ISCHEMIC PRECONDITIONING IMPROVES AUTONOMIC MODULATION AFTER SESSION OF RESISTANCE EXERCISE

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the acute effect of ischemic preconditioning (IPC) in a session of resistance exercise (RE) for upper and lower limbs on the heart rate variability (HRV) in normotensive and trained men. sixteen normotensive and trained men visit the laboratory in five sessions in non-consecutive days. The first two sessions subjects performed one repetition maximum (RM) test and retest, and the next three visits they performed the experimental protocols: a) RE (CON), b) IPC+RE (IPC), c) SHAM+RE (SHAM). RE were performed in 3 sets at 80% 1RM until concentric failure. IPC consisted of 4x5-mins of vascular occlusion at 220 mmHg alternating with 5-min of reperfusion. SHAM protocol followed the same IPC method with 20mmHg vascular occlusion. A significant decrease in LF­nu and RMSSDms (p=0.001) was found from baseline for IPC, SHAM, and CON. A significant increase in HFnu and LF/HF (p=0.001) was found from baseline for IPC, SHAM, and CON. A significant decrease in LF­nu and LF/HF was observed from 60-min post for IPC vs. SHAM and IPC vs. CON (p<0.05). A significant increase in HFnu was observed from 60-min post for IPC vs. SHAM and IPC vs. CON (p<0.05). A significant increase in RMSSDms was found from post-60 for IPC vs. SHAM (p < 0.05). RE followed IPC shows significantly improvements in the autonomic cardiac modulation, accelerating the autonomic recovery after the RE session, by increasing the vagal activity and reducing the sympathetic activation when compared to RE and SHAM protocols.