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Can Resistance Training Play a Role in the Prevention or Treatment of Hypertension?

  • Chapter
Effects of Exercise on Hypertension

Part of the book series: Molecular and Translational Medicine ((MOLEMED))

Abstract

Habitual and purposeful physical activity has been touted as an important part of prevention, treatment, and control of hypertension by the American College of Sports Medicine, American Heart Association, and by the seventh and eighth Joint National Committees for Reports on the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (BP). However, little information has been disseminated on how exercise modality influences the resting BP response to regular exercise (training). Hypertension is closely associated with aging, insulin resistance, and sarcopenia. Resistance training (RT) is considered the exercise modality of choice for the delay or prevention of the adverse consequences of sarcopenia, and is also effective for reducing the risk of insulin resistance, as well as other risk factors for age-related diseases. Because of these favorable relationships, it is important to determine the effects of RT on BP, particularly in those at risk or who already have hypertension. Therefore, the purposes of this chapter are to describe: (1) the acute and chronic effects of RT on BP; (2) how these effects compare to those of aerobic exercise training; (3) how the effects of dynamic RT compare to those of static (isometric) RT on BP; and (4) whether there is an evidence-based rationale for developing an individualized exercise prescription for the use of RT in the prevention, treatment, and control of hypertension.

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Abbreviations

1-RM:

One repetition maximum

ACSM:

American College of Sports Medicine

AIT:

Aerobic interval training

AT:

Aerobic exercise training

BP:

Blood pressure

CVD:

Cardiovascular disease

DBP:

Diastolic blood pressure

FITT-VP:

Frequency, intensity, time, type, volume, and progression

GXT:

Graded exercise testing

IHG:

Isometric handgrip training

JNC 7:

The Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure

JNC 8:

The Eighth Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure

MAP:

Mean arterial blood pressure

MVC:

Maximum voluntary contraction

PEH:

Postexercise hypotension

RCT:

Randomized controlled trials

RT:

Resistance training

SBP:

Systolic blood pressure

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Kinesiology, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Ben F. Hurley Ph.D., F.A.C.S.M. & Alta Rebekah Gillin B.S.

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  1. Ben F. Hurley Ph.D., F.A.C.S.M.
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Correspondence to Ben F. Hurley Ph.D., F.A.C.S.M. .

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  1. Human Performance Laboratory, University of Connecticut Department of Kinesiology &, Storrs, Connecticut, USA

    Linda S. Pescatello

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Hurley, B.F., Gillin, A.R. (2015). Can Resistance Training Play a Role in the Prevention or Treatment of Hypertension?. In: Pescatello, L. (eds) Effects of Exercise on Hypertension. Molecular and Translational Medicine. Humana Press, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17076-3_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17076-3_2

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