Impacts of 10 Weeks Interval and Continuous Exercise Training on Selected Anthropometric, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Indicators of Overweight and Obese Females

Abstract

Characterized by abnormal or excessive fat accumulation in adipose tissues, Obesity is one chronic disease that can impair health. It is independently associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), specifically coronary heart disease and stroke. This prompted the American Heart Association to adopt it as a major CVD risk factor. This study sought to investigate possible effects of a 10 week continuous and a 10 week interval exercise programmes on selected anthropometric, cardiovascular and metabolic health indicators of overweight and obese untrained females. One hundred and eleven (111) overweight or obese female volunteers between 18 and 65 years were recruited as such. They were randomly assigned to 3 groups of 37 subjects each (CETG = Continuous Exercise Training Group, IETC = Interval Exercise Training Group, and CG = Control group).Four minutes of walk on a motorized treadmill (at 1.5 mph and 0% grade) with graded increase in speed and inclination for 20 minutes was done to familiarise subjects with the exercise modality after which pre-test or baseline values for selected anthropometric, cardiovascular and metabolic health indicators were obtained for each participant. While CG was not involved in any structured exercise, IETG and CETG started with 2 weeks of exercise training with intensity at 70% of Maximum Heart Rate (HR max) for a period of 20 minutes. At the following 2 weeks, IETG received an alternating 30 seconds of high-intensity exercise (75% HR max); followed by 90 seconds of low-intensity exercise (60% HR max) in ratio 1:3 for 25 minutes. Subjects in CETG received similar treatments as IETG without low-intensity exercise phase. The exercise regimen was graduated every two weeks by 5% increase in intensity (HR max), and the duration by 5 minutes till the 10th week. At repeated measures, Analysis of variance (ANOVA) proved significant (p < .05) for Systolic Blood Pressure, Mean Arterial Pressure and Pulse Pressure for IETG; and Diastolic Blood Pressure and Mean Arterial Pressure for CETG. Results also revealed significant difference (p < .05) in the values of anthropometric parameters (weight, hip and waist circumferences, waist-hip ratio as well as BMI) of both training groups. Metabolic indicators (Total cholesterol, LDL, and TG) showed statistically significant decrease in CETG, while IETG had a statistically significant increase in HDL.