Background: People with metabolic syndrome have an increased risk of contracting cardiac diseases, diabetes mellitus, stroke and arterial atherosclerosis
Purpose: To compare effect of aerobic training and circuit exercises on cardiovascular risk in metabolic syndrome.
Methods: Forty metabolic syndrome participants of both sexes (14 females and 26 males) were randomly selected and divided into two groups. Group (A) received aerobic training (treadmill march walking) in addition to medical treatment. Group (B) received core circuit exercise in addition to medical treatment. Both groups were evaluated by waist-hip ratio, lipid profile, blood pressure, and fasting blood glucose before and after the 8-week study period.
Results: The results showed that there was a significant difference in all variables in both groups; the most significant improvement was in the aerobic training group. The level of improvement was at a 0.73 ±0.04 mean value for waist to hip ratio R, 137.15 ±6.48 for systolic blood pressure, 81.7 ±7.17 for diastolic blood pressure, 45.75 ±5.00for high-density lipoprotein, 133.8 ±8.11low density lipoprotein, 142.4 ±3.66 for triglyceride, and 95.8 ±4.42 fasting blood glucose with p-value <0.0001 for all.
Conclusion: Both aerobic training and core circuit exercises were effective methods for reducing cardiovascular risk in metabolic syndrome with more improvement in aerobic training.