Acute Vascular Responses Following a Single Bout of Handgrip Resistance

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to investigate the acute vascular responses to a single bout of handgrip resistance exercise (RE). Methods: 9 physically active male students volunteered who had not previously engaged in chronic weight training. The average physical characteristics were, age (20.4 ± 1.1 years); height (1.78 ± 0.1 cm); weight (79.3 ± 9.2 kg) and body mass index (BMI) (24.9 ± 2.5). Each subject completed a handgrip RE for 5 mins at 10% of their 1 repetition maximum (1RM) with flow mediated dilation (FMD) being carried out pre and post handgrip RE intervention. Vascular measures of base mean diameter (BMD), response mean diameter (RMD), delta diameter (DD), delta % (DP), time to peak (TP), base mean envelope velocity (BMEV), response mean envelope velocity (RMEV), base mean shear rate (BMSR) and response mean shear rate (RMSR) were recorded using ultrasound at baseline and post handgrip RE intervention. Blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) measures were recorded by use of a finometer throughout the entire study. Results: Paired t-tests revealed no statistical significant difference between pre and post intervention measures for variables (P>0.05), except for BMEV (baseline 7.3 ± 2.2; post intervention 11.1 ± 3.4 = 52% increase) and BMSR (baseline 145.6 ± 41.8; post intervention 214.8 ± 73.1 = 48% increase) (P<0.05). Conclusions: It was concluded that even though the handgrip RE caused a significant increase in the variables BMEV and BMSR, the exercise was not physically demanding enough to cause enough of an increase in those variables to result in a vasodilatory or arterial stiffening response.