Effects of a circuit training including plyometric jumps on cardiorespiratory fitness of children and adolescents with Down syndrome

Aim

To ascertain the effects of 21 weeks of circuit training, including plyometric jumps, on cardiorespiratory fitness of youths with Down's syndrome (DS).

Methods

Twenty-seven children and adolescent aged 10 to 19 years with DS participated in this study and were divided in two groups: exercise (EXE, n=14) and control (CON, n=13). Work time, peak values of oxygen consumption, respiratory exchange ratio, heart rate and minute ventilation of the participants were measured pre- and post-training with a graded exercise treadmill test.

Results

EXE group increased all their cardiorespiratory parameters compared to baseline after 21 weeks of training (all P<.05). Additionally, and despite having similar pre-training values, the EXE group showed higher values than the CON group in all cardiorespiratory parameters after training (all P<.05).

Conclusion

It may be concluded that youths with Down syndrome can achieve improvements in several cardiorespiratory parameters when performing 21 weeks of training including plyometric exercises.