Increasing trend of angiogenic indices following Traditional and Circuit Resistance Training in sedentary men

Abstract

Background Angiogenesis is a beneficial process leading to capillary enhancement, which can trigger in response to physical training. Aims The present study aimed to investigate the changes in physiological factors involved in angiogenesis in response to circuit or traditional resistance training. Methods Following the pre-test, Thirty-six healthy sedentary students (age: 21.1 ± 2.3 years; height: 172.7 ± 5.1 cm) were randomly divided into Circuit Resistance Training (CRT) (4 circles/3 times a week/8 weeks circuit performance/50–55% 1 Repetition Maximum; n = 12), Traditional Resistance Training (TRT) (8 repetition/3 set/3 time per week/8 weeks of same movements with 75% 1RM followed by 2 minutes break between the sets; n = 12) and the control group (n = 12). We examined the responses of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF), plasma level of growth hormone (GH), and basic Fibroblast Growth Factor (bFGF). Results Both of CRT and TRT protocols resulted in significant increases in post-test compared to pre-test, in VEGF (p = 0.00), GH (p = 0.04), and bFGF (p = 0.00). In addition, the magnitude of changes in VEGF and GH were significantly greater than the control group in post-test (p = 0.03, and 0.001, respectively). In addition, there was a strong correlation between absolute value of GH and VEGF (r = 0.74 and r = 0.71) following CRT (p = 0.01) and TRT (p = 0.02). Conclusions This study demonstrated that CRT and TRT might enhance angiogenesis through increase in VEGF, bFGF and GH.