Comparisons of low-intensity versus moderate-intensity combined aerobic and resistance training on body composition, muscle strength, and functional performance in older women.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the effects of exercise order of combined aerobic and low- or moderate-intensity resistance training into the same session on body composition, functional performance, and muscle strength in healthy older women. Furthermore, this study compared the effects of different (low- vs moderate-) intensity combined training. METHODS: A total of 60 healthy older women (age 61-81 y) were randomly assigned to five groups that performed aerobic exercise before low-intensity resistance training (AR-L, n = 12) or after resistance training (RA-L, n = 12), performed aerobic exercise before moderate-intensity resistance training (AR-M, n = 12) or after resistance training (RA-M, n = 12), or nonintervention control conditions (CON, n = 12). Body composition, functional performance, and muscle strength were evaluated before and after the 10-week training. RESULTS: No effects of exercise order of combined aerobic and low- or moderate-intensity resistance training (AR-L vs RA-L, AR-M vs RA-M) were observed in body composition, functional performance, or muscle strength, whereas the effects of training intensity of combined training (AR-L vs AR-M, RA-L vs RA-M) were observed on functional performance. All combined trainings significantly increased muscle strength and gait ability (P < 0.01, respectively). Functional reach test significantly increased in the AR-M and RA-M groups (P < 0.01, respectively), and there were significant group differences between AR-L and AR-M (P = 0.002), RA-L and RA-M (P = 0.014). CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary findings suggest that combined aerobic and low- or moderate-intensity resistance training increases muscle strength and improves gait ability, regardless of the exercise order. Also, greater improvement in dynamic balance capacity, a risk factor associated with falling, is observed in moderate-intensity combined training.

Effect of exercise order of combined aerobic and resistance training on arterial stiffness in older men.

Arterial stiffness increases with advancing age, and is as an emerging biomarker in the assessment of vascular health. Some studies suggest that high-intensity resistance training increases arterial stiffness, but low- to moderate-intensity resistance training does not effect on arterial stiffening. Current evidence suggests that performing aerobic exercise after resistance training improved arterial stiffness in the young men and women. However, few studies have been conducted on the effects of the order of combined training on arterial stiffness in the elderly. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of exercise order of combined aerobic and resistance training into the same session on body composition, muscle strength and arterial stiffness in older men. Forty-five older men (aged 70.5 ±â€¯3.5 years) were randomly assigned to 3 groups; AR: aerobic before resistance training, RA: resistance before aerobic training and CON: no training. Subjects trained 2 times per week for 10 weeks. Resistance training consisted of 3 sets of 8-12 repetitions for 5 different exercises, 70-80% of one repetition maximum (1RM). Aerobic exercise consisted of cycling at 60% of heart rate reserve (HRR). Significant interaction effects were observed in waist circumference (P < 0.01), grip strength (P < 0.01), 10-m walk speed (P < 0.05) and 1RM strength (P < 0.01). However, no significant differences were observed between AR and RA. In contrast, pulse wave velocity (PWV) significantly reduced in the RA (9.0 ±â€¯1.6 m/s to 8.0 ±â€¯1.6 m/s, P < 0.05), whereas, it did not change in the AR, and there was a significant group difference (P < 0.05). In conclusion, no effects of the exercise order were observed in body composition, physical fitness and muscle strength. However, aerobic exercise after high-intensity resistance training reduced arterial stiffness and difference of exercise order was observed. We suggest that the exercise order may favorably affect arterial stiffness when combined aerobic exercise and high-intensity resistance training is performed into the same session.