Effects of Resistance and Aerobic Exercise Training or Education Associated with a Dietetic Program on Visfatin Concentrations and Body Composition in Overweight and Obese Women

Obesity, as a chronic disease, is becoming increasingly prevalent especially among women.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the effects of resistance training (RT), concurrent resistance training and aerobic training (RT AT) on visfatin concentrations and body composition in overweight and obese women.
An eight-week pretest-posttest design with two experimental exercising groups and one control group was used. 45 overweight and obese women were randomized into resistance training (RT), concurrent resistance and aerobic training (RT AT) or an education-only groups (EDU). All participants received a dietary and education/counselling intervention. However, only the RT and RT AT group participated in the eight-week exercise training.
Repeated measures analysis showed that visfatin was significantly decreased by 8.5% in the RT (P = 0.02) and 29.2% in the RT AT (P While RT and education-alone improved body composition and aerobic capacity, structured regular exercise incorporating both RT and AT may be required to improve visfatin and VO2max in overweight and obese females.