Effect of 14 weeks of resistance training on lipid profile and body fat percentage in premenopausal women

Objectives-To study the effects of a supervised, intensive (85% of one repe tion maximum (1-RM)) 14 week resistance training programme on lipid profile and body fat percentage in healthy sedentary, premenopausal women. Subjects-Twenty four women (mean (SD) age 27 (7) years) took part in the st udy Subjects were randomly assigned to either a non-exercising control grou p or a resistance exercise training group. The resistance exercise training group took part in supervised 45-50 minute resistance training sessions (8 5% of 1-RM I), three days a week on non-consecutive days for 14 weeks. The control group did not take part in any structured physical activity. Results-Two way analysis of variance with repeated measures showed signific ant (p<0.05) increases in strength (1-RM) in the exercising group. There we re significant (p<0.05) decreases in total cholesterol (mean (SE) 4.68 (0.3 1) v 4.26 (0.23) mmol/l (180 (12) v 164 (9) mg/dl)), low density Lipoprotei n (LDL) cholesterol (2.99 (0.29)v 2.57 (0.21) mmol/l(115 (11) v 99 (8) mg/d l), the total to high density Lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol ratio (4.2 (0.4 2) v 3.6 (0.42)), and body fat percentage (27.9 (2.09) v 26.5 (2.15)), as w ell as a strong trend towards a significant decrease in the LDL to HDL chol esterol ratio (p=0.057) in the resistance exercise training group compared with their baseline values. No differences were seen in triglycerides and H DL cholesterol. No changes were found in any of the measured variables in t he control group. Conclusions-These findings suggest that resistance training has a favourabl e effect on Lipid profile and body fat percentage in healthy sedentary, pre menopausal women.