Acute cardiac autonomic and haemodynamic responses to leg and arm isometric exercise

Objectives Acute cardiovascular responses following a single session of isometric exercise (IE) have been shown to predict chronic adaptations in blood pressure (BP) regulation. It was hypothesised that exercises which recruit more muscle mass induce greater reductions in BP compared to exercises using smaller muscle mass. To test this hypothesis, the current study aimed to compare the acute haemodynamic and autonomic responses to a single session of isometric wall squat (IWS) and isometric handgrip (IHG) training. Methods Twenty-six sedentary participants performed a single IWS and IHG session in a randomised cross-over design, with training composed of 4 × 2-min contractions, with 2-min rest, at 95 HR peak and 30% MVC respectively. Haemodynamic and cardiac autonomic variables were recorded pre, during, immediately post, and 1-h post-exercise, with the change from baseline for each variable used for comparative analysis. Results During IWS exercise, there was a significantly greater increase in systolic BP ( P