Effects of 12 Weeks of Resistance Training on Body Composition, Muscle Hypertrophy and Function, Blood Lipid Level, and Hemorheological Properties in Middle-Aged Obese Women

Jisoo Seo^1,†, Hun-Young Park^1,2,†, Won-Sang Jung^2,3, Sung-Woo Kim², Yerin Sun¹, Jae-Ho Choi¹, Jisu Kim^1,2, Kiwon Lim^1,2,4,*

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¹ Department of Sports Medicine and Science, Konkuk University, 05029 Seoul, Republic of Korea

² Physical Activity and Performance Institute (PAPI), Konkuk University, 05029 Seoul, Republic of Korea

³ Department of Senior Exercise Prescription, Dongseo University, 47011 Busan, Republic of Korea

⁴ Department of Physical Education, Konkuk University, 05029 Seoul, Republic of Korea

^*Correspondence: exercise@konkuk.ac.kr (Kiwon Lim)
^†These authors contributed equally as first authors.

Rev. Cardiovasc. Med. 2023, 24(7), 196; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.rcm2407196

Submitted: 6 February 2023 | Revised: 3 April 2023 | Accepted: 19 April 2023 | Published: 12 July 2023

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Atherosclerosis and Cardiovascular Diseases in Asia: State-of-the-Art Reviews)

This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.

Abstract

Background: This study investigated the effects of 12-week resistance training on body composition, blood pressure, blood lipid levels, muscle cross-sectional area (CSA), isokinetic muscle function, and hemorheological properties in middle-aged obese women. Methods: Twenty-eight obese women with a mean age of 50.79 $\pm{}$ 5.80 years were randomly assigned to the control (CON, n = 13) or experimental (EXP, n = 15) group. The EXP group underwent a resistance training program composed of warm-up, main resistance exercise (deadlift, barbell squat, seated leg extension, and lying leg curl, bench press, preacher bench biceps curl, barbell rowing, and dumbbell shoulder press), and cool-down. The resistance exercise consisted of three sets of 8–10 repetitions (reps) performed with 70–80% of 1-rep maximum, and reps and sets were increased every 3 weeks. The training frequency was 80 min, 3 days per week for 12 weeks. The CON group maintained their daily lifestyle without training. All participants underwent measurements of body composition (weight, body mass index, lean body mass, fat mass, and % body fat), blood pressure (systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure, and pulse pressure), blood lipid levels (triglycerides, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol), CSA of the muscles (quadriceps, hamstring, and total thigh muscle), isokinetic muscle function (peak torque [PT], relative PT, mean power, and total work [TW]), and hemorheological properties (erythrocyte deformability and aggregation) before and after 12 weeks of training. Results: The EXP group showed a significant improved muscle function, including PT (p $<$ 0.001), relative PT (p $<$ 0.001) in extension 60°/s, TW (p $<$ 0.001) in extension 180°/s, and TW (p = 0.018) in flexion 180°/s. Regarding hemorheological properties, the EXP group showed significant improvement in erythrocyte aggregation (p $<$ 0.001) and deformability (p $<$ 0.001). Conclusions: The present study verified that our resistance training program resulted in greater muscle function, decreased fat mass, and improved hemorheological properties. Clinical Trial Registration: This study was registered with cris.nih.go.kr (No. KCT0007412).

Keywords

resistance training

muscle strength

erythrocyte

hemorheology

RBC aggregation

RBC deformability

obesity

Funding

Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea

NRF-2019S1A5B8099542/National Research Foundation of Korea

Figures

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Rev. Cardiovasc. Med. Print ISSN 1530-6550 Electronic ISSN 2153-8174