Blood pressure responses to resistive exercise in trained female athletes: Influence of velocity of movement

The purpose of this study was to examine post-exercise hypotension (PEH) responses to three different resistance exercise velocities in female athletes. The 13 female subjects with experience of resistance training performed a series of resistance exercises with 80% of one repetition maximum for 3 sets with differing in velocity of movements: fast movement (FM; 1-second eccentric and 1-second concentric actions), moderate movement (MM; 1-second eccentric and 2-second concentric actions) and slow movement (SM; 2-second eccentric and 4-second concentric actions). After completing each training session, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were taken every 10 min for a period of 60 min of recovery. The results indicated significant increases in SBP at 10th min post-exercise in comparison to baseline. After 60-min recovery, all conditions showed statistically significant decreases in SBP when compared with pre-exercise. In all measured moments, there were no significant differences among experimental sessions in post-exercise levels of SBP and DBP. Therefore, resistance training with FM, MM, and SM can induce increases in SBP after exercise, whereas after 60-min recovery, can induce decreases in SBP or post-exercise hypotension.