Aortic Pulsatility and Arterial Stiffness After Acute Combined Resistance and Endurance Exercise

Abstract

Endurance exercise reportedly decreases arterial stiffness, while resistance exercise can increase arterial stiffness. Previous training studies suggest that increases in arterial stiffness might be prevented by combining the two modes of exercise within a workout, especially when resistance exercise is completed before endurance exercise. However, the post‐exercise aortic hemodynamic responses to acute combined exercise, and the effect of order, have not been studied. Therefore, we hypothesized that post‐exercise aortic pulsatile load (aortic pulse pressure × heart rate) and carotid‐femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) would be lower after a resistance then endurance (RE) exercise session compared to an endurance then resistance (ER) exercise session. We examined 15 healthy adults (24±2 years; 12 males and 3 females) before and after RE and ER in a randomized order, with approximately one week between testing sessions. Training sessions incorporated 30 minutes of running at 70% of age‐predicted maximal heart rate and approximately 30 minutes of resistance training, which included six common exercises (three sets of 10 repetitions for each). Aortic pulsatile load was 39±10% above baseline at 30‐min post ER, whereas it was only 28±10% above baseline at 30‐min post RE (P<0.02 between conditions). The changes in cfPWV from pre‐ to 30‐min post‐RE (5.8±0.3 vs. 5.5±0.2 m/s) were similar to those from pre‐ to 30‐min post‐ER (5.7±0.2 vs. 5.4±0.2 m/s). Thus, transient increases in cfPWV following exercise might be prevented by combining resistance and endurance exercise within the same workout. Additionally, the lower pulsatile load after RE could result in less pulsatile stress to end organs. These findings may be beneficial when prescribing exercise to healthy or subclinical populations.