Impact of Resistance Training on Blood Pressure and Other Cardiovascular Risk Factors

Abstract

Abstract-We reviewed the effect of resistance training on blood pressure and other cardiovascular risk factors in adults.Randomized, controlled trials lasting Ն4 weeks investigating the effects of resistance training on blood pressure in healthy adults (age Ն18 years) and published in a peer-reviewed journal up to June 2010 were included. Random-and fixed-effects models were used for analyses, with data reported as weighted means and 95% confidence limits. We included 28 randomized, controlled trials, involving 33 study groups and 1012 participants. Overall, resistance training induced a significant blood pressure reduction in 28 normotensive or prehypertensive study groups [Ϫ3.9 (Ϫ6.4; Ϫ1.2)/Ϫ3. H igh blood pressure (BP) is 1 of the 9 leading risk factors influencing the global burden of cardiovascular disease 1 and is estimated to lead to Ͼ7 million deaths each year, that is, about 13% of the total deaths worldwide. 2 Data from observational studies in healthy individuals show a direct, strong, independent, and continuous relation between BP and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality without any evidence of a threshold down to at least 115/75 mm Hg. 3 Therefore, adequate control of BP is important for public health. Lowering of BP and prevention of hypertension is in first instance preferable by lifestyle changes. These include weight loss, moderation of alcohol intake, a diet with increased fresh fruit and vegetables, reduced saturated fat, reduced salt intake, and, finally, increased physical activity. 2,4 With regard to the latter, former guidelines predominantly recommended aerobic exercises such as walking, jogging, and cycling for lowering BP. Nowadays, aside from the well-documented effects of resistance training (RT) for the maintenance of functional capacity and prevention of sarcopenia and osteoporosis, a body of research is emerging that shows that RT may also beneficially affect metabolic health. 5 This information may be important because it effectively highlights an underappreciated aspect of RT. Therefore, both the American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine have endorsed the inclusion of RT as an integral part of an exercise program for promoting health and preventing cardiovascular disease. 5,6 However, contrary to endurance training, evidence for a BP-lowering effect of RT remains scarce and much less compelling. Whereas the most recent meta-analysis on the effect of RT, published in 2005, already suggested that moderate RT could become part of the nonpharmacological intervention strategy to prevent and decrease high BP, this conclusion was based on only 9 randomized, controlled trials, involving 12 study groups. 7 Further, these trials have generally been small and often of questionable methodological quality. Since then, the number

Healthy aging and age-adjusted nutrition and physical fitness

“…For example a meta-analysis showed significant decrease in blood pressure, body fat and triglycerides in groups of normotensive or prehypertensive adults by dynamic resistance training [60]. In a Cochrane review Orozco et al [61] concluded that exercise plus diet reduced risk of diabetes compared to standard recommendations and had favorable effects on weight, BMI, waist-to-hip-ratio, waist circumference, and systolic as well as diastolic blood pressure but only marginal effects on blood lipids.…”

Recent Clinical Trials of Hypertension Management

“…The studies to date have been largely unconvincing and in this light a recent meta-analysis of resistance training on BP and other cardiovascular risk factors is very welcome. 42 The studies included in the analysis were generally quite small (28 studies, 33 study groups, 1012 participants) and the exercise intervention varied and further division of the studies by patient characteristics or type of exercise is fraught. However, on average, the intervention groups had BP that was ≈4/4 mm Hg lower than controls in normotensive and prehypertensive study groups.…”

Intervention Study on the Exercise Order of Combined Aerobic & Resistance Training in the Elderly

“…On the other hand, current evidence suggests that low-to moderate-intensity resistance training does not effect on arterial stiffening [36][37][38]. Interestingly, resistance training results in decreased blood pressure as a training adaptation despite increases in blood pressure during exercise [39]. These suggest that the resistance training-related factors contributing to arterial stiffness are complex and the physiological mechanism underlying the effects of resistance training on vascular function is not yet well-understood.…”