Objective:

To compare the effects of medium intensity continuous exercise implementation vs. a program with high intensity interval exercise on the anthropometric parameters and physical condition of hypertensive women.

Materials and method:

Experimental study with a pre and post-test, conducted in 62 hypertensive women who were divided into 3 groups: the first group performed high-intensity interval exercise, the second group did continuous-medium intensity exercise, and the third acted as the control group. It was a 12-week intervention, with a 3-times-per-week frequency. All hypertensive women were evaluated for physical condition and anthropo-metric characteristics.

Results:

After the intervention, statistically significant differences were found between the HiiT (high intensity interval training) group and the control group regarding the variables body fat percentage (p = 0.014), body density (p = 0.014), and conicity index [CI] (p = 0.003). Additionally, differences between the two exercise groups and the control group were identified for the variables distance traveled (p = 0.04), flexibility in the upper right limb (p = 0.00), and strength in lower limbs (p = 0.01).

Conclusions:

This study showed that exercise is an effective tool to improve the physical fitness of hypertensive women. However, no differences in terms of effectiveness were found between high intensity interval training and continuous training.

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