The Effect of Endurance and Resistance Training on Interleukin-6 and Tumor Necrosis Factor-α in Overweight Young Women

The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of endurance and resistance training on some inflammatory cytokines in overweight young women. 30 overweight young women (BMI≥25) were selected and randomly divided into three groups: endurance, resistance and control. The training groups practiced for 12 weeks and 3 sessions a week. The endurance training was designed by intensity of 60-75% of the target heart rate covering a distance from 1600 to 3200 meters, and the resistance training was designed from 50-60% of one maximum repetition with 12 repetitions and 4 sets. IL-6, TNF- α, body weight, fat percentage, BMI and the maximum oxygen consumption (VO2max) were measured before and after 12 weeks of training. The results showed that the endurance and resistance training had a significant effect on the body weight, body fat percentage, VO2max, IL-6 and TNF-α, except for BMI (P≤0.05). In addition, there was no significant difference between the effect of the resistance and endurance training. It seems that endurance and resistance training decrease the risk of non-infectious diseases in overweight young women with a significant decrease in the inflammatory cytokines.