Hemodynamic changes in normotensive overweight and obese individuals following home-based calisthenics training

Obesity is a complex and growing global epidemic which has reached epidemic proportions. This is problematic in that obesity is a major health problem and is associated with a significant increased blood pressure. The purpose of this study was to determine if home-based calisthenics training can improve blood pressure measures as an intervention towards primary prevention in normotensive overweight and obese individuals. Twenty-two normotensive male and female overweight and obese, young- and middle-aged volunteers aged 25 to 55 years with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 - 39.9 kg.m-2 were assigned to either an eight-week calisthenics training group (CAL) (n = 11) or non-exercising control group (CON) (n = 11). Results indicated that no significant (p = 0.05) difference was found in BMI (p = 0.070) from the pre- to post-test in the CAL. However, the CAL did demonstrate significant changes in RHR (p = 0.000), RSBP (p = 0.003), RDBP (p = 0.025), RPP (p = 0.000) and RMAP (p = 0.003) from pre- to post-test. No significant differences were found in BMI (p = 0.059), RHR (p = 0.588), RSBP (p = 0.896), RDBP (p = 0.419), RPP (p = 0.891) and RMAP (p = 0.639) from pre- to post-test in the CON. The present study demonstrated that a home-based calisthenics training programme is an effective, easy and cost-effective method to improve hemodynamics to prevent hypertension in normotensive overweight and obese adults even in the absence of changes in BMI.