BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The number of diabetes in India is increasing at an alarming rate. The effects of physical activity in the form of resistance training or aerobic exercises on type 2 diabetes have not been studied in Indian population. The objective of this study was to analyse the effects of eight weeks of progressive resistance training (PRT) compared with aerobic exercise (AE) on glycaemic control, metabolic profile, cardiovascular fitness parameters and general well being in adults with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: Thirty adults (14 females and 16 males mean; age 53.8 +/- 8.8 yr) with type 2 diabetes were randomly assigned to 8 wk supervised PRT (n = 10) or AE (n = 10) or control group (n = 10). Glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c), lipid profile, blood pressure, heart rate, body mass index (BMI) and general well being were measured before training (ie, 0 wk) and after 8 wk of training period. RESULTS: Plasma glycosylated haemoglobin levels decreased significantly (p < 0.05) both in the PRT group (7.57 +/- 2.4% to 6.23 +/- 0.8%) and in AE group (8.11 +/- 0.9% to 6.66 +/- 0.9%). Total cholesterol levels decreased significantly (p < 0.05) by 13.3% in PRT group and by 6.1% in AE group. Both exercise groups showed significantly reduction in systolic blood pressure (p < 0.05). General well being improvement was much more in PRT (8.6%) as compared to AE group (2.7%). INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSION: Our findings showed that both PRT and AE were effective in improving metabolic profile of adults with type 2 diabetes but the percentage improvement in triglycerides, total cholesterol levels and general well being with PRT was more compared to AE. Further studies on a larger sample need to be done to confirm these findings.

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