Background: There is a wide interindividual variability in the response to a period of exercise training. The science have reported that a minimum of participants could be non-responders for improving different health-related outcomes after training.
Aim: To compare the effects of a 6-weeks exercise program on body composition, cardiovascular and metabolic outcomes patients with type 2 diabetes and hypertension.
Material and methods: Data from 23 trained subjects were used in a secondary analysis of the response to exercise. Of these, 14 were considered adherent to training and nine as non-adherent. Body mass, height, waist circumference, four skinfolds and their sum, blood pressure and plasma triglyceride levels were assessed before and after the training period.
Results: Among adherent participants, significant reductions were observed in the sum of four skinfolds (30 ± 7 to 27 ± 6 mm, p ≤ 0.05), systolic blood pressure (133 ± 18 to 127 ± 20 mmHg; p ≤ 0.05) and plasma triglycerides (125 ± 58 to 102 ± 34 mg/dL; p ≤ 0.05). No changes were observed in weight or diastolic blood pressure. Among non-adherent participants, no changes of measured parameters were observed. Among adherent participants, 57% were considered as non-responders for waist circumference, 7% for the sum of skinfold thickness, 50% for systolic blood pressure, 64% for diastolic blood pressure and 57% for plasma triglycerides.
Conclusions: Participants with a good adherence to a 6-weeks exercise training program experienced overall improvement in body composition, blood pressure and plasma triglycerides. The prevalence of non-responders varied considerably among measured outcomes.