Changes in the constitution of female college students before and after the aerobic exercise

Zhihui WANG; Gaoxing YUAN; Fuxiang LI

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:

Nowadays, aerobic exercise has been a theme of mod ern body-building. Therefore, there are practical significance of under standing and mastering the effect of aerobic exercise on the constitution of body builder in instructing body-building practice.

OBJECTIVE:

To observe the effect of aerobic exercise on body composi tion, cardiore spiratory function and body figure of female college students.

DESIGN:

Non-randomized concurrent control experiment.

SETTING:

China Female College.

PARTICIPANTS:

The experiment was conducted from May 2003 to Oc tober 2004. 100 female college students were randomly selected from Chi na Female College and other three colleges and taken as the aerobic exer cise group. Another 100 female college students of the same age without systematic aerobic exercise were taken as the control group.

METHODS:

①The course for aerobic exercise group were mainly aero bics, ballroom dancing and hexagram boxing, including 5-15 minutes of warming up, 30-45 minutes of aerobic exercise [the target heart rate in (75% maximal heart rate) exercise lasted for at least 15 minutes] and 15-20 minutes of cooling down, which were conducted for 60 minutes each time and twice a week. The exercise should be performed at 2.5 hours before supper for 1.5 years.②Subjects in the control group were not inter fered but kept in same diet and resting time as the aerobic exercise group. MAIN OUTCOME

MEASURES:

①Body figure indexes body height, body mass, chest circumference, waistline, hip circumferences.②Skinfold thickness, fat mass index and lean body mass. ③ Lung capacity, maximal breathing capacity in each minute, stroke volume, cardiac output, ejection fraction, heart rate, ejection time, mean normalized systolic ejection rate (MNSER) and left velocity of circumferential fiber shortening (LVCf).

RESULTS:

A total of 200 subjects, who had accomplished all tests were involved in the analysis of results. ①The waistline was smaller after exer cise in the aerobic exercise group than that in the control group, while the chest circumference and hip circumferences were bigger than those in the control group (P ＜ 0.05), and the waist-to-hip ratio was smaller than that in the control group (6.50±10.48, 70.39±11.24, P ＜ 0.05). There was no sig nificant difference in body mass index between the two groups (P ＜ 0.05). ②The skinfold thickness in rump, scapular region, thoracic region, abdom inal region as well as femoral region and region of shank were smaller after exercise in the aerobic exercise group than those in the control group (P＜0.05-0.005), and the body fat percentage was significantly smaller than that in the control group [(20.5±3.45)%, (26.5±4.58)%,P ＜ 0.005]. However, the lean body mass in the aerobic exercise group was greater than that in the control group [(41.8±9.86), (36.9±8.69) kg,P ＜ 0.01].③ After exercise, the lung capacity, maximal breathing capacity in each min utes, stroke volume, MNSER and LVCf in the aerobic exercise group were remarkably greater than those in the control group (P ＜ 0.05).

CONCLUSION:

①Aerobic exercise can effectively ameliorate the body figure of female college students and coordinate three measurements with each other.②Aerobic exercise can greatly reduce the in vivo fat contents of female students and increase their lean body mass. ③Aerobic exercise can remarkably enhance the lung capacity, pulmonary ventilation volume as well as cardiac functions of blood-pumping and contraction etc. In female college students.