Linda M. LeMura

Lipid and lipoprotein profiles, cardiovascular fitness, body composition, and diet during and after resistance, aerobic and combination training in young women

Abstract The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of various modes of training on the time-course of changes in lipoprotein-lipid profiles in the blood, cardiovascular fitness, and body composition after 16 weeks of training and 6 weeks of detraining in young women. A group of 48 sedentary but healthy women [mean age 20.4 (SD 1) years] were matched and randomly placed into a control group (CG, n=12), an aerobic training group (ATG, n=12), a resistance training group (RTG, n=12), or a cross-training group that combined both aerobic and resistance training (XTG, n=12). The ATG, RTG and XTG trained for 16 weeks and were monitored for changes in blood concentrations of lipoprotein-lipids, cardiovascular fitness, body composition, and dietary composition throughout a 16 week period of training and 6 weeks of detraining. The ATG significantly reduced blood concentrations of triglycerides (TRI) (P < 0.05) and significantly increased blood concentrations of high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) after 16 weeks of training. The correlation between percentage fat and HDL-C was 0.63 (P < 0.05), which explained 40% of the variation in HDL-C, while the correlation between maximal oxygen uptake (V˙O2max) and HDL-C was 0.48 (P < 0.05), which explained 23% of the variation in HDL-C. The ATG increased V˙O2max by 25% (P < 0.001) and decreased percentage body fat by 13% (P < 0.05) after 16 weeks. Each of the alterations in the ATG had disappeared after the 6 week detraining period. The concentration of total cholesterol (TC), TRI, HDL-C and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol in the blood did not change during the study in RTG, XTG and CG. The RTG increased upper and lower body strength by 29% (P < 0.001) and 38%, respectively. The 6 week detraining strength values obtained in RTG were significantly greater than those obtained at baseline. The XTG increased upper and lower body strength by 19% (P < 0.01) and 25% (P < 0.001), respectively. The 6 week detraining strength values obtained in XTG were significantly greater than those obtained at baseline. The RTG, XTG and CG did not demonstrate any significant changes in either V˙O2max, or body composition during the training and detraining periods. The results of this study suggest that aerobic-type exercise improves lipoprotein-lipid profiles, cardiorespiratory fitness and body composition in healthy, young women, while resistance training significantly improved upper and lower body strength only.

The effects of frequency of encouragement on performance during maximal exercise testing

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of frequency of verbal encouragement during maximal exercise testing. Twenty-eight participants (12 males, 16 females) aged 20.9 - 1.5 years (mean - s ) performed a maximal exercise test ( V O 2max ) on a treadmill without any verbal encouragement. The participants were matched according to their pre-test V O 2max and placed into either a control group or one of three experimental groups. They performed a second exercise test (post-test) 1 week later. During the second test, the control group received no verbal encouragement; the 20 s (20E), 60 s (60E) and 180 s (180E) encouragement groups received verbal encouragement every 20, 60 and 180 s, respectively, beginning with stage 3 of the exercise test. Relative V O 2max , exercise time, blood lactate concentration, respiratory exchange ratio (RER) and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) were not significantly different from the first test to the second test for the control group without verbal encouragement and the 180E group that received infrequent encouragement. Post-test values were significantly higher than pre-test values for the 20E and 60E groups. The post-test values of the 20E group were significantly higher than their pre-test values for relative V O 2max ( P ≪ 0.001), exercise time ( P ≪ 0.0001), blood lactate concentr . ation ( P ≪ 0.05), RER ( P ≪ 0.01) and RPE ( P ≪ 0.0001); this was also the case for the 60E group for relative V O 2max ( P ≪ 0.01), blood lactate concentration ( P ≪ 0.05), RER ( P ≪ 0.05) and RPE ( P ≪ 0.05). The results suggest that frequent verbal encouragement (every 20 s and 60 s in the present study) leads to significantly greater maximum effort in a treadmill test than when no encouragement is given or when the encouragement is infrequent (i.e. every 180 s).

Evaluation of physical activity measured via accelerometry in rural fourth-grade children.

Interest in the benefits of exercise has prompted increased research examining the relationship between physical activity and health status in adults. More recently, considerable research effort has been directed toward the role of physical activity in young children as a precursor to adult physical fitness. The purpose of this study was to estimate the relationship between physical activity measured via accelerometry and body mass index, body mass, body composition, and physical fitness in fourth-grade boys and girls during physical education lessons. 54 fourth-grade students in rural Pennsylvania (28 girls, M age 9.6, SD = .56; 26 boys, M age 9.5, SD = .51) were subjects. Girls were significantly less active during all lessons measured (p<.001). The results of linear regression analyses indicated that physical activity was negatively associated with body mass index, body mass, and body fat percentage (p< .05), and positively associated with physical fitness (V̇O2max) (p<.01). These data indicate the need for curricular intervention to motívate girls to increase their activity during structured physical education lessons and demonstrate the efficacy of the body mass index as a screening tool within the schools.

Effects of Fixed Ratio Schedules of Reinforcement on Exercise by College Students

Response-contingent reinforcement was expected to increase the time spent riding a stationary exercise cycle by college women. A single-subject experimental design was used. Three college-age women rode a stationary cycle until they were either too tired to continue or until 45 minutes elapsed. Video clips were used to reinforce cycling in the first part of the experiment. Under some conditions, no video clips were presented (baseline). In other conditions, the video was on for the entire session or 25 sec. of video was presented after the completion of FR 40 (40 rotations of the cycles pedals) or 80 (80 rotations of the cycles pedals) schedules. In the second part of the experiment, money was presenred following every 20 (FR 20) or 40 (FR 40) rotations of the cycles pedals. The time spent riding the cycle increased over the baseline when video clips were presented. No consistent differences were observed when the video clips were on for the entire session and when they were presented under FR 40 and FR 80 schedules. For one out of two participants, monetary reward increased the time spent riding the cycle. The data suggest that reinforcement schedules are a means of initiating and maintaining adherence to an exercise program.

Enhancement of functional power in patients with coronary artery disease by circuit interval training

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a 12‐week circuit interval training (CIT) program on several indices of functional power in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients following from the exercise regimen. Twenty‐two patients with documented CAD served as subjects. After training, peak oxygen consumption (ml kg−1 min−1) and maximal MET level achieved in these patients increased significantly (p ≤ 0.05). Several hemodynamic variables and electrocardiographic data were studied to try to assess whether functional power was enhanced predominantly by central or peripheral hemodynamic and metabolic events. Maximal ST‐segment depression did not decrease significantly, and peak heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure, rate‐pressure product, and the HR at the time of ST‐segment depression did not increase significantly. These data imply that the change in functional power observed was primarily the result of adaptation in the periphery.