Resisted training reduces cardiovascular risk in elderly women

INTRODUCTION: Human aging combined with a sedentary lifestyle is marked by metabolic changes with change in body composition reflecting directly on the C-reactive protein (CRP), which is an important risk marker for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Resistance Training (RT) is a widely used method in the prevention of diseases associated with aging. Objective: To evaluate the effects of eight weeks of TR on body composition, muscle strength and CRP in a group of elderly women. METHOD: An experimental study was conducted with 10 elderly women (63 ± 2 years). For the CRP analysis, biochemical analysis, complete blood count and lipid profile samples of peripheral venous blood were collected before exercise and 24 hours later. For anthropometric measurements were calculated the body mass index (BMI), waist/hip ratio (WHR) and body composition. The TR was conducted by Combined Series - Bi-Set. Statistical analysis was first conducted with the Shapiro-Wilk normality test (p>0.05) for parametric tests. Group variables were presented as mean and standard deviation. For CRP, anthropometric, body composition and lipid profile variables, the Student t test was performed, for both previous and later to eight weeks of training. For samples of the loads evolution and average food consumption was performed the One Way ANOVA test and, where necessary, the Tukey's post hoc test. The significance level was set at p≤0.05. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant reduction (p=0.02) for the serum concentrations of CRP, which means a decrease of 70.96%, and reduction of the fat mass and increased lean body mass and the training load after eight weeks. CONCLUSION: Eight weeks of RT reduced serum concentrations of C-reactive protein, as well as decreased fat mass and increased muscle volume, proving to be an effective strategy in reducing the risk factors for cardiovascular disease.