Clinical Interventions in Aging (Apr 2018)
Blood pressure response to resistance training in hypertensive and normotensive older women
Abstract
Dahan da Cunha Nascimento,1,2 Cristiane Rocha da Silva,1 Renato Valduga,1,3 Bruno Saraiva,1 Ivo Vieira de Sousa Neto,4 Amilton Vieira,4 Silvana Schwerz Funghetto,4 Alessandro Oliveira Silva,5 Samuel da Cunha Oliveira,1 Guilherme Borges Pereira,1 Jefrey M Willardson,6 Jonato Prestes11Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação Física, Universidade Católica de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil; 2Centro Universitário do Distrito Federal (UDF), Brasília, Brazil; 3Centro Universitário Unieuro, Brasília, Brazil; 4Universidade de Brasília (UNB), Brasília, Brazil; 5Centro Universitário de Brasília (UNICEUB), Brasília, Brazil; 6Health and Human Performance Department, Rocky Mountain College, Billings, MT, USAPurpose: The purpose of the present study was to identify the variability of blood pressure response to a 10-week resistance training (RT) program in hypertensive and normotensive elderly women.Participants and methods: Twenty-seven untrained hypertensive and 12 normotensive elderly women participated in the present study. A whole-body RT program was performed on two nonconsecutive days per week for 10 weeks. The responsiveness of resting systolic blood pressure (SBP) was determined based on the percent decline between the pre- and post-training time points T1 and T4. The term responders were used to describe subjects who exhibited a percent SBP decline ≥−2.58% and the term nonresponders for subjects who exhibited a percent SBP decline <−2.58%, respectively.Results: Both the responders and nonresponders in the hypertensive group presented significant changes in SBP (−7.83 ± 5.70 mmHg vs 3.78 ± 7.42 mmHg), respectively. Moreover, the responders and nonresponders in the normotensive group presented significant changes in SBP as well (−8.58 ± 5.52 mmHg vs 5.71 ± 3.84 mmHg).Conclusion: SBP presents a heterogeneous response to a controlled RT program in hypertensive and normotensive elderly women. A different modality of training and additional therapies should be used for nonresponders in order to decrease resting SBP.Keywords: resistance training, exercise, hypertension, responsiveness, elderly, obesity