Calisthenics versus Pilates training on glycemic control and body fat in overweight individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus

BACKGROUND: Physical activity plays an important role in management and preventing complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). Effectiveness of Pilates on DM showed that there was improvement in glucose control. Presently, resistance training forms are becoming very popular for weight loss and DM. Calisthenics is a relatively new form of resistance exercise training that has been less studied in obese and diabetic individuals. STUDY PURPOSE: To evaluate and compare the effect of Calisthenics and Pilates training approaches on percentage body fat and glycemic control (HbA1C, Post Prandial Blood Glucose (PPBG)) in overweight individuals with type 2 Diabetes mellitus (DM). METHODS: Thirty (n = 30) over weight individuals with type 2 DM with HbA1C levels >6.5% were recruited for the study. The participants were randomly allocated to calisthenics (CG) and Pilates (PG) study groups who received respective exercise interventions for 12 weeks. The outcome measures were HbA1C, PPBG and percentage body fat assessed at pre and post intervention. RESULTS: Both CG and PG study groups showed statistically significant difference for glycemic control (HbA1C, PPBG) post 12 week intervention. However, significant improvement was noted in CG than PG in terms of HbA1c (p = 0.03), PPBG (P = 0.01) and body fat percentage (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Calisthenics exercise training was more effective than the Pilates training in achieving long term (HbA1c) and post meal (PPBS) glycemic control with significant reduction in body fat percentage in overweight individuals with type 2 DM.