Sixteen untrained males, age 46 +/- 11 yr (mean +/- SD), were studied to determine the effects of 20 wk of strength training on lipoprotein-lipid profiles and post-heparin lipase activities. All subjects had abnormal lipoprotein-lipid profiles and at least two other risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD). To control for day-to-day variations in blood lipoprotein levels, baseline values were established by taking at least two blood samples on separate days from the training and control groups. The training program resulted in a 50% increase in upper body strength (P less than 0.001) and a 37% increase in lower body strength (P less than 0.001) as measured by the one repetition maximum test (1-RM). No changes in the 1-RM test were observed in the control group. There were no significant changes in VO2max (34.5 +/- 6.4 vs 36.2 +/- 7.4 ml.kg-1.min-1 or percent fat (25.4 +/- 4.2 vs 24.9 +/- 4.1%) with training. There were also no significant changes in plasma concentrations of triglyceride (193 +/- 96 vs 171 +/- 101 mg.dl-1), total cholesterol (231 +/- 22 vs 210 +/- 22 mg.dl-1), and HDL-C (35 +/- 6 vs 36 +/- 8 mg.dl-1), or LDL-C (139 +/- 16 vs 139 +/- 21 mg.dl-1). Furthermore, the activities of post-heparin lipoprotein lipase (9 +/- 4 vs 13 +/- 5 moles.ml-1.h-1) and hepatic lipase (35 +/- 10 vs 35 +/- 9 moles.ml-1.h-1) did not change with training.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)