The acute effects of strength training on inflammatory markers predicting atherosclerosis: a study on inactive middle-aged men

Cardiovascular diseases, especially atherosclerosis, are the main causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The disease has had an increasing prevalence in Iran in recent years. Homocysteine and C-reactive protein (CRP) are two novel cardiovascular risk factors that independently predict risks of atherosclerosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of one session of circuit resistance training on the blood levels of the aforesaid inflammatory markers in inactive middle-aged men. The participants of this study included twenty-three healthy but inactive middle-aged men who were overweight and were randomly divided into two experimental (n=14) and control (n=9) groups. The activity included doing exercises with the subject's 35% one-repetition maximum (1-RM) intensity at ten different stations. Blood levels of homocysteine and hs-CRP were measured before and after the exercise. Analysis of data using independent samples t-test showed a significant increment in the serum levels of homocysteine and hs-CRP after training in the experimental (P<0.05) versus the control group. Elevation of homocysteine levels is due to the increase in protein metabolism and creatine synthesis for energy production and elevation of hs-CRP levels could be due to hepatic induction of interleukin-6 that acts as a signal for the stimulation of lipolysis and glycogenolysis. However, beneficial or adverse physiological effects of these changes are not thoroughly understood and more research is needed to conclude about the acute and chronic effects of different types of physical activity on the blood levels of these atherosclerosis risk factors.