Aerobic exercise-induced changes in body composition and blood lipids in young women

Arvydas Stasiulis¹, Asta Mockienė², Daiva Vizbaraitė¹, Pranas Mockus³

¹Faculty of Sports Biomedicine, Lithuanian Academy of Physical Education, ²Sports Center, Vytautas Magnus University, ³Faculty of Sports Education, Lithuanian Academy of Physical Education, Lithuania

Key words: aerobic training; cycling ergometry; body composition; blood lipids.

Summary. The objective of the study was to assess changes in body composition, blood lipid and lipoprotein concentrations in 18–24-year-old women during the period of two-month aerobic cycling training.

Material and methods. Young, healthy, nonsmoking women (n=19) volunteered to participate in this study. They were divided in two groups: experimental (E, n=10) and control (C, n=9). The subjects of group E exercised 3 times a week with intensity of the first ventilatory threshold and duration of 60 min. The group C did not exercise regularly over a two-month period of the experiment. The subjects of group E were tested before and after 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks of the experiment. The participants of group C were tested twice with an eight-week interval.

Results. Body weight, body mass index, body fat mass, and triacylglycerol (TAG) concentration decreased and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-ch) concentration increased after the 8-week training program in the experimental group (P<0.05). Blood total cholesterol (Tch) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-ch) concentrations did not change significantly. Body weight and body mass index started to decrease after 2 weeks of the experiment, but significant changes were observed only after 6 and 8 weeks. Body fat mass was significantly decreased after 2 and 8 weeks of aerobic training. A significant increase in HDL-ch concentration was observed after 4, 6, and 8 weeks. A significant decrease in TAG concentration was observed after 2-week training. No significant changes in all the parameters except TAG (it was slightly increased) were seen in the control group.

Conclusions. The two-month aerobic cycling training (within VT1, 60-min duration, three times a week) may induce significant changes in the parameters of body composition – body weight, body mass index, body fat mass, and blood lipids – in young women. The following significant changes were observed: TAG level decreased after 2 weeks, body mass and body mass index decreased after 6 weeks, body fat mass decreased and HDL-ch level increased after 8 weeks. Peak oxygen uptake increased after 4 weeks.

Correspondence to A. Mockienė, Sports Center, Vytautas Magnus University, Draugystės 19, 44001 Kaunas, Lithuania. E-mail: a.mockiene@spc.vdu.lt

Received 10 December 2008, accepted 5 February 2010