Iranian Journal of Rehabilitation Research in Nursing

Introduction: The optimal exercise dose for ‘treatment’ of impaired fasting blood glucose remains unknown, yet, clearly warrants further investigation. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of concurrent aerobic–resistance exercise training on estrogen level and glucose homeostasis of menopausal females with glucose impairment.

Methods: Overall, 22 obese and overweight postmenopausal females voluntarily participated in this study, and were randomly divided to 2 groups: control (n = 10) and exercise (n = 12) groups. The research samples had fasting blood glucose between 100 and 126 mg/dl. The exercise group participated in an 8-week, 3 day per week supervised program consisting of 10 minutes of warm-up and 75 minutes of concurrent exercise training followed by 5 minutes of cool-down exercise. The following measurements were made on all subjects before and after the training period consisting of weight, and Body Mass Index (BMI), maximum Oxygen consumption (VO2max), Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS), serum insulin and estradiol, HOMA-IR, and glycosylated Hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels.

Results: Eight weeks of endurance resistance exercise significantly reduced weight and BMI, and increased VO2max and serum estradiol, and improved glucose homeostasis in the exercise group (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: These results indicated that concurrent resistance - endurance exercise elicits significant improvements in glucose homeostasis, serum estradiol, and body composition for menopausal females. Therefore, this type of exercise can be used in postmenopausal females to improve glucose homeostasis.