Effects of aerobic training and detraining on body composition, lipid profile and insulin resistance in over weight policemen

Despite the importance of good physical fitness among military personnel, it is shown that obesity and over weight in the police and armed forces increased in recent years. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of aerobic training and detraining on body composition, lipid profile and insulin resistance in over weight policeman. A sample of 40 healthy Guilan policeman with a mean age of 29.8±6.3 y, weight: 87.42±6.2 kg, height 175.5±6 cm and BMI: 28.55±4.4 kg/m2 volunteered for this study. The subjects were divided into two groups including aerobic and control goups. Aerobic exercise program performed for 8 weeks, three days per week, with 65-75 maximal heart rate for 20-minutes in every session. Before and after performing of aerobic exercise program all variables (body composition, insulin, glucose and lipid profile) were measured. After the aerobic training protocol and testing for the second time, the subjects were prohibited from every exercise for 6 weeks. All measurements repeated again after 6 weeks of detraining and the data were collected. For extraction of the results it is applied the repeated measure of analysis of variance and Tukey post hoc tests. Performing of 8 weeks of aerobic exercise induced significant improvement in the insulin resistance (p=0.003), fat percentage (p=0.001), body mass index (p=0.004) and lipid profile improvement (p<0.05); while all adaptations returned to the baseline after 6 weeks of detraining. Regular aerobic exercise can improvement cardiovascular risk factors in military personnel; however these positive effects will be attenuated if considered detraining.