Does team handball training improve cardiovascular and metabolic parameters in overweight premenopausal women?
Team handball training improves body composition and endurance in overweight premenopausal women regardless of prior experience, while those with prior experience also exhibit cardiac adaptations such as increased left ventricular mass.
PURPOSE: We tested the hypothesis that participation in small-sided team handball training could provide beneficial effects on cardiovascular and metabolic parameters in overweight premenopausal women with special focus on the importance of prior team handball experience. METHODS: A 16-week RCT training intervention was conducted in overweight premenopausal women randomized into three groups: a team handball training group without prior experience (UN; n = 13), a team handball group with prior experience (EXP; n = 10), and an inactive control group (CON; n = 9). Both UN and EXP completed 1.6 ± 0.3 training sessions per week with average heart rates of 84 ± 5 and 85 ± 9% of maximal heart rate, respectively. Cardiovascular and metabolic parameters were assessed before and after the intervention. RESULTS: (7 ± 4%) and intermittent endurance performance (26 ± 14%) as well as reduced total fat mass (4 ± 6%), total fat percentage (4 ± 5%), and android fat mass (7 ± 12%), respectively (all P .05). CONCLUSION: and body composition for participants with minimal team handball experience, indicating that prior team handball experience is not a prerequisite for improving physiological parameters of importance for health. Furthermore, EXP displayed cardiac adaptations, including increased left ventricular mass and left ventricular mass index.
Hornstrup et al. (Wed,) studied this question.