1. ¹Department of Exercise Science, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA
2. ²Department of Medicine, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, USA
3. ³College of Applied Health Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana—Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

Correspondence: Dr SR Collier, Department of Exercise Science, Syracuse University, 820 Comstock Avenue, Room 204, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA. E-mail: sccollie@syr.edu

Received 7 November 2007; Revised 20 March 2008; Accepted 21 March 2008; Published online 24 April 2008.

Abstract

The benefits of aerobic exercise (AE) training on blood pressure (BP) and arterial stiffness are well established, but the effects of resistance training are less well delineated. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of resistance vs aerobic training on haemodynamics and arterial stiffness. Thirty pre- or stage-1 essential hypertensives (20 men and 10 women), not on any medications, were recruited (age: 48.21.3 years) and randomly assigned to 4 weeks of either resistance (RE) or AE training. Before and after training, BP, arterial stiffness (pulse wave velocity (PWV)) and vasodilatory capacity (VC) were measured. Resting systolic BP (SBP) decreased following both training modes (SBP: RE, pre 1362.9 vs post 1323.4; AE, pre 1413.8 vs post 1363.4 mm Hg, P=0.005; diastolic BP: RE, pre 781.3 vs post 741.6; AE, pre 801.6 vs post 771.7 mm Hg, P=0.001). Central PWV increased (P=0.0001) following RE (110.9–12.70.9 m s^{- 1}) but decreased after AE (12.10.8–11.10.8 m s^{- 1}). Peripheral PWV also increased (P=0.013) following RE (RE, pre 11.50.8 vs post 12.50.7 m s^{- 1}) and decreased after AE (AE, pre 12.60.8 vs post 11.60.7 m s^{- 1}). The VC area under the curve (VC_AUC) increased more with RE than that with AE (RE, pre 768.0 vs post 131.111.6; AE, pre 82.78.0 vs post 110.111.6 ml per min per s per 100 ml, P=0.001). Further, peak VC (VC_peak) increased more following resistance training compared to aerobic training (RE, pre 171.9 vs post 25.82.1; AE, pre 19.28.4 vs post 22.98.4 ml per min per s per 100 ml, P=0.005). Although both RE and AE training decreased BP, the change in pressure may be due to different mechanisms.