said this study is for sedentary people and involves 12 weeks of supervised walking on the treadmill and exercise biking or resistance training.

“We’re at the age of precision medicine,” said Ravussin. “We need to identify responders and non-responders. It’s like diet, you know. People ask me what’s the best diet for weight loss and I tell them whatever works for you.”

He said they are still looking for hundreds of participants and that it could be a great way to hold true to one of your new year’s resolutions.

“Usually, for people when they volunteer for this kind of long-term studies at Pennington, they kind of keep up after that,” said Ravussin. “They have learned something, and if they want to re-engage because they have been slacking off, they know how to do it.”

“It’s a matter of getting to a plateau where you are comfortable in the routine of doing it, and so you’ve formed the habitat and then just don’t want to break it,” said Rees.

You can get 1,500 dollars to participate.

We have more details and how to sign up HERE.

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