Effect of moderate and high intensity resistant exercises on cardiovascular risk factors in non-athlete university students

Various studies have been performed to evaluate the effect of physical exercise on factors related to cardiovascular diseases that mostly show the beneficial effects of regular physical exercise on these factors. However, little research has been performed on resistance exercises. The purpose of present study was to investigate the effect of mild and high intensity resistance training on some cardiovascular risk factors.

This clinical trial study was carried out in year 2009. The study population was non-athlete university students of Kurdistan. 30 young healthy me n were selected by random sampling method and divided randomly into three groups of experimental1, experimental2 and control group. The two experimental groups underwent resistance training for six consecutive weeks. ApoB, ApoA, LDL, HDL, ApoB/ApoA, LPL, TG, cholesterol, HDL /cholesterol, BMI, blood pressure and waist to hip ratio were assessed before and after the training period. ANOVA test with repeated measurement, paired t-test, one-way variance analysis and Bonferroni correction test were used for data analysis in SPSS 14 software.

After the training period, LDL, cholesterol, HDL /cholesterol and BMI significantly decreased in experimental groups. HDL only increased in the second experimental group. Other studied factors did not change significantly in any of groups.

Resistance training for six weeks in young healthy males can have beneficial effects on some cardiovascular risk factors. HDL response to resistance training is affected by the training intensity.