Upper and lower limb resistance training program versus high-intensity interval training on oxidative stress markers in university athletes

Highly-intensive exercise occurs in reactive oxygen species which leads to cellular damage as a result of increased oxidative stress markers. An appropriate program design incorporating volume, intensity, and types of exercise may produce different effects amid oxidative status in athletes. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the outcomes of resistance training (RT) and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on oxidative stress markers, and physical performance in university athlete subjects. The effect of two different protocol types (RT and HIIT) on oxidative stress and antioxidant status were also compared. Seventy-two university athletes, were recruited and divided into control, RT, and HIIT groups (n=22/group). The RT group were undertaken a resistance exercise training program of the upper and lower body. The HIIT group performed their exercise training on a cycle ergometer. The training program was 30 min/day, 3 days/wk, continuously over 8 weeks. We observed that long-term RT and HIIT improved blood glutathione and glutathione disulfide redox ratio in all athletes. The results demonstrated that only RT training significantly decreased plasma malondialdehyde. Another finding was that RT and HIIT resulted in similar elicitation of physical performance in the post-compared with pretraining exercise. This study revealed that RT and HIIT programs improved antioxidants and physical performance in university sports athletes. However, oxidative markers were only improved following the RT program. This study suggests that RT program is superior to HIIT in improving oxidative stress markers in sport athletes.