THE EFFECT OF ENDURANCE, RESISTANCE AND CONCURRENT TRAINING ON THE HEART STRUCTURE OF FEMALE STUDENTS

The aim of this study was to compare the effect of endurance, resistance and concurrent training on the heart structure. Thirty-nine untrained female students (mean age 24 +/- 2.58 yrs) were randomly divided into four groups: Control (C; n=9), Endurance (E; n=10), Strength (S; n=10) and Concurrent (SE; n=10). E group training consisted of running at 65% of maximum heart rate (MHR) for 16 min per training unit during the first week, reaching 80% of MHR for 30 min during the 8th week. S group training consisted of performing four leg presses, bench presses, pull down curls, and leg curls. During the first week, the training was performed at 50% of one repetition maximum (1RM) in 2 sets with 10 repetitions. The intensity of training increased to 80% 1RM in 3 sets and 6 repetitions during the 8th week. The SE training included the sum of the training performed by the E and S training groups. Left ventricular end diastolic and systolic diameters, post-wall thickness, left ventricular mass and mass index and septum wall thickness were measured by m-mode and 2-D echocardiography as the structural parameters. The end diastolic diameter in E and SE groups, the ventricular end systolic diameter, left ventricular mass and mass index of the SE group after the training increased (P <= 0.05). In comparing the groups, only the increase of the end diastolic diameter in the SE group was significant (P <= 0.05). The 8 weeks of concurrent training compared with endurance or resistance training alone resulted in a significant increase in left ventricular end diastolic diameter. However, no significant differences were found for any other measured variables.