A Study of Effect of the Compound Physical Activity Therapy on Muscular Strength in Obese Women

Abstract

[Purpose] The aim of this study was to determine how compound physical activity affects muscular strength of middle-aged obese women. [Subjects] The research subjects were 40–50 year-old middle-aged women with excess body fat (30%). [Methods] The subjects were randomly assigned to two group, the experimental group and the control group. The experimental group performed two types of exercise programs for 16 weeks. Aerobic physical activity was performed 5 times per week, and anaerobic physical activity was performed every two days, and the exercise program each day was composed of a warm-up, the main exercise, and cooldown. The type of exercise focused on walking at a quick pace, and the intensity of the exercise focused on long periods of exercise at low intensity with the level of HRmax being 40–60%. The weight training, which was useful for beginners, as a type of kinetic load exercise, was applied with a composition recommended by the ACSM for muscle fitness (intensity of 40–60% of 1 RM and 10–15 repetitions). SPSS version 16.0 was used to analyze the data by ANCOVA and the t-test. [Results] The chest, leg, and abdominal strengths were significantly increased in the experimental group, and this indicates that compound physical activity is effective for improvement of muscular strength. [Conclusion] In conclusion, there were significant differences between groups in terms of muscular strength.