Effects of high-intensity interval training on cardiometabolic risk factors in overweight/obese women

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to evaluate two practical interval training protocols on cardiorespiratory fitness, lipids and body composition in overweight/obese women. Thirty women (mean ± SD; weight: 88.1 ± 15.9 kg; BMI: 32.0 ± 6.0 kg · m²) were randomly assigned to ten 1-min high-intensity intervals (90%VO₂ peak, 1 min recovery) or five 2-min high-intensity intervals (80–100% VO₂ peak, 1 min recovery) or control. Peak oxygen uptake (VO₂ peak), peak power output (PPO), body composition and fasting blood lipids were evaluated before and after 3 weeks of training, completed 3 days per week. Results from ANCOVA analyses demonstrated no significant training group differences for any primary variables (P > 0.05). When training groups were collapsed, 1MIN and 2MIN resulted in a significant increase in PPO (∆18.9 ± 8.5 watts; P = 0.014) and time to exhaustion (∆55.1 ± 16.4 s; P = 0.001); non-significant increase in VO₂ peak (∆2.36 ± 1.34 ml · kg⁻¹ · min⁻¹; P = 0.185); and a significant decrease in fat mass (FM) (−∆1.96 ± 0.99 kg; P = 0.011). Short-term interval exercise training may be effective for decreasing FM and improving exercise tolerance in overweight and obese women.

KEYWORDS:

• Percent body fat
• peak oxygen consumption
• visceral fat
• intermittent exercise

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Mark Weaver, PhD for his statistical review.

Disclosure statement

The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. We declare no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the Nutrition Obesity Research Center [grant number P30DK056350]. The project described was also supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health (NIH) [grant number 1KL2TR001109].