The impact of aerobic training on body mass index of obese sedentary females

Introduction: Obesity is a rapidly escalating metabolic disorder. The impact of obesity is highest in the younger age which increases the risk for cardiovascular morbidity/mortality and shortens the life expectancy. Aim: This study was aimed to evaluate the effects of aerobic training on Weight and BMI of obese sedentary females. Materials and Methods: 80 females were selected with BMI>30 Kg/m2, aged 35-45 years. They were divided as two groups, exercise (n=40) and control (n=40). Healthy subjects without H/o pathologic/ orthopaedic limitations were included. Morbidly obese women were excluded. Informed consent was obtained. Experimental protocol was approved by Institutional Ethical Committee. For all the participants, weight was recorded before the study and BMI was calculated. They were all requested to follow their usual diet. Control group did not perform any training. For the exercise group, aerobic training was given using Treadmill for 3 alternate days in a week for 6 weeks. Each session was provided by 10 minutes warming and stretching with 1.7 mph, adjusting the level at 60-70% of maximum HR up to the exhaustion level, followed by 10 minutes cool down &stretching. For the first 4 weeks, 20 minutes and next 2 weeks, 30 minutes exercise was given. Weight was recorded & BMI was calculated after the study. The results were statistically analysed using paired ‘t’ test. p<0.05 was accepted as significant. Results: The exercise group showed statistically significant favourable improvements in weight, BMI (p=.000, p<0.05) whereas controls showed no significance (p>0.05). Conclusion: The results revealed that aerobic training is more beneficial to improve the fitness in obese females by reducing the body weight and BMI and thereby to reduce the cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.