High intensity endurance training improves metabolic syndrome in men with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a defined cluster of cardiometabolic abnormalities that increases an individual’s risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of 12 weeks high intensity exercise training on MS in men with T2DM.

Sixteen sedentary overweight and obese middle-aged men (aged: 41.18 ± 6.1 years; ± SD) volunteered to participate in this study. The subjects were randomly assigned to training group (n=8) or control group (n=8). The training group performed endurance training 4 days a week for 12 weeks at an intensity corresponding to 75-80% individual heart rate reserve (HRR) for 45 min.

The results showed that waist circumference (WC) as well as triglycerides (TG), blood pressure (BP) and glucose were decreased in the training group compared to the control group (P<0.05). After 12 weeks, the training group resulted in a significant increase (P<0.05) in the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in compared with the control group (P<0.05).

In conclusion, high intensity endurance training improves metabolic syndrome in men with T2DM.