Current exercise guidelines recommend aerobic types of exercises on most days of the week, supplemented with dynamic resistance exercise twice weekly. Whereas the blood pressure (BP)-lowering effects of a single session of aerobic exercise have been well studied, less is known about the hypotensive effect of a single bout of resistance exercise.
Objectives
To evaluate the transient effect of resistance exercise on BP by means of meta-analytic techniques.
Methods
A systematic electronic search in Medline, Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature (LILACS), Elton B Stephens Company (EBSCO), EMBASE and SPORTDiscus was completed in March 2015 identifying randomised controlled trials investigating the effect of a single bout of resistance exercise on resting or ambulatory BP in healthy adults. A subsequent meta-analysis was performed.
Results
The meta-analysis involved 30 studies, 81 interventions and 646 participants (normotensive (n = 505) or hypertensive (n = 141)). A single bout of resistance exercise elicited small-to-moderate reductions in office systolic BP at 60 minutes postexercise [−3.3 (−4.0 to −2.6)/−2.7 (−3.2 to −2.1) mmHg (CI 95%)], 90 minutes postexercise [−5.3 (−8.5 to −2.1)/−4.7 (−6.9 to −2.4) mmHg (CI 95%)] and in 24–hour ambulatory BP [−1.7 (−2.8 to −0.67)/−1.2 (−2.4 to −0.022) mmHg (CI 95%)] compared to a control session. The reduction in office BP was more pronounced in hypertensive compared to normotensive individuals (p < 0.01), when using larger muscle groups (p < 0.05) and when participants were recovering in the supine position (p < 0.01).
Conclusion
A single bout of resistance exercise can have a BP-lowering effect that last for up to 24 hours. Supine recovery and the use of larger muscle groups resulted in greater BP reductions after resistance exercise.
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