Background: Physical activity provides significant health benefits through physiological adaptations. Among these, the most adaptations are cardiovascular adaptations. It is generally assumed that aerobic forms of exercise provide greater cardiovascular benefits than anaerobic exercise. In this research, the effect of different forms of sports activity on some cardiovascular and hormonal factors was investigated.
Methods: 48 inactive students were randomly placed in 4 groups of running, walking, resistance training and isometric training. The subjects' blood pressure and heart rate were recorded before the start of the training program, and fasting blood was taken from the subjects. Each group of subjects did their training program for four weeks, three sessions per week. Again, after 48 hours from the last training session, the subjects' blood pressure and heart rate were recorded and blood sampling was done while fasting.
Results: The results showed that all four types of exercise significantly reduced heart rate, blood pressure, insulin, cortisol and blood sugar. There was no significant difference between the four groups in terms of reduction of heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, but there was a significant difference in terms of weight loss, insulin, cortisol and blood sugar, and running has the greatest effect on reducing these factors.
Conclusion: It seems that all four types of exercise training reduced resting heart rate and blood pressure in inactive students due to strengthening the heart muscles, hormonal regulation, and other factors.