Physical training in,obese women Effects of muscle morphology, biochemistry and function

Summary. Peripheral adaptations to 3 months of physical endurance training without food restrictions were studied in skeletal muscles of 14, middle-aged, physically untrained, obese women. In comparison to aged-matched controls of nor-mal weight, the obese group showed significantly lower isometric endurance9 In the obese group, physical training resulted in a significant increase of maximal isometric and isokinetic strength. Isokinetic but not isometric endurance also increased after training. The isometric strength of obese women showed a positive correlation with the percentage of FTb fibres. The training (50 min/day, 3days/w) did not result in any change in body weight, body fat, and the number and weight of fat cells. The 20 % increase of VO 2 max after training was found to be significantly correlated with the increase in the number of capillaries around muscle fibres. The relative per-centage of FTa fibres, the number of capillaries per fibre as well as the activities of citrate synthase, 3-hydroxy-acyl-CoA-dehydrogenase, and hexokinase showed a significant increase after training9 The concentrations of glucose during OGTT showed atrend to decrease with a significant decrease at the end glucose curve (120-min value). The concentration f insulin and C peptide and the insulin removal did not change after training9 The changes in the concentration of glucose during OGTT was significantly correlated with the increase in muscle capillarization and of dynamic endurance