ABSTRACT
The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the effects of a 15-week exercise training program on cardiovascular and blood lipid variables in black adolescents. Subjects consisted of black males with 12 of these participating in an exercise conditioning program and 5 designated as the control group participating in a team sports program. The mean +/- SD age was 12.8 +/- 0.97 yrs. Training for the exercise group was conducted 5 d.wk-1 for 15 weeks (weight training 2 d.wk-1 and aerobic training 3 d.wk-1). The following mean +/- SD significant changes were found for pre- to post-training for the exercise group (P < 0.05) with no significant change for controls: high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) 1.11 +/- 0.18 to 1.28 +/- 0.17 (mmol.l-1), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) 2.73 +/- 0.74 to 2.41 +/- 0.81 (mmol.l-1), maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) 43.7 +/- 9.4 to 48.2 +/- 9.7 (ml.kg-1.min-1), and maximal ventilation (VE max) 70.59 +/- 16.8 to 80.93 +/- 14.6 (L.min-1). In addition, no significant changes were found for blood pressure or other blood lipid parameters for either group. Results of this study show that exercise training can favorably alter blood lipid and VO2max values. Therefore, a vigorous exercise training program for young black males can favorably affect their cardiovascular risk profile.
