title: Blood pressure changes during heavy-resistance exercise.
abstract: To study the mechanisms of the blood pressure changes during weight-lifting, three hypertensive and five normotensive body-builders underwent continuous intra-arterial monitoring. In two subjects (one normotensive and one hypertensive), intrathoracic and intra-abdominal pressures were also measured. Extremely high blood pressure elevations of up to 345/245 mmHg were observed during the lifts. Squatting caused the highest pressure rises and single-arm curls the lowest. Both the intrathoracic and the intra-abdominal pressures increased greatly during each lift and closely paralleled the changes in intra-arterial pressure. A close correlation was found between the blood pressure increase during the exercise and during a hand-grip test (r = 0.95, P less than 0.001). These results suggest that a pronounced increase in intra-thoracic and intra-abdominal pressures is a major determinant of the blood pressure elevations occurring during weight-lifting. The pressor reflex which accompanies static contractions and the individual baseline blood pressure levels also seem to affect the height of the pressure peaks.
authors.affiliation: Clinica Medical 1, University of Padua, Italy.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Palatini
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mos
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Munari
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Valle
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Del Torre
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Varotto
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Macor
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Martina
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Pessina
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination / Q000379:methods; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D014636:Valsalva Maneuver / Q000502:physiology; D014891:Weight Lifting