Effects of a mat pilates program on cardiometabolic parameters in elderly women

Objective: this study aimed to determine the effects of mat pilates on resting heart rate, resting blood pressure and fasting blood glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides in elderly women. methodology: fifty sedentary, apparently healthy females aged 60 and older were randomly assigned into a control (cg, n = 25) or an intervention (ig, n = 25) group. the ig took part in an eight-week progressive mat pilates exercise program, three times weekly while the cg did not take part in any structured exercises throughout the eight-week period. all subjects underwent pre- and post-tests in which cardiometabolic parameters were assessed. results: in the eight-week mat pilates program, the ig only demonstrated a significant (p ≤ 0.05) decrease in systolic bp (p = 0.040) from 135.84 ± 14.66mmhg to 128.80 ± 16.36mmhg and a significant increase in blood glucose (p = 0.000) from 5.07 ± 0.46mmol.l^-1 to 5.83 ± 0.57mmol.l^-1, whereas resting hr (p = 0.148) (from 68.80 ± 12.58beats.min^-1 to 73.20 ± 11.46beats.min^-1), resting diastolic bp (p = 0.342) (from 75.64 ± 10.10mmhg to 77.44 ± 9.32mmhg), blood tc (p = 0.073) (from 5.37 ± 0.99mmol.l^-1 to 5.67 ± 1.04mmol.l^-1) and blood tg (p = 0.384) (from 1.77 ± 0.88mmol.l^-1 to 1.92 ± 0.87mmol.l^-1) did not produce any significant changes. conclusion: due to the contradictory nature of the cardiometabolic variables (except systolic bp) with the findings of previous studies, it is difficult to establish a case for using pilates as a substitute for more conventional forms of exercising when exclusively attempting to favourably alter cardiometabolic parameters at least among the elderly women in our sample.