Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the blood pressure response after heavy resistance exercise. Blood pressure was measured by auscultation in six young men before and during a 60-minute period following a bout of weight training. Weight training consisted of three sets of four exercises (arm curl, bench press, bentarm row and squat) performed using 70 percent of one-repetition maximum for as many repetitions as possiple. Mean (+/- SE) baseline blood pressure, measured 15 minutes before exercise, was 119/86 +/- 4/4 mmHg. Immediately following exercise, it had dropped (p < .05) below pre-exercise levels to 99/62 +/- 10/3 mmHg. However, one minute after the termination of weight training, pressure had rebounded to 116/75 +/- 12/8 mmHg, and thereafter did not change during the 60 minutes of recovery. Subjects reported no exceptional subjective distress, and had no obvious EKG abnormalities. It is concluded that there is a post-exercise trough in blood pressure associated with the sudden termination of heavy resistance weight training with systolic and diastolic pressures dropping more than 20 mmHG below normal resting levels. Verf.-Referat