Resistance Training Effect on Lipid Profile and Body Fat Percentage of Premenopausal Women

Obesity and lipid profile are major risk factors for noncommunicable diseases, especially cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. In this regard, improving indicators of abdominal obesity and lipid profiles is necessary. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of endurance exercise on abdominal obesity and lipid profile in premenopausal women living in Mahshahr City, Iran. This study was a randomly and controlled clinical trial. For this purpose, 40 obese women (age range, 38-52 years) with Body Mass Index (BMI) of 28.8 to 30.6 kg/m2 were assigned to either a non-exercising control group or a resistance exercise training group. The resistance exercise training group took part in supervised 45-to 50-minute resistance training sessions, 3 times per week on nonconsecutive days for 10 weeks. The control group did not take part in any structured physical activity. Two-way analysis of variance with t test and student t test measures showed significant (P < 0.05) increase in the strength level in the exercise group. There were significant (P < 0.05) decreases in total cholesterol and body fat percentage (P < 0.05), but we found no significant difference in triglycerides (high density lipoprotein and low density lipoprotein) between two groups. These findings suggest that resistance training has a favorable effect on total cholesterol and body fat percentage in premenopausal women, but has no significant effect on others the lipid profiles. The participants were followed just for 10 weeks, further studies with longer duration are recommended.