Abdominal muscle strengthening and cardiovascular responses

Abstract

Strong abdominal muscle supports a posture of the body. Due to lifestyle changes, weak core muscles are common among the individuals irrespective of their age, sex and condition. The core is central to the movement and function. Core strength and endurance are vital for Cardiovascular health. After core strengthening significant haemodynamic changes occurs, affecting cardiovascular parameters which include systolic blood pressure (SBP) diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and heart rate (HR). The study aimed to evaluate cardiovascular response to abdominal muscle strengthening exercise in healthy young students. The main objectives were to assess the muscle power improvement after 4 weeks of core muscle strengthening exercises, using manual muscle testing (MMT) and also to evaluate the cardiovascular responses. In this study, students with weak core muscle, graded (less than 5) by MMT were selected. First baseline parameters like blood pressure both systole and diastole; and heart rate were measured. Subjects were randomly assigned to two groups. Both groups were taught to do abdominal bracing, abdominal hollowing and crunches for 10 repetitions with 10 seconds hold for four weeks. A bio-feedback stabilizer was used for Group I only. The baseline readings like systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate and muscle power were taken as outcome measures before and after 4 weeks of abdominal training with. The Group I showed a significant decrease in blood pressure, heart rate and improve muscle power who with p <0.01. The results demonstrate the potential effect in lowering the cardiovascular parameters and improving the muscle strength and its efficiency by doing the abdominal strengthening exercises.