The highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) increased life expectancy in individuals infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Alternative strategies have been used in order to improve their quality of life and minimize the HAART effect; among these we can name physical exercise. Concurrent training, the combination of aerobic and strength training in the same exercise session, is used to improve aerobic and strength capacities with shorter time of training and stands out within the used methods. It is crucial to understand this syndrome's characteristics for the best application of physical exercise in the HIV infected patients. Therefore, the aim of this study is to review the main HIV infection characteristics and the evidence available on concurrent training with single and multiple sets in immunological, virological, cardiorespiratory and neuromuscular parameters in subjects living with HIV/AIDS. A systematic review of papers published from 2000-2007 in the Scielo and Pubmed database, as well as theses and dissertations on Physical Education, Sports and Health fields from the digital library totalizing 8 studies, was performed. Evidence from these 8 investigated studies showed that concurrent training, both with single and multiple sets, improves cardiorespiratory and neuromuscular parameters. However, the results in the immunological and virological parameters are not completely understood, especially on protocols with single sets.
HIV; resistance exercise; aerobic exercise
