Effect Of Plank Exercise On Arterial Stiffness And Heart Rate Variability In Young Adults

Purpose: Plank is one of the core stability training methods.Because this movement is simple and easy to understand,it becomes more and more popular among fitness enthusiasts.Based on the previous plank exercise in the laboratory,this study reduced the duration of the movement and increased the instability of the movement,aimed at observing the transient effects of a single unbalanced plank session on the cardiovascular function of the youth with lower physical activity levels.On this basis,Screening the best exercise regimen for two groups of unbalanced plank to observe the effect of long-term unbalanced plank exercise on their cardiovascular function.Methods: The acute exercise study was conducted on 18 healthy university students with lower physical activity levels by using a randomized cross-over selfcontrol design.They were randomly assigned to carry out a blank protocol(Control,CON),45 Seconds Plank(P45),45 Seconds Unbalanced Plank(UP45),90 Seconds Plank(P90)and 90 Seconds Unbalanced Plank(UP90)exercise protocols.At first,the baseline(Baseline,BL)values of arterial stiffness were measured,which was followed by the exercise intervention.Then,arterial stiffness was measured at 0 min,10 min,20 min,30 min and 40 min after the intervention.The long-term experiment lasted 6 weeks and involved 26 healthy university students with lower physical activity levels,which were randomly divided into a control group(CON)of 13 and an experimental group(EX)of 13.Arterial stiffness and Heart Rate Variability(HRV)were measured before and after the experiment.Control group needs no exercise intervention,while experimental group needs to do UP90 with daily exercise interventions at increasing loads.Results: In the P45 and P90 protocols,there was no significant difference compared to BL at the five time points(P > 0.05).In the UP45 protocol,there was a statistically significant difference compared to BL at 0 min(P < 0.05,BL vs.0 min)in all cases.In the UP90 protocol,there was a statistically significant difference compared to BL at 10 min(P < 0.05,BL vs.10 min).Comparing the areas under the CAVI curve of two unbalanced plank protocols,the UP90 protocol was found to be the most effective way.The CAVI values before and after the long-term experiment were6.5±0.6 and 5.8±0.8 respectively,indicating that the six weeks UP90 exercise intervention can significantly reduce arterial stiffness of the youth(P < 0.05,CON vs.EX).The change in CAVI over time was significant and the difference was of statistical significance.However,there was no significant change in HRV before and after the long-term experiment,thus suggesting that changes in HRV cannot explain the changes in arterial stiffness.Conclusions: A single session of unbalanced planking led to a transient reduction in arterial stiffness in young people with low levels of physical activity,which became more pronounced with longer periods of exercise;long-term unbalanced planking significantly reduced their arterial stiffness.