Blood Pressure Response After Weight Training Exercise

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 possible. Mean (± SE) baseline blood pressure, measured 15 minute before exercise, was 119/86 ± 4/4 mmHg. Immediately following exercise, it had dropped (p < .05) below pre-exercise levels to 99/62 t 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.