Effect of combined aerobic-resistance training on regulating adipokine levels among obese females

Physical training is a beneficial strategy to regulate adipokines in preventing obesity and metabolic syndrome. However, effective training remains to be an intriguing topic of debate. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect of aerobic training, resistance training, and combined aerobic-resistance training on adipokines using the hormone biomarkers (leptin and adiponectin). Our research subjects were 32 obese females aged 22 years old with a body fat percentage ≥ 30%. Subjects were divided into four groups, namely the CTL (n = 8; control group), ATr (n = 8; aerobic training group), RTr (n = 8; resistance training group), and CTr (n = 8; combined training group). Training was carried out for eight weeks, with frequency 3×/week and moderate intensity. Aerobic training was performed by running on a treadmill with an intensity of 65-70% HRmax for 45 min. Meanwhile, resistance training was completed with 65-70% 1-RM intensity for six sets @15 reps and active resting of 30 s between sets. Further, the blood sampling for leptin and adiponectin examination was carried out pre- and post-training, while its examination was carried out using the ELISA method. The results indicated significantly lower leptin levels and higher adiponectin pre- and post-training in ATr, RTr, and CTr (P ≤ 0.05), but not in CTL (P ≥ 0.05). Besides, we also observed decreasing Δ-leptin at CTL, ATr, RTr, and CTr were 37.42 ± 44.29, −206.16 ± 43.73, −139.49 ± 69.11, and −349.07 ± 71.69 pg/ml, respectively (P ≤ 0.001). Likewise increasing Δ-adiponectin between CTL, ATr, RTr, and CTr were 90.89 ± 212.70, 679.16 ± 136.29, 619.77 ± 168.37, and 872.04 ± 335.73 pg/ml, respectively (P ≤ 0.001). It was concluded that aerobic-resistance combined training has been proven effective in reducing leptin and increasing adiponectin compared to aerobic training and resistance training, therefore it was recommended to use aerobic-resistance combined training in improving adipokines in obese.