High Intensity Interval- vs Moderate Intensity- Training for Improving Cardiometabolic Health in Overweight or Obese Males: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

PurposeTo compare the effects of six weeks of high intensity interval training (HIIT) vs continuous moderate intensity training (MIT) for improving body composition, insulin sensitivity (SI), blood pressure, blood lipids, and cardiovascular fitness in a cohort of sedentary overweight or obese young men. We hypothesized that HIIT would result in similar improvements in body composition, cardiovascular fitness, blood lipids, and SI as compared to the MIT group, despite requiring only one hour of activity per week compared to five hours per week for the MIT group.Methods28 sedentary overweight or obese men (age, 20 ± 1.5 years, body mass index 29.5 ± 3.3 kg/m2) participated in a six week exercise treatment. Participants were randomly assigned to HIIT or MIT and evaluated at baseline and post-training. DXA was used to assess body composition, graded treadmill exercise test to measure cardiovascular fitness, oral glucose tolerance to measure SI, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to assess lipoprotein particles, and automatic auscultation to measure blood pressure.ResultsA greater improvement in VO2peak was observed in MIT compared to HIIT (11.1% vs 2.83%, P = 0.0185) in the complete-case analysis. No differences were seen in the intention to treat analysis, and no other group differences were observed. Both exercise conditions were associated with temporal improvements in % body fat, total cholesterol, medium VLDL, medium HDL, triglycerides, SI, and VO2peak (P < 0.05).ConclusionParticipation in HIIT or MIT exercise training displayed: 1) improved SI, 2) reduced blood lipids, 3) decreased % body fat, and 4) improved cardiovascular fitness. While both exercise groups led to similar improvements for most cardiometabolic risk factors assessed, MIT led to a greater improvement in overall cardiovascular fitness. Overall, these observations suggest that a relatively short duration of either HIIT or MIT training may improve cardiometabolic risk factors in previously sedentary overweight or obese young men, with no clear advantage between these two specific regimes (Clinical Trial Registry number NCT01935323).Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT01935323

Iron, Hematological Parameters and Blood Plasma Lipid Profile in Vitamin D Supplemented and Non-Supplemented Young Soccer Players Subjected to High-Intensity Interval Training

“…Moreover, the plasma lipid changes, including HDL-C, did not differ between SG and PG. Several studies have looked into the effect of intermittent training on total cholesterol, HDL-C, LDL-C, TG (30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)53) or VLDL, HDL and LDL lipoprotein particles (36). HIIT was shown to activate AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), thereby increasing the capacity for glucose and fatty acid oxidation (54,55).…”

“…Several studies have looked into the effect of intermittent training on total cholesterol, HDL-C, LDL-C, TG (30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35) or VLDL, HDL and LDL lipoprotein particles (36). However, only a few studies examined the effect of interval training on iron metabolism.…”

Exercise, fitness, and the gut

“…Moreover, patients should avoid dehydration when exercising to avoid intestinal hypoperfusion. Use of high-intensity interval training in patients with IBD may reveal metabolic benefits similar to those seen in obesity [67] and diabetes [68] but this has not been comprehensively investigated. Also, the protective effect of regular physical activity on bone mineral density in IBD sufferers is largely unknown with a recent meta-analysis identifying only a single suitable exercise-intervention study [69].…”

Anti-inflammatory effect on genes expression after four days of Qigong training in peripheral mononuclear blood cells in healthy women

“…Additionally, the reduction of expression of NF-kB and enhancement of IL10 m-RNA expression was similar to those obtained during physical activity, and comparable to the direction of adaptation changes in response to exercise. According to Fisher et al 36 and Ziemann et al [37], the adaptive effect of exercise decreases pro-inflammatory cytokines and increases anti-inflammatory cytokines. These results suggest that qigong is very useful in populations that have limited exercise tolerance.…”