Acute cardiovascular responses to resistance training with and without blood flow restriction in healthy individuas

Abstract

Blood flow restriction exercise has proven to be an effective training method to promote neuromuscular adaptations, however, a consensus about the effect on other physiological and safety variables, such as cardiovascular responses, has yet to be reached. Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the acute cardiovascular responses during and after three different resistance training protocols. Material & methods: Fifty-two participants (27.3±7 years; 177.6±11 cm; 72.2±13.7 kg) were randomly allocated into three groups: low-intensity exercise without (LI, n=13) and with blood flow restriction (LI-BFR, n=24), and highintensity exercise (HI, n=15). Participants from LI and LI-BFR groups performed four sets (1x30 + 3x15 reps) at 30% 1RM, while HI group performed four sets (1x30 with 30% 1RM + 3x10 reps with 75% 1RM) of dominant side plantar flexion exercise. For LI-BFR group, a cuff was placed under popliteal region and inflated at 30% of the individual´s occlusion pressure (47.6 ± 19.8 mmHg). Results: Blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR) and oxygen saturation (SpO2) were assessed at baseline, after each set and post-exercise. HR increases significantly during exercise across all protocols, with greater increases for HI group after 4th set (p<0.001; G=1.072) but without differences between groups. HI and LI-BFR protocols showed higher significant post-exercise hypotension and greater reduction in MAP (p<0.05) than LI group. RPP during exercise was different from HI to LI and LI-BFR (p<0.05). HI protocol reduced SpO2 during all sets of exercise (p<0.05). Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that LI-BFR promotes similar hypotensive response to HI, with equal or lower cardiovascular responses during exercise than traditional resistance training.