earticle

영어

Regular exercise is associated with the production of small amounts of oxidative stress which might promote individual antioxidant capacity contributing to favorable training effects potentially interrelated with skeletal muscle strength. Therefore, the present study was aimed at evaluating effects of an 8-week Qigong exercise training on muscle strengths associated with responses of oxidative stress and antioxidants in young sedentary females. A total of 41 sedentary women were allo-cated to the Qigong exercise group (QG, N=20) or to the control group (CG, N=21). After 8 weeks of Qigong training, back and leg strength was significantly improved compared to baseline and the CG (P<0.05). Plasma oxidative stress levels were reduced and total antioxidant ca-pacity was enhanced in the QG compared to the CG (P<0.05). Correla-tion analyses revealed that improvements in muscle strength (including both groups) were associated with changes in the levels of oxidative stress (reduction) and antioxidants (elevation). The presented findings indicate that strength training effects seem at least partly to be interre-lated with alterations of the oxidant-antioxidant balance generated by the 8-week Qigong training in young sedentary females.