Influence of different resistive training modalities on blood pressure and heart rate responses of healthy subjects

Background: Resistive training has been introduced in exercise programs to improve the results of traditional rehabilitation. Changes in blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) during resistive have mainly been measured out of the rehabilitation context, using discontinuous monitoring of BP, while exercising small muscular mass during isometric exercise or low intensity contraction. Method: The BP and HR responses to low, moderate and high intensity resistive training were continuously assessed in 21 healthy subjects. The total amount of work was the same for the three modalities, hence the number of repetition was inversely related to exercise intensity. Results: Blood pressure and HR increased from set 1 to set 3 for all 3 training modalities and were highest, intermediate and lowest during low, moderate and high intensity training respectively (all p<0.001). Conclusions: BP and HR changes during resistive training are related principally to exercise duration. Short sets using heavy weights is preferable to limit BP and HR rises.