Acute cardiovascular responses to strength exercise for biceps and quadriceps muscles in middle-aged women

OBJECTIVE: Strength Training is increasingly popular and is studied for its efficacy in increasing muscular power and endurance. It has been claimed that cardiovascular responses are related to the muscle mass involved during execution, but some studies do not confirm these findings. We analyzed the behavior of heart rate, systolic/diastolic blood pressure, and double product in middle-aged women while performing exercises for two muscle groups with different volumes: elbow flexors (small mass) and knee extensors (large mass). METHOD: The study sample comprised eight women physically active for at least 6 months. The experimental procedure was performed in 3 sessions. In the first session, the characterization of the sample and a 10 repetition maximum (10RM) test were conducted. In the second, participants performed a warm up and then (depending on randomization), either the elbow flexion or the knee extension exercises in 3 series of 10 repeats. In the third session, participants performed the alternate exercise, folllowing the same procedures. Systolic and diastolic pressures and heart rate were measured 5 minutes before warm up and at the end of each series. RESULTS: No difference was observed in the acute cardiovascular responses for exercises involving the two different muscle mass volumes in normotensive women above age 45 years. CONCLUSION: The cardiovascular response is not affected by the exercised muscular mass in this specific population. Further studies should examine these variables in different conditions such as weather, climate and other populations.