Metabolic Aspects of Physical Training in Male Patients after Myocardial Infarction

Twenty-six post infarct patients were selected and admitted to hospital 3 months after the onset of the myocardial infarction for an investigation including lipid studies and glucose and fat tolerance tests. After this initial hospital stay the patients were randomly divided into a training (13 patients) and a reference (13 patients) group. During the following 3 months the first group of patients were physically trained (entirely indoors, three sessions a week individually). Thereafter the patients of both groups were readmitted to hospital for a second investigation, identical with the initial one. The oral glucose tolerance (OGT)1 was improved in the younger (less than or equal to 55 years) patients of the trained group. There were no significant changes of cholesterol or triglyceride levels after the training or reference periods measured 5 days after the last training session.