The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a 10-wk brisk walking program on premenopausal obese middle-aged women's metabolic syndrome risk factors, health-related physical fitness, and self-esteem. Sixteen subjects were assigned into...
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a 10-wk brisk walking program on premenopausal obese middle-aged women's metabolic syndrome risk factors, health-related physical fitness, and self-esteem. Sixteen subjects were assigned into either the brisk walking exercise group(n=8) or the control group(n=8). The brisk walking exercise group had 10 weeks of brisk walking exercise, 4 times a week, at the intensity of 50-70% heart rate reserve (HRR).
The results obtained from this study were as follows;
1. After the 10-wk brisk walking program, metabolic syndrome risk factors, waist to hip ratio (WHR), total cholesterol (TC), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C),body weight (BW), body mass index (BMI) were decreased in the exercise group. However, blood pressure (BP), fasting blood sugar (FBS), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HLD-C), triglycerides (TG), TC, WHR, and LDL-C showed no significant decreases. Waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI) were significantly decreased in the exercise group (p<.05). The changes of WC, WHR, LDLC, BW, BMI were significantly greater in the exercise group than those in the control group (p<.05).
2. After the 10-wk brisk walking program, health-related physical fitness was increased in the exercise group (p<.05). The changes in grip strength, back strength, sit-up, push-up, trunk extension, trunk flexion, endurance exercise time and percent body fat (%BF) were significantly greater in the exercise group than those in the control group (p<.05). The change of helth-related physical fitness was significantly greater in the exercise group than those in the control group(P<.05)
3. After the 10-wk brisk walking program, self-esteem was increased significantly in the exercise group (p<.05). The change of self-esteem was significantly greater in the exercise group than those in the control group (p<.05).
In conclusion, these results indicate that the exercise group is favorable effective in metabolic syndrome risk factors, health-related fitness and self-esteem in premenopausal middle obese women. Specially, it had significantly effect on improvement of their waist circumference, BMI, %bodyfat, health-related fitness, self-esteem. Therefore these brisk walking program can be useful as a treatment and provides support for a role for physical activity and exercise in the prevention and development of obesity related chronic disorders.