Improvement of Oxidative Stress in Older Women Is Dependent on Resistance Training Volume: Active Aging Longitudinal Study

Abstract Cunha, PM, Ribeiro, AS, Padilha, C, Nunes, JP, Schoenfeld, BJ, Cyrino, LT, Tomeleri, CM, Nascimento, MA, Antunes, M, Fernandes, RR, Barbosa, DS, Venturini, D, Burini, RC, Sardinha, LB, and Cyrino, ES. Improvement of oxidative stress in older women is dependent on resistance training volume: Active aging longitudinal study. J Strength Cond Res 36(4): 1141–1146, 2022—The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of resistance training (RT) performed with a higher versus lower training volume on oxidative stress (OS) biomarkers in older women. Thirty-eight older women (≥60 years) were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups: a group that performed 1 set per exercise (low volume [LV], n = 18) or 3 sets per exercise (high volume [HV], n = 20). The whole-body RT consisted of a 12-week RT program involving 8 exercises performed with sets of 10–15 repetitions maximum, 3 days per week. Advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP), total radical-trapping antioxidant parameter (TRAP), and ferrous oxidation-xylenol orange (FOX) were used as OS biomarkers. The composite Z-score of the percentage changes from pre- to posttraining of OS biomarkers according to groups was calculated. A significant main effect of time ( p < 0.05) was found for AOPP (LV = −7.3% vs. HV = −12.2%) and TRAP (LV = +1.5% vs. HV = +15.5%) concentrations, without a statistical difference between the groups ( p > 0.05). A significant group vs. time interaction ( p < 0.001) was revealed for FOX (LV = +6.4% vs. HV = −8.9%). The overall analysis indicated higher positive changes for HV than LV (composed Z-score: HV = 0.41 ± 1.22 vs. LV = −0.37 ± 1.03; p < 0.05). Our results suggest that a greater volume of RT seems to promote superior improvements on OS biomarkers in older women.