Metabolic Impact of Exercise Modalities in Inactive Obese Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Method Twenty healthy physically inactive men (49.15 ± 2.581 years) participated in an 8-month training programme involving concurrent exercise, resistance training, and aerobic training programmes to determine the effects on glucose tolerance and plasma lipids in obese adult persons. This study adopts combining pretest posttest with a repeated measures design component to capture within-subject changes over time with a randomized control trial to assess between-group differences. Plasma glucose concentrations were measured for three hours after the ingestion of 75 g of glucose, and the total areas under the respective curves were calculated. Total plasma lipid and lipoprotein concentrations were determined during fasting. Repeated measures ANCOVA was used for primary data analysis, and the independence between blood lipid variables and group factors was tested. Result Pre- to post intervention mean values of body fat percentage, area under the curve, low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein and total cholesterol decreased in all three groups. The main effect of exercise modality on the AUC was significant. Post hoc analyses revealed that RT (-30.653 ± 6.766, p = 0.001) and CT (M=-0.896, SE = 3.347, P = 0.015) had greater effects than AT. LDL was significantly lower in the AT and CT (MD = 4.783, SE = 1.563, P = 0.002) and (M = 4.57, SE = 1.284, P = 0.008) than in the RT. There was a significant difference in TC between training modalities; AT significantly reduced TC during RT (MD= -17.716, SE = 5.705, P = 0.02). HDL and %BF were not significantly different because of the independent variables affecting these variables. Conclusion Exercise modality has emerged as a key factor in optimizing chronic lipid profiles and glycemic control. Notably, both aerobic and concurrent training demonstrated a superior ability to modulate the lipid profile, and resistance training and concurrent training were more effective in reducing the AUC.