Cardiac Adaptations To Exercise Training In Hypertensive Women Depend On Exercise Mode

Exercise training has been demonstrated to cause beneficial cardiac adaptations in different patient groups. However, comparative studies on different exercise training modes are sparse in sedentary women diagnosed with arterial hypertension.

PURPOSE: To examine effects of 15 weeks of soccer training versus low volume high intensity interval swim training and prolonged continuous moderate intensity swim training on cardiac structure and function in middle-aged, sedentary, hypertensive women.

METHODS: Sedentary, premenopausal women with mild-moderate arterial hypertension (n = 73) with average (± SD) age, height, weight and body fat of 45±6 yrs, 165±6 cm, 80.0±14.1 kg and 42.6±5.7% were randomized into a soccer training (SOC; n=19), moderate intensity swimming (MOS; n=18), high intensity interval swimming (HIS; n=17) and control (CON; n=19) groups. SOC completed a total of 45±3 training sessions over the 15-week intervention period. SOC completed 1-h sessions consisting of small-sided soccer games (4v4 to 6v6). MOS completed 1 h sessions of continuous front-crawl swimming, with the participants encouraged to swim as far as possible during each session, while HIS performed 6-10×30-s all-out front-crawl swimming intervals interspersed with 2 min of passive recovery; thus, 3-5 min of effective swimming time. Cardiac measures were evaluated by echocardiography.

RESULTS: Left ventricular mass increased (p
CONCLUSION: Exercise training improves cardiac structure and diastolic function in hypertensive women with superior effects of a hybrid training mode like soccer compared both to endurance training and high intensity interval training alone.