Effects of Different Rest Intervals between Circuit Resistance Exercises on Post-exercise Blood Pressure Responses in Normotensive Young Males

PURPOSE: To investigate the blood pressure responses during recovery after two protocols of circuit resistance exercises (CRE) with different rest intervals (RI). METHODS: Eleven normotensive males (aged 19.5 ± 1.0 yrs, height 172.8 ± 5.7 cm and weight 65.1 ± 8.1 kg) performed two CRE with RI of 30 (RI30s) and 40 (RI40s) seconds between the exercises randomly, as well as a control session without exercise. The protocols consisted of 3 circuits of 6 exercises with 10 repetitions maximum (10RM) and 2 minute rest between circuits, followed by an 80 minute recovery period. Measurements were taken before exercise and at each 10 min of post-exercise recovery. The Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) with Repeated Measures (group × time) was used to analyze data, followed by post-hoc Bonferroni test, for P≤0.05. RESULTS: Post-exercise hypotension of systolic blood pressure was observed after both CRE with RI30s and RI40s (at R40, R50, R60, R70 and R80), whereas diastolic blood pressure did not differ from that measured at rest. In all measured moments, there was no significant difference between exercise trials in post-exercise levels of systolic and diastolic blood pressure. CONCLUSION: CRE with RI30s and RI40s between the exercises can lead to occurrence of PEH similarly in magnitude and duration. Our findings suggest a potentially positive health benefit of strength training.