4.1 Body composition
Exercise in the treatment or prevention of obesity is important because it maintains or increases the amount of lean body mass and also reduces body fat as well as improving the cardiorespiratory function and lipid levels in the blood. In particular, combined program of aerobic exercise and resistance exercise training has been recommended for fat reduction since it is the most effective. Yoo (
2005) had middle-aged women with extreme obesity, whose body fat was 35% or higher and who had previously exercised, do aerobic exercise together with resistance training for 16 weeks. Results indicated a significant reduction in body weight and body fat. Choi et al. (
2006) had 24 middle-aged women, whose body fat was 30% or higher, do aerobic exercise and resistance training five times a week for 10 weeks and also reported a positive effect on body composition.
This study had obese collegiate women, whose body fat was 30% or higher, do circuit weight training and aerobic exercise for 12 weeks and resulted in positive effects on body composition with respect to body weight, body fat, and waist circumference. These results tend to demonstrate that the combination of aerobic exercise and resistance exercise increased lean body mass and thus, enhanced energy consumption in the body (ACSM
2000). Further these results may indicate enhanced use of fat as a source of energy through the activation of lipase in fat tissues (Gill
2007).
ACSM (
2006) recommended the frequency of exercise to be 5–7 days per week, at an intensity of 40–75% of the maximum heart rate, duration of 45–60 min, and with a total amount of energy consumption of 300–400 kcal. Further, the Health Welfare Division and WHO set a consumption of 150–200 kcal (1,000–1,400 kcal/week) per day as the lower limit at which exercise, including physical activities, because it can prevent obesity and maintain reduced weight. And when considering that the type of exercise to prevent and improve obesity focuses on the total amount of energy consumption rather than the intensity of exercise (Saris et al.
2003), the combination of circuit weight training and aerobic exercise in alternation taken for 60 min per day, three times per week in this study represent the least amount of exercise required to prevent obesity. If this amount of exercise is enhanced by proper eating habits, it should result in stronger effects with respect to an improvement in body composition.
When exercising for weight loss, fats are mobilized more in the waist than in the hip and femoral areas (Gan et al.
2003). Further, the waist circumference shows a higher extent of expectation for intestinal fats than for BMI, % body fat, and WHR (Turcato et al.
2000). This study showed the effect of exercise because WC in the TG was reduced but increased in the CG. Decreased waist circumference will have effect on the prevention and improvement of cardiorespiratory diseases in the long run. So it has been concluded that the combination of circuit weight training and aerobic exercise in alternation conducted in this study brought positive effects on the reduction of waist circumference and has helped in the prevention of lifestyle diseases due to fact that this combination of exercises required movements of the whole body.
4.2 Physical fitness
The levels of physical fitness and physical function tend to vary greatly depending on the physical activities, even in people of the same age. The back muscular strength, which this study measured, increase markedly in the TG, but showed no change in the CG. Further, grip strength increased after exercising in the TG, but decreased in the CG, illustrating the push-up and back exercises of that exercise helped improve muscular strength. This outcome agrees with the results of a study by Yang et al. (
2005) in which the combination of exercises for 8 weeks by collegiate men showed a noticeable improvement in grip strength and back muscular strength, and also agreed with the results of Kim (
2002) where the circuit training of women in their 30s for 40 min per day, 5 days per week for 8 weeks resulted in a significant improvement in grip and back muscular strength.
Sit and reach resulted in improved flexibility in the TG but decreased in the CG. Kim and Kim (
2000) had collegiate women and men do static stretching for 8 weeks for flexibility and as a result, they all showed noticeable improvements in the sit and reach. Yang et al. (
2005) had average collegiate men do a combination of exercises for 8 weeks and showed considerable improvements in the sit and reach. These results agree with the outcome of this study. Thus, it is deemed that the stretching before and after the circuit weight training helped with flexibility increases. The sargent-jumps improved in the TG but decreased in the CG. Balance and cardiorespiratory endurance also improved in the TG but decreased in the CG. These results demonstrate that the TG benefitted by circuit training exercises such as jump with arms and legs outstretched, the squat, and skip. This also means that circuit weight training and jogging had a very positive effect on the improvement of cardiorespiratory endurance.
Studies by Lee et al. (
1999) on cardiovascular disease-related mortality reported that people with stronger cardiorespiratory fitness showed decreased mortality regardless of obesity. A study by Kang et al. (
2006) on collegiate men reported that the group with the lowest level of cardiorespiratory fitness had a three times higher risk of being exposed to a metabolic syndrome than the group at the highest level of cardiorespiratory fitness, claiming that cardiorespiratory fitness can be an independent factor for predicting metabolic syndromes. These results suggest that those who are obese but have a high level of cardiorespiratory fitness can prevent death caused by cardiovascular diseases or other diseases. Hence, physical activity is needed to prevent lifestyle-related diseases. Because physical activity has an effect on the occurrence of obesity and changes in physical fitness, college students should engage in regular exercise.
4.3 Pulse wave velocity
The pulse wave velocity is the velocity of pulse waves in the arterial vessels transmitted along at the time of heart contraction. As such, the extent of the arterial stiffness can be predicted. So, in order to measure the extent of atherosclerosis, a method of measuring the elasticity of blood vessels using the pulse wave velocity has been recently designed. In addition, pulse wave velocity has been used a lot as an index of the extent of sclerosis of an arterial vessel (Woodman and Watts
2003). Looking at preceding studies on exercise therapies and elasticity of blood vessels, Beak at al. (
2009) reported that 6 weeks of training for obese women aged 30 and 50 years showed noticeable increases in the velocity of pulse waves in the upper and lower extremities. Further, Lee (
2005) reported that after 12 weeks of treadmill exercise with 60–70% HRmax for 50 min per day, three times per week, hypertensive individuals showed significant increases in the pulse wave velocity, improving the elasticity of blood vessels. Additionally, Cheon (
2006) reported that a 12-week exercise program for middle-aged women showed an increase in pulse wave velocity and reduction of the thickness of the carotid artery, meaning that exercise had a positive effect on the elasticity of the blood vessels.
Blood vessels repeatedly contract and relax, transporting nutrients to every part of human body. The elasticity of vessels reduces as we age. If the blood volume increases and blood pressure rises while the vessels do not experience a corresponding expansion, the result can be cardiovascular disease and arteriosclerosis (Cheon
2006). However, it has been reported that regular aerobic exercises increases blood volume in the artery. The adaptation of the main artery to increases in blood volume increases the intima media of the artery, thus improving the structure of the vessel (Prior et al.
2004). Thus, exercise is important in the improvement of the function of arteries. However, in this study, pulse wave velocity showed no significant difference. However, the velocity of pulse waves showed an increase from 205.63 ms before exercise to 211.79 ms after 12 weeks of exercise in the left upper extremities, from 208.74 to 213.42 ms in the right upper extremities, from 329.05 to 333.95 ms in the left lower extremities, and from 334.27 to 336.52 ms in the right lower extremities. Overall, there was no noticeable difference.
Moderate intensity aerobic exercise, low intensity resistance exercise, and stretching by aged people demonstrated that aerobic exercise had the highest increase, and that low intensity resistance exercise and stretching resulted in similar levels of increase (Jeon
2004). It seems that there are no claims opposing the conclusion that aerobic exercise increases the elasticity of vessels and decreases systolic blood pressure. Hence, the reports of athletes who have trained their muscles for a long time and show a lower elasticity of vessels than the average person (David et al.
1999). It is clear that the change of the elasticity of blood vessels is affected by the type, intensity, and duration of exercise.
Rate pressure product (RPP) is indicated by the heart rate times the systolic blood pressure (Jorgensen et al.
1977). A study on the characteristics of cardiovascular system according to differences in the % body fat in hypertensive patients showed that hypertension increases the volume of oxygen consumption in cardiovascular muscle due to the tension of contraction and if the patient is obese, such increases would be higher. Since RPP is the index reflecting their operation rate and pressure, changes in the RPP is significant with regard to the pressure of the heart and the coronary artery. Therefore, a reduction in the RPP by cardiovascular muscle caused by long-term endurance exercise can have effect on blood flow in the coronary artery and reduce the overload on the heart.
Mean arterial pressure is important as it is aides in determining the velocity of blood flow and the rate of blood flow throughout the circulatory system. Usually, since the diastolic period is longer than the systolic period, the average pressure of an artery can be estimated by adding one-third of the pulse pressure to the diastolic pressure, not the average of the diastolic blood pressure and systolic blood pressure.
Lee (
2005) reported that the average artery pressure decreased by 5.49 mmHg after 6 weeks of exercise, by 11.47 mmHg after 12 weeks of exercise at the time of stability after an extended period of aerobic exercise, saying that decreases in the average artery pressure depended upon the automatic adjustment abilities of the artery, arteriole, and vein and changes in the enthetic adjustment abilities and the redistribution of venous blood. The current study showed no significant difference in the RPP by the exercise group but it did indicate a decrease from 7,932.50 ± 1,585.80 mmHg bpm before exercise to 7,641.33 ± 1,244.37 mmHg bpm after 12 weeks of exercise. In the control group, an increase from 7,613.83 ± 1,073.46 mmHg bpm before exercise to 8,350.83 ± 2,518.86 mmHg bpm was observed. The mean arterial pressure showed no noticeable difference at the time of stability, but in the training group a decrease from 88.06 mmHg before exercise to 82.96 mmHg after 12 weeks of circuit exercises was seen. In the control group, there was an increase from 77.80 to 79.95 mmHg.
Generally, changes in the thickness of the main artery and the structural and functional changes in blood pressure due to physical activity have positive effects on the reduction of blood pressure. Circuit training including resistance exercise in this study needs more investigation with respect to the elasticity of blood vessels. Exercise at a young age is effective in preventing increases in and maintaining blood pressure. Abnormal atrophy of the blood vessel walls has been shown to be accelerated as patient’s age, and the effect of exercise on blood vessels seems to be independent from the risk factors of the traditional cardiovascular fitness such as lipids in the blood (Kelly et al.
2004; Deng et al.
2008). So, the importance of regular exercise by obese collegiate women is emphasized as a method to prevent a rise in blood pressure with age.