Resistance exercise with different volumes: blood pressure response and forearm blood flow in the hypertensive elderly.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of two sessions of resistance exercise with different volumes on post-exercise hypotension, forearm blood flow, and forearm vascular resistance in hypertensive elderly subjects.

Methods: The study was conducted with ten hypertensive elderly (65±3 years, 28.7±3 kg/m(2)) subjected to three experimental sessions, ie, a control session, exercise with a set (S1), and exercise with three sets (S3). For each session, the subjects were evaluated before and after intervention. In the pre-intervention period, blood pressure, forearm blood flow, and forearm vascular resistance were measured after 10 minutes of rest in the supine position. Thereafter, the subjects were taken to the gym to perform their exercise sessions or remained at rest during the same time period. Both S1 and S3 comprised a set of ten repetitions of ten exercises, with an interval of 90 seconds between exercises. Subsequently, the measurements were again performed at 10, 30, 50, 70, and 90 minutes of recovery (post-intervention) in the supine position.

Results: Post-exercise hypotension was greater in S3 than in S1 (systolic blood pressure, -26.5±4.2 mmHg versus -17.9±4.7 mmHg; diastolic blood pressure, -13.8±4.9 mmHg versus -7.7±5 mmHg, P<0.05). Similarly, forearm blood flow and forearm vascular resistance changed significantly in both sessions with an increase and decrease, respectively, that was more evident in S3 than in S1 (P<0.05).

Conclusion: Resistance exercises with higher volume were more effective in causing post-exercise hypotension, being accompanied by an increase in forearm blood flow and a reduction of forearm vascular resistance.