Nutrients (Mar 2023)

The Effects of 12 Weeks of Concurrent and Combined Training on Inflammatory Markers, Muscular Performance, and Body Composition in Middle-Aged Overweight and Obese Males

  • Reza Bagheri,
  • Mehdi Kargarfard,
  • Khosro Jalali,
  • Damoon Ashtary-Larky,
  • Neda Cheraghloo,
  • Hamid Ghobadi,
  • Babak Hooshmand Moghadam,
  • Alexei Wong,
  • Michael Nordvall,
  • Frédéric Dutheil

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15061482
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 6
p. 1482

Abstract

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Aim: Previous studies have focused on the order of endurance and resistance training when performing concurrent training (CT). However, no study has compared the effects of combined training with CT orders on inflammatory markers, muscular performance, and body composition in overweight and obese males. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to compare the effects of 12 weeks of CT and combined training on the aforementioned markers in overweight and obese males. Methods: Sixty middle-aged overweight and obese males (age 51 ± 4 years) were randomly assigned into one of four groups: endurance followed by resistance training (ER; n = 15), resistance followed by endurance training (RE; n = 15), combined resistance and endurance training (COM), or control (CON; n = 15). Anthropometric, body composition, inflammatory marker, and muscular performance measurements were collected at baseline and after 12 weeks. Results: FFM remained unchanged in all three intervention groups (p > 0.05). Reductions in FM in the RE group were significantly greater than in CON (p = 0.038). The increases in serum concentrations of adiponectin in the RE group were significantly greater than in all other groups (p p p p = 0.014). The RE group experienced significantly greater increases in CTRP9 than all other groups (p p 2max in the ER group was significantly greater than COM (p = 0.009), and all interventions resulted in higher gains compared to CON (p p p = 0.023). Conclusions: Regardless of training order, CT improved inflammatory markers, body composition, power, and VO2max. Notably, our analysis indicated significantly greater improvements in adiponectin, CTRP5, CTRP9, CRP, and TNF-α levels when RT preceded ET in CT sessions compared to other exercise training sequences. These findings suggested that the order of exercise training may have a significant impact on the effectiveness of CT on inflammatory markers, which has potential implications for exercise prescription and optimization of health-related training outcomes.

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