Effects of weight lifting on resting blood pressure: A meta‐analysis

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of weight‐lifting exercise on resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure in humans. The results of 10 human exercise training studies published in journals (1966‐1993) and representing a total of 285 subjects (170 exercise, 115 control) were statistically aggregated using the meta‐analytic approach. Across all categories and designs, weight lifting resulted in a small, but statistically significant reduction of ‐3 (p = 0.02) and ‐2 (p = 0.03) mmHg resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure, respectively. This corresponded to a reduction of approximately 2% for both resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Neither change was significant for a control group. The results of this study suggest that weight lifting reduces resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure in humans. However, the reduction observed in this study may not be sufficient to recommend weight lifting alone for the purpose of reducing resting blood pressure. A need exists for ...