Concurrent resistance and aerobic training as protection against heart disease

SUMMARY: This study was designed to compare the effects of aerobic and concurrent aerobic and resistance training on their ability to slow the rate of development and progression of coronary heart disease (CHD) in young adult males at low risk, as determined by the Framingham risk assessment (FRA) score. Subjects were assigned to 16 weeks of three-times weekly aerobic training (AT) (n = 13), concurrent aerobic and resistance training (CART) (n = 13) or no exercise (NO) (n = 12). Both AT and CART resulted in significant (p < 0.05) changes in total cholesterol (from 173.67 ± 29.93 to 161.75 ± 26.78 mg.dl(-1) and from 190.00 ± 38.20 to 164.31 ± 28.73 mg.dl(-1), respectively), smoking status (from 12.25 ± 5.08 to 10.33 ± 5.37 cigarettes per day and 12.00 ± 4.71 to 8.77 ± 5.10 cigarettes per day, respectively), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (from 47.00 ± 11.85 to 57.50 ± 5.99 mg.dl(-1) and 34.00 ± 8.53 to 46.77 ± 14.32 mg.dl(-1), respectively), systolic blood pressure (from 126.17 ± 7.00 to 122.33 ± 3.17 mmHg and 131.54 ± 9.28 to 121.69 ± 7.87 mmHg, respectively) and therefore FRA score (from 3.58 ± 2.19 to 1.33 ± 2.27 and 5.77 ± 3.09 to 2.46 ± 2.90, respectively). Both modes of exercise were found to be equally effective in reducing CHD risk. These findings support the inclusion of resistance training into an aerobic training programme to lower CHD risk, which will afford subjects the unique benefits of each mode of exercise.