An exercise program is important at all stages of life, from childhood to old age. A new study compared the benefits of Nordic Walking to Pilates exercise programs on the blood glucose and lipid profiles in overweight and obese postmenopausal women. The findings were published in the November edition of the journal Menopause.
The objective of the study was to assess the cardiovascular and metabolic benefits of Nordic Walking versus Pilates in regard to their intensity, duration, and type. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of two exercise models, Nordic Walking (NW) and Pilates, on postmenopausal women.
The study group comprised 196 overweight or obese women; 20 were asked to maintain their previous level of physical activity (control group), and the remainder began either a Nordic Walking program (88 women) or a Pilates exercise program (88 women). Blood was drawn twice for testing, before study onset and after completion.
The investigators found that, among the 196 women who enrolled in the study, 147 (75%) completed it; 69 (47%) completed a 10-week Nordic Walking exercise program, 58 (39%) completed a 10-week Pilates exercise program, and 20 (14%) were in the control group. After 10 weeks, the women in the Nordic Walking group were found to have a significant reduction in body weight (6.4%), body mass index (BMI; 6.4%), blood glucose (3.8%), total cholesterol (10.4%), non-high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (16.7%), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (12.8%), and triglycerides (10.6%), as well as an increase in HDL cholesterol (9.6%). In the Pilates group, significantly smaller, although still encouraging, changes, except for glucose and HDL cholesterol levels, were observed in the Pilates group (decreases of 1.7%, 1.7%, 1.6%, 5.3%, 8.3%, 7.5%, and 6% and an increase of 3.1%, respectively). In addition, at the end of the study, the percentage of women with target concentrations of the lipid fractions had significantly increased in both exercise groups. No significant changes in the blood levels were found in the control group.
The authors concluded that exercise training involving Nordic Walking results in statistically and clinically more significant changes in glucose and basic blood lipid levels than do Pilates and dietary intervention alone.
