Influence of Recovery Posture on Blood Pressure and Heart Rate After Resistance Exercises in Normotensive Subjects

This study investigated the effects of body posture on systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure, mean arterial pressure (MAP), and heart rate (HR) after a session of resistance exercises. Twelve normotensive men were randomly assigned to either a control group (CG) or exercise group (EG). The EG performed 4 sets of 10 lifts at 80% of repetition maximum (10RM) using 4 different exercises. The BP and HR were assessed on different days in seated and supine postures at rest and at 10-minute intervals during 30 minutes of postexercise recovery. Except for DBP, a 3-way ANOVA revealed that postexercise SBP in EG was always lower than at rest during seated (minimum of 109.5 +/- 1.4 mm Hg at 10 min vs. 119.2 +/- 3.4 mm Hg at rest; p < 0.01) and supine recovery (minimum of 112.7 +/- 3.0 mm Hg at 20 min vs. 118.4 +/- 1.7 mm Hg at rest; p < 0.05). The MAP during recovery in the seated posture was lower than at rest (minimum 83.3 +/- 2.6 mm Hg at 30 min vs. 89.3 +/- 0.9 mm Hg at rest; p < 0.05), whereas in the supine posture, no difference was identified (minimum 83.6 +/- 1.9 mm Hg at 10 min vs. 87.1 +/- 1.8 mm Hg at rest; p > 0.05). The HR at 10 minutes (82.0 +/- 4.8 bpm; p < 0.01), 20 minutes ([83.7 +/- 6.3 bpm; p < 0.05), and 30 minutes (80.5 +/- 6.2 bpm; p < 0.01) of recovery during the seated posture was higher than at rest (71.5 +/- 2.1 bpm). In contrast, in the supine posture, HR was higher than at rest (66.8 +/- 3.7 bpm; p < 0.01) throughout 10 minutes (79.7 +/- 5.3 bpm) and 20 minutes of recovery (74.5 +/- 4.2 bpm). In conclusion, the postexercise hypotensive response can be affected by posture during BP assessment.