Cardiovascular Responses to Unilateral, Bilateral, and Alternating Limb Resistance Exercise Performed Using Different Body Segments

Abstract

Moreira, OC, Faraci, LL, de Matos, DG, Mazini Filho, ML, da Silva, SF, Aidar, FJ, Hickner, RC, and de Oliveira, CEP. Cardiovascular responses to unilateral, bilateral and alternating limb resistance exercise performed using different body segments. J Strength Cond Res 31(3): 644-652, 2017-The aim of this study was to verify and compare the cardiovascular responses to unilateral, bilateral, and alternating limb resistance exercise (RE) performed using different body segments. Fifteen men experienced in RE were studied during biceps curls, barbell rows, and knee extension exercises when performed bilaterally, unilaterally, and using alternating limbs. The protocol consisted of 3 sets of 10 repetitions at 80% of 10 repetition maximum with 2-minute rest between sets. Heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) were measured after the last repetition. There was a statistically significant increase in HR, systolic blood pressure (SBP), and rate pressure product (RPP), from rest to postexercise. The RPP was higher in the third set of all exercises and in all 3 forms of execution, when compared with the first set. Bilateral biceps curls caused a greater increase in RPP (first and second sets) and HR, compared with the same exercise performed unilaterally. Furthermore, the performance of bilateral biceps curls induced greater HR and RPP, in all sets, compared with bilateral knee extension and barbell rows. There was also a significantly higher SBP for the alternating second and third sets and also for the bilateral third set of the knee extensions as compared with the barbell rows. It was concluded from the data of this study that the cardiovascular response was increased from rest to postexercise in all forms of exercise, especially immediately after the third set of RE. For exercises performed bilaterally with the upper body (biceps curls), there was a greater cardiovascular response when compared with the same exercise performed unilaterally or with lower-body exercise performed bilaterally.

Cardiovascular Responses to Resistance Exercise Performed with Large and Small Muscle Mass

“…Similar to our study, another recent investigation [24] compared CVR to unilateral, bilateral and alternating limbs for biceps curls, knee extensions and barbell rows, all performed at 80 % of 10RM with matched concentric/eccentric time. The authors reported no difference between unilateral and bilateral exercises, with the exception of the biceps curl, which induced a higher HR during the bilateral than the unilateral protocol.…”

“…Although some studies have shown that cardiovascular stress may be higher during exercises performed until fatigue with larger than smaller muscle groups [11,18], others could not detect differences in SBP, DBP, HR and RPP between unilateral and bilateral knee extensions [23,24,28], or between biceps curls and knee extensions [7]. Methodological features might account for those discrepant results, such as differences across protocols in the duration of total exercise [18,23,24] or concentric/eccentric phases [18] or type of muscle fibers [7,22]. For instance, MacDougall et al [18] observed that the peak pressure response was lower when a rela-tively smaller muscle mass (biceps curl) was employed in comparison to a larger one (single-or double-leg press).…”

“…However, controversial data exists in this area. Whereas a lower peak pressure response was found when a relatively small muscle mass was employed (single-arm curl vs. single-or double-leg press) [18], it has been recently demonstrated that performing either unilateral or bilateral knee extensions and barbell rows induced a similar heart rate, BP and rate-pressure product in healthy individuals [24].…”

“…A meticulous analysis of prior studies with regard to this reveals that they failed to control important aspects across exercise protocols, such as matched total exercise duration [18,23,24], concentric/eccentric time [18], or type of muscle fibers [7,22]. Those variables might influence the tension upon body vasculature, intrathoracic pressure, and time of contraction, all related to chang-…”

Efeitos do exercício de força uni e bilateral sobre os transientes da frequência cardíaca

“…Cabe destacar que nos primeiros 30 segundos essa redução deve-se predominantemente à reentrada vagal 8 , sendo provável que essas respostas sejam ainda dependentes do tipo, volume e intensidade do exercício. Neste contexto, a maior parte dos estudos sobre as respostas da FC nos transientes inicial e final engloba quase unicamente os exercícios de natureza aeróbia 7 , ao passo que as investigações acerca dos exercícios de força não costumam observar essa variável, limitando-se apenas às medidas absolutas pré e pós-exercício 9 .…”