The obesity epidemic has continued to rise at an alarming rate and has increased health complications in children, adolescents, and adults. Resistance training, aerobic training, and a combination of the two have been shown to be effective at reducing excess adiposity and improving outcomes of obesity. The continued development of programs, community centers, or medical exercise facilities prescribing these treatments is nearing an absolute necessity to slow the advancing nature of obesity and related metabolic diseases. In this brief review, we summarize the effectiveness of these three training paradigms from a population-centric perspective.

This study explored the efficacy of aerobic training (AT) in mitigating white matter hyperintensity (WMH) progression and whether these changes are sex dependent. This was an exploratory analysis of a randomized controlled trial assessing the effect of AT on cognition in people with vascular cognitive impairment. Participants were randomized to a 6 month AT or usual care (control [CON]) group. A subset completed magnetic resonance imaging to quantify WMH volume. Using an analysis of covariance model, we found a significant sex × group interaction (p = .03). Over the 6 month study, AT females demonstrated greater WMH progression than CON females (p = .05). Among males, there was no significant between-group difference (p = .31). Within the AT group, males demonstrated significantly less WMH progression than females (p = .01) at 6 months. Therefore, the effects of AT on WMH progression may vary by sex; that is, AT may curtail WMH progression in males but not females.

Endothelial function is a key mechanism in the development of CVD. Arginine and exercise are important non-pharmacological strategies for mitigating the impact of metabolic changes in the metabolic syndrome, but the effect of their combined administration is unknown. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the isolated and combined effects of aerobic training and arginine supplementation on metabolic variables and vascular reactivity in rats at high risk for developing the metabolic syndrome. Wistar rats were divided into two groups: control and fructose (F – water with 10 % fructose). After 2 weeks, the F group was divided into four groups: F, fructose+arginine (FA, 880 mg/kg per d of l-arginine), fructose+training (FT) and fructose+arginine+training (FTA); treatments lasted for 8 weeks, and no difference was observed in body mass gain. Arginine did not improve the body protein content, and both the FA and FT groups show a reversal of the increase in adipose tissue. Insulin increase was prevented by training and arginine, without additive effect, and the increase in serum TAG was prevented only by training. The F group showed impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilation and hyperreactivity to phenylephrine, but arginine and training were capable of preventing these effects, even separately. Higher nitric oxide level was observed in the FA and FT groups, and no potentiating effect was detected. Thus, only training was able to prevent the increase in TAG and improve the protein mass, and training and arginine exert similar effects on fat content, insulin and endothelial function, but these effects are not additive.

It has been demonstrated that intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) can program increase cardiometabolic risk. There are also evidences of the correlation between IUGR with low-grade inflammation and, thus can contribute to development of several cardiometabolic comorbidities. Therefore, we investigated the influence of IUGR on circulating mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)/Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) and TNF-α expression in adult offspring. Considering that the aerobic training has anti-inflammatory actions, we also investigated whether aerobic training would improve these inflammatory factors. Pregnant Wistar rats received ad libitum or 50% of ad libitum diet throughout gestation. At 8 weeks of age, male offspring from both groups were randomly assigned to control, trained control, restricted and trained restricted. Aerobic training protocol was performed on a treadmill and after that, we evaluated circulating mtDNA, cardiac protein expression of TLR9, plasma and cardiac TNF-α levels, and left ventricle (LV) mass. We found that IUGR promoted an increase in the circulating mtDNA, TLR9 expression and plasma TNF-α levels. Further, our results revealed that aerobic training can restore mtDNA/TLR9 content and plasma levels of TNF-α among restricted rats. The cardiac TNF-α content and LV mass were not influenced either by IUGR or aerobic training. In conclusion, IUGR can program mtDNA/TLR9 content, which may lead to high levels of TNF-α. However, aerobic training was able to normalize these alterations. These findings evidenced that the association of IUGR and aerobic training seems to exert an important interaction effect regarding pro-inflammatory condition and, aerobic training may be used as a strategy to reduce deleterious adaptations in IUGR offspring.

The effect of aerobic training on parasympathetic reactivity to mental stress is unclear. Thus, the parasympathetic response, as assessed by time series analysis of heart period variability (HPVts), of 10 trained male runners (trained group), 10 inherently low resting heart rate untrained men (low HR group), and 10 normal resting HR men (control group) at rest and to two mental stressors was examined. Participants completed a mental arithmetic and Stroop task. Resting HPVts at high and medium frequencies was significantly greater for the trained and the low HR groups than for the control group. Significantly greater decreases in HPVts at the medium frequency during arithmetic recovery were measured for the trained and low HR groups compared with the response of the control group. Significantly greater decreases in HPVts at both the the high and medium frequencies during the first two epochs of the Stroop occurred only for the trained and low HR groups. These results suggest that the greater HPVts at rest and decline in HPVts during and after mental challenge is influenced by both aerobic training and genetic inheritance.