Effects of Manual Therapies and Resistance Exercise on Postexercise Hypotension in Women With Normal Blood Pressure.

ABSTRACT: Monteiro, ER, Pescatello, LS, Winchester, JB, Corrêa Neto, VG, Brown, AF, Budde, H, Marchetti, PH, Silva, JG, Vianna, JM, and Novaes, JdS. Effects of manual therapies and resistance exercise on postexercise hypotension in women with normal blood pressure. J Strength Cond Res 36(4): 948-954, 2022-The purpose of this investigation was to examine the acute effects of resistance exercise (RE) and different manual therapies (static stretching and manual massage [MM]) performed separately or combined on blood pressure (BP) responses during recovery in women with normal BP. Sixteen recreationally strength-trained women (age: 25.1 ± 2.9 years; height: 158.9 ± 4.1 cm; body mass: 59.5 ± 4.9 kg; body mass index: 23.5 ± 1.9 kg·m-2; baseline systolic BP median: 128 mm Hg; and baseline diastolic BP median: 78 mm Hg) were recruited. All subjects performed 6 experiments in a randomized order: (a) rest control (CON), (b) RE only (RE), (c) static-stretching exercise only (SS), (d) MM only, (e) RE immediately followed by SS (RE + SS), and (f) RE immediately followed by MM (RE + MM). RE consisted of 3 sets of bilateral bench press, back squat, front pull-down, and leg press exercises at 80% of 10RM. Static stretching and MM were applied unilaterally in 2 sets of 120 seconds to each of the quadriceps, hamstring, and calf regions. Systolic (SBP) and diastolic BP were measured before (rest) and every 10 minutes for 60 minutes following (Post 10-60) each intervention. There were significant intragroup differences for RE in Post-50 (p = 0.038; d = -2.24; ∆ = -4.0 mm Hg). Similarly, SBP intragroup differences were found for the SS protocol in Post-50 (p = 0.021; d = -2.67; ∆ = -5.0 mm Hg) and Post-60 (p = 0.008; d = -2.88; ∆ = -5.0 mm Hg). Still, SBP intragroup differences were found for the MM protocol in Post-50 (p = 0.011; d = -2.61; ∆ = -4.0 mm Hg) and Post-60 (p = 0.011; d = -2.74; ∆ = -4.0 mm Hg). Finally, a single SBP intragroup difference was found for the RE + SS protocol in Post-60 (p = 0.024; d = -3.12; ∆ = -5.0 mm Hg). Practitioners should be aware that SS and MM have the potential to influence BP responses in addition to RE or by themselves and therefore should be taken into consideration for persons who are hypertensive or hypotensive.

Effects of Different Between Test Rest Intervals in Reproducibility of the 10-Repetition Maximum Load Test: A Pilot Study with Recreationally Resistance Trained Men.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of 24-, 36-, 48-, 72- and 96-hours between-test rest intervals on the reproducibility of the 10-RM smith machine back squat (BS), bench press (BP) and leg press at 45 degrees (LP45) exercises. Twelve resistance trained men (26.6 ± 4.5 yrs; 179.0 ± 5.5 cm; 92.2 ± 24.6 kg) performed five sets of identical 10-repetition maximum (10-RM) tests for the BS, BP, LP45 exercises, each set with a different interval between tests: 1) twenty-four hours (Post-24), 2) thirty-six hours (Post-36), 3) forty-eight hours (Post-48), 4) seventy-two (Post-72), and 5) ninety-six hours (Post-96). Significant differences in 10-RM from pretest to posttest were observed for BS in Post-24 (p < 0.001; Δ% = -12.62), Post-36 (p < 0.001; Δ% = -6.57), and Post-96 (p = 0.015; Δ% = 6.84). Similarly, significant differences in 10-RM from pretest to posttest were observed for BP in Post-24 (p < 0.001; Δ% = -9.22), Post-36 (p = 0.032; Δ% = -3.04), and Post-96 (p < 0.001; Δ% = 5.37). Finally, significant differences in 10-RM from pretest to posttest were observed for LP45 in Post-24 (p < 0.001; Δ% = -16.55), Post-36 (p = 0.032; Δ% = -5.09), and Post-96 (p < 0.001; Δ% = 5.54). The reproducibility of 10-RM was examined using intraclass correlation coefficients; BS: 0.944, 0.977, 0.988, 0.986, and 0.954 for Post-24, Post-36, Post-48, Post-72, and Post-96, respectively; BP: 0.894, 0.966, 0.966, 0.960, and 0.976; and LP45: 0.832, 0.957, 0.984, 0.974, and 0.977 5. Based on the findings, the optimal between test rest interval duration for 10-RM testing, to provide the best reproducibility, in resistance trained men appears to be 48 to 72 hours for the BS, BP, and LP45 exercises.

Behavior of Heart Rate Variability After 10 Repetitions Maximum Load Test for Lower Limbs.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the acute heart rate variability behavior after 10 repetitions maximum load test for back squat, leg press, leg extension, and leg flexion in normotensive subjects. Eight recreationally trained women (age: 21.8 ± 2.2 yrs; height: 167.6 ± 6.3 cm; weight: 61.6 ± 10.1 kg) performed two 10 repetitions maximum testing days with 48-hours rest between each one. Heart rate variability was measured in baseline and postexercise (15-, 30-, 45-, and 60-minutes) for time and frequency domain. A significant difference was identified in RMSSDms (p = 0.010; effect size = -1.3), MRRms (p = 0.026; effect size = -1.3), MHR (p = 0.006; effect size = 1.4), and PNN50% (p = 0.006; effect size = -1.6) when compared 15 minutes postexercise with baseline. For all others comparison and index were no differences (p > 0.05). The present study demonstrates that load test, although works with maximum intensities, did not generate an exacerbated postexercise sympathetic activity. Thus, it seems to be safe for cardiovascular healthy individuals. As a practical application, these results can encourage exercise practitioners to do a maximum load test to resistance training loads prescription.

Hypotensive Responses of Reciprocal Supersets versus Traditional Resistance Training in Apparently Healthy Men.

The purpose of this study was to compare the hypotensive responses of reciprocal supersets (SS) versus traditional training (TRAD) methods. Thirteen men with at least five years of recreational experience in resistance training (RT) volunteered for the study. When completing the TRAD protocol, participants performed the following exercises separately in sequence: chest press (CP), low row (LR), leg extension (LE), leg curl (LC), pull down (PD), and shoulder press (SP). The SS method required participants to complete the same exercises as in the TRAD protocol, but exercises were coupled such that muscles sequentially served both as an agonist for lift one and then antagonist for lift two and vice versa. Exercise order used was CP and LR, LE and LC, and PD and SP with 10 repetition maximum loads. Blood pressure (BP) was measured before and for every 10 minutes for one hour after training. There was significantly more total work (TW) done in the TRAD condition compared to SS. Post exercise hypotension was evident only after the TRAD session at minutes 30 and 40 for systolic BP. Significant differences between the TRAD and SS methods were found at 20 minutes, 30 minutes, and 40 minutes for systolic BP. There was no significant two-way interaction for group × time for diastolic BP. There was a significant two-way interaction for group × time for mean arterial pressure. Significant reductions for mean arterial pressure (MAP) occurred only in the TRAD method after 30 to 40 minutes compared to the baseline values. Therefore, a TRAD RT method was sufficient to cause a hypotensive effect after the training session whereas the SS method did not reveal significant decreases in BP after the session. However, these findings are important to elucidate concerns regarding the post-exercise hypotension after RT and showed that TW might be the key to promote these changes because the volume of training was shown to be an important training variable to manipulate and might be associated with BP hypotension after RT.