High-intensity training with weights is best for lowering blood pressure after exercise

Exercising with weights for six or more weeks reduces systolic blood pressure (the upper blood pressure value) by 3.9 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure (the lower blood pressure value) by 3.2 mmHg.

Aline des Freitas and colleagues from the Federal University of Paraiba in Brazil, in a study of 16 middle-aged women suffering from high blood pressure, found that intense weight training (80 percent of maximum weight) resulted in lower post-exercise blood pressure than lower intensity training (50 percent of maximum weight). More intense training with weights also resulted in a higher blood flow to the muscles (pump), a higher heart rate and a stronger sympathetic response.

Is weight training, especially intense weight training, good for people with high blood pressure? Even though intense weight training resulted in a temporary reduction in blood pressure, it increases the stiffness of the arteries, which increases the strain on the heart and impairs the metabolism of the blood vessels.

We need further research to determine the long-term effects of training with weights on high blood pressure.

(Journal Strength Conditioning Research, 29: 3486 - 3493, 2015)