Chronic heart failure (CHF) is characterized by left ventricular dysfunction, resulting in hemodynamic changes, sustained inflammatory state, as well as increase in oxidative stress. Physical exercise has been described as an important non-pharmacological procedure in the treatment of CHF, contributing for the improvement of the clinical outcomes in this disease. This study evaluated the effects of physical training on hemodynamics, muscle lipid peroxidation and plasmatic levels of IL-10 in CHF rats. The left coronary artery was ligated to induce CHF or sham operation was performed in control groups. Rats were assigned to one of four groups: trained CHF (T-CHF, n=10); sedentary CHF (S-CHF, n=10); trained sham (T-Sham, n=10); sedentary sham (S-Sham, n=10). Trained animals had carried out a swimming protocol, 60min/day, 5 days/week, during eight weeks, while sedentary animals remained without training. Eight weeks of physical training promoted an improvement of diastolic function represented by a reduction of the left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) in T-CHF group compared to S-CHF group (p<0.05). Lipid peroxidation evaluated in gastrocnemius muscle using TBARS assay was higher in S-CHF group compared to all other groups (p<0.05). However, there were no differences between T-CHF compared to S-Sham and T-Sham groups. The plasmatic levels of IL-10 was lower in S-CHF group compared with all other groups (p<0.05). These findings demonstrate that regular physical training using a swimming protocol, with duration of eight weeks, improves the cardiac function and the anti-inflammatory response, and reduces muscle cellular damage.