Effects of Different Types of Circuit Training on Health-Related Physical Fitness in Women with Brain Lesions

Purpose: This study aims to examine the effects of a 12-week of aerobic-based and resistance-based circuit training program on health-related physical fitness in women with brain lesion–related disabilities and to compare the efficacy of these two training modalities. Method: Participants were assigned to an aerobic-based circuit training group (ACT), a resistance-based circuit training group (RCT), or a control group. Both training groups exercised three times per week for 12 weeks. Outcome measures included body composition, cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and flexibility. Data were analyzed using independent samples t-tests, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and two-way repeated-measures ANOVA with Bonferroni and Tukey post hoc corrections. The significance level was set at α=.05. Results: No significant changes were observed in body composition variables ( p>.05). Cardiorespiratory endurance improved significantly in the aerobic-based circuit training group ( p<.01), with greater gains relative to the other groups ( p<.01). Muscular strength increased significantly in the shoulder press, leg extension, and leg flexion in both training groups ( p<.05 to p<.001), whereas significant improvement in the lat pull-down was observed exclusively in the resistance-based circuit training group ( p<.05); overall muscular strength gains were greater in the resistance-based group. Muscular endurance improved significantly in the resistance-based circuit training group ( p<.001), and both training groups demonstrated significantly higher levels than the control group ( p<.01). Flexibility improved significantly in both training groups ( p<.05 to p<.01), with greater gains compared to the control group ( p<.05). Conclusion: Twelve weeks of circuit training improved cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and flexibility without significantly affecting body composition in women with brain lesion–related disabilities. Aerobic-based circuit training was more effective for improving cardiorespiratory endurance, whereas resistance-based circuit training demonstrated superior efficacy for enhancing muscular strength and endurance. These findings suggest that modality-specific circuit training may serve as an effective intervention strategy for improving functional fitness in this population.