The Effect of Eight Weeks of Selected Resistance Training on the Levels of Irisin, Follistatin and FGF21 in Women Recovering from Covid-19

Recently, performing regular sport activities has received attention due to the release of Myokines in reducing the complications caused by Covid-19, especially reducing inflammation and oxidative stress, rebuilding and repairing damaged tissues and reducing metabolic disorders. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of eight weeks of selected resistance training on the levels of Irisin, Follistatin and FGF21 in women who recovered from Covid-19.

Upon a public call, twenty-two women who recovered from Covid-19 in Abadan and Khorramshahr cities were selected and divided into two groups of 11 people, including the resistance training group and the control group, . The resistance training protocol was implemented for eight weeks and three sessions per week, including eight movements with an intensity of 40 to 75% of a maximum repetition. Blood sampling was done in two stages before and after the implementation of the protocol. The measurement of the levels of the Irisin, Follistatin and FGF21 was done by ELISA method and the data was analyzed using the covariance statistical test (ANCOVA) at the (p<0.05) level.

Comparison of the between groups data showed that the values of irisin (p<0.05), follistatin (p<0.05) and FGF21 (p<0.05) significantly increased in the resistance group compared to the control group. In addition, the examination of intra-group changes of irisin (p<0.05), follistatin (p<0.05) and FGF21 (p<0.05) indicated that there is a significant increase between the mean before and after implementation of the protocol in the resistance group.

It seems that resistance training leads to improvement of Myokine profile through the recovery of muscle mass in women recovering from covid-19.