Strength Fitness and Body Weight Status on Markers of Cardiometabolic Health

Abstract

Introduction Recent evidence suggests that resistance training (RT) may reduce metabolic and cardiovascular disease risk. We investigated whether overweight/class I obese individuals by BMI classification with high strength fitness exhibit cardiovascular/metabolic phenotypes similar to those overweight/obese and untrained or those normal-weight with high strength fitness. Methods 90 young males were categorized into 3 groups: overweight untrained (OU, n=30, BMI>27 kg/m2), overweight trained (OT, n=30, BMI>27kg/m2, RT≥4 d/wk) and normal-weight trained (NT, n=30, BMI<25kg/m2, RT≥4 d/wk). Participants were assessed for strength, body composition, central/peripheral blood pressures, arterial stiffness, and markers of cardiovascular and metabolic health. Results Body weight was similar in OT and OU and greater than NT (P<0.00001), and fat mass was different in all groups (P<0.001). Compared to OU, NT and OT groups exhibited higher relative strength (NT:46.7%;OT:44.4%,P<0.00001) and subendocardial viability ratio (NT:21.0%,P<0.001;OT:17.0%,P<0.01) and lower brachial/central blood pressures (NT:P<0.001;OT:P≤0.05); augmentation index and pulse-wave velocity were lower in only OT (P<0.05). Total-cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (NT:P<0.01,OT:P<0.05), triglycerides (NT:-50.4%,OT:-41.8%;P<0.001), oxidized LDL (NT:-39.8%,OT:-31.8%;P<0.001) and CRP (NT:-63.7%,OT:-67.4%;P<0.01) levels were lower and high-density lipoprotein (NT:26.9%,OT:21.4%;P<0.001) higher in NT and OT compared to OU. NT and OT also exhibited lower amylin (NT:-55.8%,OT:-40.8%) and leptin (NT:-84.6%,OT:-59.4%) and higher adiponectin (NT:87.5%;P<0.001;OT:78.1%;P<0.01) and sex-hormone binding globulin (NT:124.4%,OT:92.3%;P<0.001). Despite greater total and trunk fat in OT compared with NT, other than glucose and insulin, which were lower in NT than both OT and OU (OT:P<0.01,OU:P<0.001), OT did not exhibit any impaired biomarker/phenotype compared to NT. Conclusion These findings provide evidence that overweight/class I obese individuals with high strength fitness exhibit metabolic/cardiovascular risk profiles similar to normal-weight, fit rather than overweight/class I obese unfit individuals. Strength training may be important to metabolic and cardiovascular health.

Associations of Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Muscular Strength with Arterial Stiffness in Older Adults

“…There is limited research on the relationship between MS and PWV. An inverse relationship between MS and PWV has been shown in young adults (Fahs et al, 2010;Roberts et al, 2015), and both an inverse association and no association has been shown in older adults (Fahs et al, 2018;Hunter et al, 2014). Our results demonstrate an inverse relationship between MS and PWV; as MS increases, PWV decreases (β -0.97 to -1.81, p > 0.05) ( Table 5).…”

“…While there seems to be a beneficial association between higher MS and lower AS, further research is needed to clarify the relationship, specifically in older adults (Fahs et al, 2010(Fahs et al, , 2018Hunter et al, 2014;Roberts et al, 2015).…”

“…Our results demonstrate an inverse relationship between MS and PWV; as MS increases, PWV decreases (β -0.97 to -1.81, p > 0.05) ( Table 5). In those studies that found similar associations, there were weak correlations (r = -0.11 to -0.23) (Fahs et al, 2010(Fahs et al, , 2018Roberts et al, 2015) between MS and PWV and moderate correlations (r = 0.32) between MS and large artery elasticity (Hunter et al, 2014). However, Fahs et al (2010) found that the relationship was much clearer when comparing MS between high and low arterial stiffness in their sample, despite using a lower cut-point for "high PWV" (6.6 m/s determined by cluster analysis).…”

Muscular fitness and metabolic and inflammatory biomarkers in adolescents: Results from LabMed Physical Activity Study

“…34 In addition, in the present study, we matched the clustered score of inflammatory biomarkers to the muscular fitness groups, which allowed us to compare differences in the MRF score of the two groups of clustered of inflammatory biomarkers' status by levels of muscular fitness. Indeed, recently Roberts et al 35 have shown that only BMI or weight status per se may be poor surrogates for cardiovascular risk identification and that muscular fitness may be more critical to identify those at risk of metabolic and cardiovascular disorders. Roberts et al 35 findings suggest that muscular fitness is a better predictor of oxidative stress and inflammation than weight status, in adults.…”

“…Indeed, recently Roberts et al 35 have shown that only BMI or weight status per se may be poor surrogates for cardiovascular risk identification and that muscular fitness may be more critical to identify those at risk of metabolic and cardiovascular disorders. Roberts et al 35 findings suggest that muscular fitness is a better predictor of oxidative stress and inflammation than weight status, in adults. The skeletal muscle is a highly energetic tissue, which contributes substantially to basal metabolic rate.…”