Objective: To investigate the effects of 12-week high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) on body composition, arterial stiffness(cfPWV) and serum resistin level in the obese college female students, so as to provide a theoretical reference for improving the cardiovascular health of obese college students and seeking better ways of losing weight. Methods: Thirty-seven female college students were chosen and then randomly assigned to HIIT group(n=19), MICT group(n=18). The subjects in both the HIIT group and MICT group underwent exercise for 12 weeks(five times per week). Then body composition and resistin level were measured, arterial stiffness by carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) was evaluated in all subjects before and after training. Results: After 12-week exercise, body weight, BMI, body fat and trunk fat significantly decreased in both HIIT and MICT groups (t=2.19, 6.02, 2.64, -2.76, P<0.05); muscle mass significantly increased, serum resistin level and cfPWV significantly decreased (P<0.01) only in HIIT group. Compared with the MICT group, trunk fat, cfPWV, serum resistin level were lower and muscle mass was higer in HIIT group(P<0.05), while the reduction of serum resistin level before and after the intervention of HIIT was positively correlated with the reduction in the trunk fat and cfPWV, and negatively correlated with the increases in the muscle mass(r=0.52, 0.56, -0.65, P<0.01). Conclusion Both HIIT and MICT have favorable effects on body composition in obese college female students. However, HIIT is more beneficial for improving the trunk fat and arterial stiffness than MICT group which may be associated with decreases in serum resistin level.