Introduction: It’s the last week of university and I’m preparing my last lecture for a colleague who is in Las Vegas at a strength and conditioning conference. Hmmph! Just not fair – and on top of sending an email from the poolside reminding me to give the lecture, he has the audacity to complain about the 40°C weather (did I mention it’s been single digits temperature here on the Gold Coast in the mornings?) Anyway, getting back on topic, I’m preparing his lecture on obesity and am including a number of slides on basal metabolic rate, resting metabolic rate, assessment of obesity (skinfolds, bio electrical impedance, air-displacement plethysmography (aka BodPod), hydrostatic weighing and dual energy X-ray absorptiometry) as the students have endless questions about the best technique to estimate adiposity (body fat) and which exercises are best (in terms of caloric expenditure) for clients with weight management issues. The recent article by Dr Ratamess and his colleagues is a perfect fit for this topic as they evaluated the metabolic demands of 13 common modes of exercise.