Acute effects of power and resistance exercises on hemodynamic measurements of older women

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to compare the acute effects of resistance training (RT) and power training (PT) on the hemodynamic parameters and nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability of older women.

Materials and methods

A randomized experimental design was used in this study. Twenty-one older women (age: 67.1±4.6 years; body mass index: 28.03±4.9 kg/m²; systolic blood pressure: 135.1±21.1 mmHg) were recruited to participate in this study. Volunteers were randomly allocated into PT, RT, and control session (CS) groups. The PT and RT groups underwent a single session of physical exercise equalized by training volume, characterized by 3 sets of 8–10 repetitions in 8 different exercises. However, RT group performed exercise at a higher intensity (difficult) than PT (moderate) group. On the other hand, concentric contractions were faster in PT group than in RT group. Hemodynamic parameters and saliva samples (for NO quantification) were collected before and during an hour after exercise completion.

Results

Results demonstrated post-exercise hypotension during 35 minutes in the PT when compared to rest period (P=0.001). In turn, RT showed decreased heart rate and double product (P<0.001) during the whole evaluation period after exercise completion compared with the rest period. NO levels increased in the PT and RT during the whole evaluation period in relation to rest period. However, there were no differences between PT, RT, and CS regarding hemodynamic and NO evaluations.

Conclusion

Data indicate that an acute session of power and resistance exercise can be effective to cause beneficial changes on hemodynamic parameters and NO levels in older women.

Keywords:

• post-exercise hypotension
• resistance training
• power training
• nitric oxide
• older people

Supplementary materials

Table S1 Behavior of hemodynamic parameters after the experimental sessions in hypertensive patients

Table S2 ES of hemodynamic parameters after the experimental sessions in hypertensive patients

Table S3 Comparison of rest and the mean of the moments after exercise in hypertensive patients

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for funding this research via scholarships to HJCJ and RYA, respectively. BR and MCCI had financial support from the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) and CNPq (BPQ). The authors are also grateful to Daisy dos Reis and Flávio Romano of the facility for older adults and all researchers of the Research Group on Chronic-Degenerative Diseases of Mogi das Cruzes University (Grupo de Pesquisa em Doenças Crônico-Degenerativas da Universidade de Mogi das Cruzes–GEDCD/UMC) for their support. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.