Rita Pereira1, Peter Krustrup2, Carlo Castagna3, Eduardo Coelho4, Rute Santos5, Sandra Martins6, João Tiago Guimarães7, José Magalhães8, Susana Póvoas9. 1. Research Centre in Physical Activity, Health and Leisure, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal. 2. Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, SDU Sport and Health Sciences Cluster (SHSC), University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark; Sport and Health Sciences, Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK; Shanghai University of Sport (SUS), Shanghai, China. 3. Fitness Training and Biomechanics Laboratory, Italian Football Federation (FIGC), Technical Department, Coverciano, Florence, Italy; School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy. 4. Porto Sports Medicine Center (IPDJ, IP), Porto, Portugal. 5. Research Centre in Physical Activity, Health and Leisure, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal; Directorate-General of Health, National Physical Activity Promotion Program, Lisbon, Portugal. 6. Department of Clinical Pathology, São João University Hospital Centre and EPI Unit, Public Health Institute, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal. 7. Department of Clinical Pathology, São João University Hospital Centre and EPI Unit, Public Health Institute, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal; Department of Biomedicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal. 8. Research Centre in Physical Activity, Health and Leisure, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal; LaMetEx, Department of Sports Biology, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal. 9. Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, SDU Sport and Health Sciences Cluster (SHSC), University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark; Research Center in Sports Sciences, Health Sciences and Human Development, CIDESD, University Institute of Maia, ISMAI, Maia, Portugal. Electronic address: spovoas@ismai.pt.
Abstract
BACKGROUND:Postmenopausal women have an elevated risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, which can be counteracted by conventional exercise regimes or recreational football. Less is known about the impact of exercise programmes based on other team sports. Thus, we examined the effects of recreational team handball on aerobic performance, cardiorespiratory fitness and cardiometabolic health in untrained postmenopausal women. METHODS:Sixty-seven participants (age 68 ± 6 years, stature 157 ± 6 cm, body mass 67 ± 10 kg, fat mass 37 ± 7%, VO2peak 25.2 ± 3.6 mL/min/kg, Yo-Yo intermittent endurance level 1 test performance (YYIE1) 230± 103 m) with no previous experience of team handball were randomly allocated to either a team handball (THG, n = 41) or a control (CG, n = 26) group. THG performed 2-3 60-min training sessions per week for 16 weeks. YYIE1 performance and cardiometabolic markers were evaluated at baseline and post-intervention. RESULTS: Average attendance during recreational team handball training was 1.9 ± 0.4 sessions per week, with mean heart rates of 76 ± 6%HRmax and 18 ± 9 min (44 ± 20% of total time) played at HR > 80%HRmax. A between-group effect was observed for YYIE1 performance, with a more pronounced improvement in aerobic exercise performance in THG compared to CG (70 ± 62 vs 15 ± 44%; p < 0.001). Within-group improvements (p < 0.05) were observed for THG with regard to VO2peak (7 ± 10%), incremental treadmill test time to exhaustion (TTE) (11 ± 14%), total cholesterol (-3 ± 9%) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (-2 ± 14%), with no significant changes in CG except an increase (p < 0.05) in TTE. Post-intervention values were higher for THG vs CG for YYIE1 performance (88%; 406 ± 216 vs 216 ± 75 m) and VO2peak (10%; 27.5 ± 3.8 vs 24.9 ± 3.6 mL/min/kg). CONCLUSIONS: Recreational team handball can be used to obtain moderate-to-vigorous aerobic intensities, and just 2 weekly 60-min team handball training sessions for 16 weeks can result in improvements in aerobic performance and in markers of cardiorespiratory fitness in postmenopausal women with no previous experience of the sport.
RCT Entities:
BACKGROUND: Postmenopausal women have an elevated risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, which can be counteracted by conventional exercise regimes or recreational football. Less is known about the impact of exercise programmes based on other team sports. Thus, we examined the effects of recreational team handball on aerobic performance, cardiorespiratory fitness and cardiometabolic health in untrained postmenopausal women. METHODS: Sixty-seven participants (age 68 ± 6 years, stature 157 ± 6 cm, body mass 67 ± 10 kg, fat mass 37 ± 7%, VO2peak 25.2 ± 3.6 mL/min/kg, Yo-Yo intermittent endurance level 1 test performance (YYIE1) 230 ± 103 m) with no previous experience of team handball were randomly allocated to either a team handball (THG, n = 41) or a control (CG, n = 26) group. THG performed 2-3 60-min training sessions per week for 16 weeks. YYIE1 performance and cardiometabolic markers were evaluated at baseline and post-intervention. RESULTS: Average attendance during recreational team handball training was 1.9 ± 0.4 sessions per week, with mean heart rates of 76 ± 6%HRmax and 18 ± 9 min (44 ± 20% of total time) played at HR > 80%HRmax. A between-group effect was observed for YYIE1 performance, with a more pronounced improvement in aerobic exercise performance in THG compared to CG (70 ± 62 vs 15 ± 44%; p < 0.001). Within-group improvements (p < 0.05) were observed for THG with regard to VO2peak (7 ± 10%), incremental treadmill test time to exhaustion (TTE) (11 ± 14%), total cholesterol (-3 ± 9%) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (-2 ± 14%), with no significant changes in CG except an increase (p < 0.05) in TTE. Post-intervention values were higher for THG vs CG for YYIE1 performance (88%; 406 ± 216 vs 216 ± 75 m) and VO2peak (10%; 27.5 ± 3.8 vs 24.9 ± 3.6 mL/min/kg). CONCLUSIONS: Recreational team handball can be used to obtain moderate-to-vigorous aerobic intensities, and just 2 weekly 60-min team handball training sessions for 16 weeks can result in improvements in aerobic performance and in markers of cardiorespiratory fitness in postmenopausal women with no previous experience of the sport.
Authors: Valentina Bucciarelli; Francesco Bianco; Francesco Mucedola; Andrea Di Blasio; Pascal Izzicupo; Desiree Tuosto; Barbara Ghinassi; Ines Bucci; Giorgio Napolitano; Angela Di Baldassarre; Sabina Gallina Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2021-01-14 Impact factor: 3.390