The addition of an 8-week high-intensity strength training program to aerobic training in men with congestive heart failure significantly increased muscular strength by an average of 26%.
RCT (n=21)
randomly assigned
Does combined high-intensity strength and aerobic training improve muscular strength and cardiovascular responses in men with congestive heart failure compared to aerobic training alone?
Adding an 8-week high-intensity strength training program to aerobic training safely and significantly improves muscular strength in men with stable congestive heart failure.
ABSTRACT The American Heart Association, American College ofSports Medicine, National Strength and Conditioning Asso-ciation, and the Surgeon General support the addition ofstrength training (ST) to aerobic exercise for optimizing ex-ercise outcomes. This study evaluated an 8-week combinedhigh-intensity ST and aerobic exercise program on muscularstrength, muscle soreness or injury, and cardiovascular re-sponses in congestive heart failure (CHF) patients. Twenty-one men with CHF were randomly assigned to either aerobictraining (AT; n 5 7) or AT plus ST (ATST; n 5 14). Muscularstrength, cardiovascular responses, and rate of muscle sore-ness or injury to 1 repetition maximum (1RM) testing weremeasured before and after 8 weeks of training. The ATSTgroup significantly improved strength in comparison withthe AT group, with an average increase of 26%. No cardio-vascular abnormalities, muscle injury, or significant musclesoreness were observed. The addition of a high-intensity STprogram to aerobic training resulted in significant increasesin strength in stable CHF patients with no abnormal re-sponses.
Barnard et al. (Sat,) conducted a rct in Congestive heart failure (CHF) (n=21). Aerobic training plus high-intensity strength training (ATST) vs. Aerobic training (AT) was evaluated on Muscular strength, muscle soreness or injury, and cardiovascular responses. The addition of an 8-week high-intensity strength training program to aerobic training in men with congestive heart failure significantly increased muscular strength by an average of 26%.