Effect of 8 Weeks of Selected Pilates Exercises on Plasma Levels of Homocysteine and Fibrinogen in Non-Athlete Obese Women

Obesity is obviously related to incidence of cardiovascular problems. Novel risk factors of cardiovascular diseases, such as fibrinogen and homocysteine, have attracted the attention of many researchers. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of 8 weeks of selected Pilates exercises on plasma levels of fibrinogen and homocysteine in non-athlete obese women.
Twenty non-athlete obese women (age, 29.6±3.6years; body mass index, 32.6±1.6kg/m2) voluntarily participated in this quasi-experimental study. The participants were randomly divided into two equal groups of control (daily activities) and experimental (selected Pilates exercises). The intervention of experimental group consisted of performing 8 weeks of selected Pilates exercises, 3 sessions per week, with each session lasting 60-75min. Before and after 8 weeks of Pilates exercises, blood samples (5cc), were taken from all participants in a 10-hour fasting state. Plasma levels of fibrinogen and homocysteine were assessed using ELISA method. Data were analyzed using independent and paired t-tests (p Significant differences were observed in concentration of plasma fibrinogen (340.1±40.98mg/dl before vs 309.5±34.65mg/dl after) and plasma homocysteine (15.01±1.15µmol/l before vs 12.26±1.47µmol/l after) (p Overall, it seems that probably selected Pilates exercises can have beneficial effects on some cardiovascular risk factors.