title: Cardiorespiratory responses of pregnant and nonpregnant women during resistance exercise.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine cardiorespiratory responses in pregnant and nonpregnant women during the execution of resistance exercises for upper and lower body. Twenty healthy women (10 pregnant: 22-24 weeks, 25.20 ± 4.44 years, 69.80 ± 9.52 kg, 161.60 ± 5.21 cm and 10 nonpregnant: 25.20 ± 3.73 years, 62.36 ± 8.60 kg, 162.40 ± 3.97 cm) performed 5 experimental sessions. Session 1: familiarization with the equipments and the determination of 1 estimated maximum repetition. Sessions 2, 3, 4, and 5: determination of the cardiorespiratory responses during the execution of resistance exercise on the bilateral leg extension and pec-deck fly, with 1 and 3 sets of 15 repetitions, 50% of 1 estimated maximum repetition. Systolic, diastolic, and mean blood pressure (BP) responses were lower (p = 0.029, 0.018, 0.009, respectively) in the pregnant group. When the exercises were performed with a single set, heart rate showed increased values for bilateral leg extension (pregnant: 109.40 ± 10.75 b·min, nonpregnant: 108.51 ± 19.05 b·min) compared with pec-deck (pregnant: 101.59 ± 14.83 b·min, nonpregnant: 100.37 ± 12.36 b·min); however, when the exercises were performed with 3 sets, bilateral leg extension showed increased values for the heart rate (pregnant: 114.70 ± 13.58 b·min, nonpregnant: 121.29 ± 10.86 b·min), systolic (pregnant: 124.50 ± 17.32 mm Hg, nonpregnant: 136.00 ± 17.79 mm Hg), diastolic (pregnant: 68.10 ± 8.23 mm Hg, nonpregnant: 77.89 ± 15.25 mm Hg), and mean BP (pregnant: 86.90 ± 10.38 mm Hg, nonpregnant: 97.73 ± 12.64 mm Hg), ventilation (pregnant: 12.88 ± 4.05 L·min, nonpregnant: 15.02 ± 4.19 L·min), and oxygen consumption (pregnant: 0.41 ± 0.08 L·min, nonpregnant: 0.42 ± 0.09 L·min) compared with pec-deck fly exercise. We concluded that the pressure response was unaffected by pregnancy and showed to be safe during the performance of resistance exercises.
authors.affiliation: Exercise Research Laboratory, School of Physical Education, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bgeginski
authors.forename: Bruna P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Almada
authors.forename: Luiz F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Martins Kruel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000502:physiology; D055070:Resistance Training