Comparison of the Cardiovascular Benefits of Resistance, Aerobic, and Combined Exercise

Summary

As the leading cause of death, cardiovascular disease (CVD) accounts for about one-third of U.S. mortality. Physical inactivity, one of the main CVD risk factors, causes 6% of coronary heart disease worldwide. The American Heart Association has identified cardiovascular health behaviors including smoking, obesity, diet, and aerobic exercise; however, resistance exercise was not included due to the limited evidence of its efficacy. Comparatively, the cardiovascular benefits of aerobic training have been well-documented whereas the independent and additive benefits of resistance training on cardiovascular health have not been established. Thus, this project is aimed to answer one of the most common questions about exercise and health:"What type or combination of exercise is most effective for CVD prevention?" This project will significantly contribute to developing more effective CVD prevention approaches, advancing more comprehensive physical activity guidelines, and providing important insights and novel opportunities for the future science of physical activity and health.

Conditions

• Cardiovascular Diseases

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

aerobic exercise

AE training will consist of 60 min of treadmill, elliptical, or bike exercise at a moderate to vigorous intensity (50-80% of heart rate reserve). Intensity of the exercise sessions will be built up gradually. Sessions will occur 3 times per week for the duration of the 1 year trial.

BEHAVIORAL

resistance exercise

RE will consist of 3 sets of 8-15 repetitions at 50-80% of 1 rep-max of each exercise for 12 exercises (chest press, shoulder press, pull-down, back extension, abdominal crunch, torso rotation, biceps curl, triceps extension, leg press, leg extension, leg curl, and calf raise). Weight loads will be increased gradually. With one minute of rest between sets, this plan is estimated to take approximately 60 minutes per session. Sessions will occur 3 times per week for the duration of the 1 year trial

BEHAVIORAL

Combined resistance and aerobic exercise

Participants will perform exactly the same AE and RE exercises as listed previously; however, the time of AE and RE will each be reduced to 30 min (for 60 min/session total). For the RE aspect, participants will perform 2 sets of 8-15 repetitions of 9 exercises (excluding biceps curl, triceps extension, and calf raise, as these are minor muscle groups). Exercise intensity and resistance will be increased gradually. Combined AE and RE sessions will take place 3 times per week for the duration of the trial.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Iowa State University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Duck-chul Lee, Ph.D. · Iowa State University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

35 Years

Max Age

70 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2017-07-01

Primary Completion

2021-04-30

Completion

2021-04-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations