Effects of Nonperiodized and Linear Periodized Combined Training on Health-Related Physical Fitness in Adults With Obesity: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

ABSTRACT: Streb, AR, Passos da Silva, R, Leonel, LdS, Possamai, LT, Gerage, AM, Turnes, T, and Del Duca, GF. Effects of nonperiodized and linear periodized combined training on health-related physical fitness in adults with obesity: a randomized controlled trial. J Strength Cond Res 36(9): 2628-2634, 2022-The aim of this randomized controlled trial study was to compare the effects of 16 weeks of linear periodized and nonperiodized combined training (CT) in cardiorespiratory fitness, muscle strength, and body composition indicators of adults with obesity. Thirty-four obese adults of both sexes (36.6 ± 4.4 years; body mass index, 32.9 ± 2.7 kg·m -2 ) were divided into nonperiodized (NG; n = 8), linear periodized (PG; n = 11), and control (CG; n = 15) groups. The NG and PG groups performed 3 weekly sessions of CT over 16 weeks in different ways. Anthropometric measures, maximal strength for leg press and barbell bench press, maximal oxygen uptake (V̇ o2 max), and ventilatory thresholds were determined before and after intervention. The generalized estimation equation was used, with the applied level of significance for the interaction of 0.10 and the isolated effect of time or group or both of 0.05. Significant and similar increases were observed in the 1-repetition maximum test for bench press (NG: 48.8 ± 5.7 to 55.0 ± 6.1 kg; PG: 48.7 ± 5.7 to 53.8 ± 5.9 kg; p = 0.001) and leg press (NG: 235.2 ± 18.7 to 268.3 ± 19.7 kg; PG: 223.1 ± 25.3 to 253.3 ± 23.1 kg; p = 0.05) in trained groups. Relative V̇ o2 max improved only in PG (27.8 ± 1.3 to 32.0 ± 1.4 mL·kg·min -1 ; p = 0.05), while ventilatory thresholds improved in NG and CG ( p = 0.004 and p = 0.06). There was an increase in body mass in CG (97.6 ± 3.4 to 99.1 ± 2.9 kg) and NG (92.5 ± 5.4 to 93.5 ± 5.4 kg; p = 0.05). Combined training improved maximal upper-body and lower-body strength, regardless of periodization. However, for improvement in V̇ o2 max, linear periodization may be superior to nonperiodization in obese adults.