Effects of brisk walking and resistance training on cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition, and lipid profiles among overweight and obese individuals

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of brisk walking and resistance training on cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition and lipid profiles in overweight and obese individuals. 54 overweight and obese male and female participants, aged between 21 to 55 years old were recruited for this study. The participants were age-, gender- and weight-matched before being randomly assigned into 3 groups, with 18 participants per group. The brisk walking group was required to brisk walk 3 times a week at an intensity of 60-70% of their respective age-predicted maximum heart rate for 8 weeks. Resistance training group performed the resistance training which involved 3 sets of 8 exercise stations, 3 times a week and 45 minutes per session. For each station, 8-15 repetitions of upper and lower body exercises were carried out by using dumbbells. The control group was asked to continue with their daily routine without participating in any other forms of physical training. Body composition, lipid profiles and cardiorespiratory fitness of the participants were measured at pre, mid and post-intervention. Results showed that there was greater improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness for brisk walking and resistance training groups (p