The Effects of Resistance, Endurance, and Combined Exercise on Cardiac Biomarkers in Active Subjects

Cardiac biomarkers are factors that are used in the diagnosis of heart tissue damage and acute myocardial infarction. The main purpose of this study was to compare 3 types of endurance, resistance, and combined exercise on cardiac biomarkers, i.e. cardiac troponin T (cTnT) and creatine kinase isoenzymes MB (CK-MB), in active men. A total number of 15 healthy active young men with a mean age of 23 ± 1.60 years, mean height of 173 ± 3.75 cm, mean weight of 69 ± 8.74 kg, and maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max) of 51.48 ± 1.84 mL/kg.min were selected. Each subject performed the 3 types of exercise with 7-day intervals. Blood samples were obtained before and immediately after exercise and cardiac biomarkers were evaluated. Statistical analyses were conducted using paired t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Our results indicated that CK-MB increased significantly after resistance, endurance, and combined exercise (pretest value = 20.87 ± 2.39; posttest values = 25.98 ± 3.86, 26.34 ± 4.21, and 27± 2.66, respectively; a = 0.01). However, the 3 types of exercise did not result in significantly different CK-MB levels. CTnT levels did not change significantly after resistance, endurance, or combined exercise [pretest value = 0.65 ± 0.11; posttest values = 0.48 ± 0.11, 0.65 ± 0.11, and 0.77 ± 0.11, respectively; a = 0.01). Nevertheless, cTnT levels were higher after endurance and combined exercise compared to resistance exercise. The results indicated that despite the increased amounts of CK-MB which might have been caused by the nature of exercises and muscle damage due to intense muscular activity, none of endurance, resistance, and combined exercises triggered significant changes in cTnT levels in active men. Therefore, these types of exercise cannot be followed by heart damage.