Effects of Resistance Exercise Training Programme on Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors of Sedentary Adults in Lagos, Nigeria

The prevalence of physical inactivity and cardiovascular disease (CVD) continues to rise and is reaching epidemic proportions in developed and developing countries. There is evidence in the literature that aerobic exercise can bring about a desirable change to the CVD risk factors, but there are controversies in the literature on the capacity of resistance exercise to bring about a significant change in CVD risk factors. This study therefore examines the effect of resistance exercise on CVD risk factors. Pretest-posttest control group experimental research design was used for this study. The population for this study is apparently healthy administrative and corporate staff within the age range of 45-55 years old in Lagos, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling technique was used for this study to select and assign participants to experimental and control groups. A total of 27 participants were recruited as the sample for the study. The instruments used were PAR-Q, an informed consent form, a data entry form, an attendance sheet, and a developed exercise training template. Variables under investigation were blood pressure, resting heart rate, fasting blood sugar, plasma triglyceride, and waist-to-hip ratio. The descriptive statistics of frequency count, percentages and mean were used to analyze the demographic data of participants, while inferential statistics of ANCOVA was used to test the stated hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. The results revealed that resistance exercise has significant effect on blood pressure (F1,24=4.26, P<0.05), resting heart rate (F1,24=4.26, P<0.05), fasting blood sugar (F1,24=4.26, P<0.05), plasma triglyceride (F1,24=4.26, P<0.05), and waist-to-hip ratio (F1,24=4.26, P<0.05). This study concludes that resistance exercise is an effective strategy for reducing cardiovascular disease risk factors. Based on the findings, it is recommended that resistance exercise should be adopted in the reduction or prevention of CVD risk factors in at-risk populations.