KINGSTON, Ontario, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Sedentary, obese older adults appear to improve their functional abilities and reduce insulin resistance through exercise, a Canadian researcher said.
Lance E. Davidson of Queen's University in Kingsland, Ontario, and colleagues conducted a randomized clinical trial involving 136 sedentary older adults who were abdominally obese, meaning they had a waist circumference of at least 40 inches for men or 35 inches for women.
For six months, participants were randomly assigned to one of four groups: resistance exercise -- one set of nine exercises, 20 minutes three times per week; aerobic exercise -- 30 minutes of moderate-intensity treadmill walking five times per week; combined exercise -- 30 minutes of aerobic exercise three times per week plus 60 minutes of resistance training weekly; and a control group that did not exercise.
The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that after six months, insulin resistance improved in the aerobic and combined exercise groups as compared with the control group.
All exercise groups improved their functional limitation -- as measured by tests such as the number of times a person could stand up out of a chair in 30 seconds or step in place in two minutes -- compared with the control group.
The combined exercise group showed greater improvement than the aerobic only group, while cardiorespiratory fitness increased in the aerobic and combined exercise groups but not in the resistance exercise group.
