Effect of Concurrent, Strength and Endurance Training on Hormones, Lipids and Inflammatory Characteristics of Untrained Men

Concurrent training or the simultaneous performance of several types of exercise (strength and endurance training), has more positive effects on body composition and cardiovascular system, than training with either mode alone The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of three different training regimes (endurance, resistance and concurrent) on the hormone (cortisol & testosterone), lipid (LDL, HDL, TG, TC), and inflammatory (TNF-α) indexes of previously untrained subjects. Twenty-nine sedentary men students (age 24.89±1.21yrs, height 175.87±6.52 cm, weight 68.44±5.50 kg) were randomly divided into the Endurance (E; n=10), Strength (S; n=9), and the Concurrent(C; n=10) groups. The training programs were performed for 10 weeks, 3 times per week in the three groups. Body mass decreased in E group. Significant increases in squat and bench press exercises 1RM occurred after training in the S and C groups (P≤0.01). Training regimes produced no significant differences in plasma levels of TNF-α. Basal testosterone concentrations showed no significant changes in any group. In contrast, resting cortisol levels showed a significant increase in the S group only. Lipid profiles improved in all three groups. Our results indicate that strenght training leads to increase in the plasma levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine (TNF-α) and cortisol in untrained men, immunomodulatory effects which may be related to the training load of the S training program. It appears that combining the E and S training (concurrent training), neutralized the single effects of this these training types. Concurrent training can also be used for normalization of lipid profiles.