IMPACT OF CIRCUIT TRAINING EXERCISE ON CARDIOVASCULAR VARIABLES OF FEMALE SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN ANAMBRA STATE

Regular physical activity and good fitness is an important health priority to national agenda development in the life of women especially teachers. This study was designed to determine the impact of circuit training exercise on cardiovascular variables of female secondary school teachers in Anambra State. The study was guided by four research questions and four hypotheses.  Randomized pretest, posttest control group design were adopted for the study and the population consisted of all the female secondary school teachers in Anambra State. The sample consisted of 60 female teachers from 6 secondary schools in OtuochaEducational Zone. The schools were selected with purposive sampling technique while the 60 female teachers were selected using simple random sampling technique. The instruments used for data collection are as follows – measuring tape, stop watch and gym mats. Eight weeks exercise programme was adopted for the training. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean and mean difference for answering the research questions. The null hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the study showed that experimental group recorded lower mean difference scores in most of the variables, There was also significant effects and differences in most variables used in the study (P<0.050) hence the exercise training had an effect on the experimental group, showing that hearth rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure of the experimental group dropped after training which is good for a physically active person. The researcher therefore concluded that eight weeks circuit training exercise programme had an effect on the variables used in the study and recommends that exercise programmes should be introduced in our schools and be seriously upheld by every teacher in the state and from time to time, exercise programmes of this kind should be sponsored by governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to meet up with the standard of teachers required in this era.