- New research suggests that a combination of aerobic exercise and strength training lowers heart disease risk as effectively as aerobic-only routines.
- Incorporating strength training into regular exercise routines benefits people with certain health conditions, such as obesity.
- However, more studies are needed to establish the heart health benefits of different intensity levels of exercise.
Approximately one in three deaths in the United States is caused by cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A new study indicates that splitting the recommended amount of physical activity between aerobic and resistance exercise reduces cardiovascular disease risks as much as aerobic-only regimens.
The results were recently published in theEuropean Heart Journal.
The study, led by Iowa State University, followed 406 participants between 35 and 70 years of age over one year of randomized, controlled exercise. All participants had elevated blood pressure and met the threshold for having overweight or obesity with body mass indexes between 25-40 kg/m2.
They were divided into four groups: no exercise, aerobic only, resistance only, or aerobic plus resistance, and those placed in a group with activity had hourlong, supervised workouts three times a week for a year.
The researchers tailored these workouts to the participants based on their health conditions, with specific weight-training regimens and heart-rate monitoring protocols in place to create the ideal level of intensity. They then measured their CVD risk factors — systolic blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, fasting glucose, and body fat percentage — at three points throughout the study: the start, six months in, and after a year.
The participants in the aerobic and aerobic plus resistance groups had the lowest level of composite scores for the risk factors. However, the combined exercise groups had more improved aerobic fitness and strength.
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