Affiliations: Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author: Mohammad Faramarzi, Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran. E-mail: md.faramarzi@gmail.com.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Obesity and physical inactivity increase the risk for cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia and certain cancers. Exercise training and increased fitness promote positive changes in body composition and improve insulin sensitivity. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of sequence order of combined strength and endurance training on new adiposity indices: visceral adiposity index (VAI), body adiposity index (BAI) and waist to hip ratio (WHtR) in overweight elderly women. METHODS: Forty overweight elderly women (age range: 60.34 ± 0.82 years old) were selected purposefully and randomly assigned into four groups: endurance, then strength (E->S) (n=9), strength, then endurance (S=>E) (n=10), alternative concurrent training (ACT) (n=12), and control (n=9) groups. Training was performed three times per week for eight weeks. Endurance training performed on a cycle ergometer (intensity: 60–88% MHR) and strength training included several selected exercises targeting upper and lower body (intensity: 40–75 1RM, 8–18 repeat). RESULTS: The results showed that the amount of weight, BMI, body fat percentage, BAI and WHtR have significantly decreased in E + S, S + E and ACT experimental groups (P< 0.05). No significant differences were found in VAI variable and triglyceride with sequence order of E + S and S + E, but after sequence order of ACT a significant decrease was seen in both variables (P⩾ 0.05). There were no statistically significant differences between the three combined training groups for the mentioned variables (P⩾ 0.05). CONCLUSION: Sequence does not seem to play a role in the positive effect on current adiposity indices of the investigated training programs.
Keywords: Combined training, VAI, BAI, WHtR, overweight elderly women
