Abstract
Purpose
Arterial stiffness is a strong independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease and is elevated in individuals with metabolic syndrome (MetS). Resistance training is a popular form of exercise that has beneficial effects on muscle mass, strength, balance and glucose control. However, it is unknown whether resistance exercise training (RT) can lower arterial stiffness in patients with MetS. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine whether a progressive RT program would improve arterial stiffness in MetS.
Methods
A total of 57 subjects (28 healthy sedentary subjects; 29 MetS) were evaluated for arterial structure and function, including pulse wave velocity (cfPWV: arterial stiffness), before and after an 8-week period of RT or continuation of sedentary lifestyle.
Results
We found that 8 weeks of progressive RT increased skeletal muscle strength in both Con and MetS, but did not change arterial stiffness in either MetS (cfPWV; Pre 7.9 ± 0.4 m/s vs. Post 7.7 ± 0.4 m/s) or healthy controls (cfPWV; Pre 6.9 ± 0.3 m/s vs. Post 7.0 ± 0.3 m/s). However, when cfPWV is considered as a continuous variable, high baseline measures of cfPWV tended to show a decrease in cfPWV following RT.
Conclusion
Eight weeks of progressive RT did not decrease the group mean values of arterial stiffness in individuals with MetS or healthy controls.
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Abbreviations
- 1RM:
-
One repetition maximum
- AGI:
-
Augmentation index
- ANOVA:
-
Analysis of variance
- AP:
-
Augmented pressure
- AS:
-
Arterial stiffness
- bDBP:
-
Brachial diastolic blood pressure
- bPP:
-
Brachial pulse pressure
- bSBP:
-
Brachial systolic blood pressure
- CCA:
-
Common carotid artery
- cfPWV:
-
Carotid to femoral pulse wave velocity
- Con:
-
Control
- cSBP:
-
Central systolic blood pressure
- CV:
-
Cardiovascular
- DBP:
-
Diastolic blood pressure
- HDL:
-
High-density lipoprotein
- ICC:
-
Interclass correlation coefficients
- IMT:
-
Intima-medial thickness
- MetS:
-
Metabolic syndrome
- RT:
-
Resistance training
- SEM:
-
Standard error of the mean
- VO2peak:
-
Peak oxygen consumption
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Acknowledgments
We thank Beth Nardella for proofing the manuscript. This study was supported in part by the American Heart Association Grant 11CRP7370056 (P. D. Chantler), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Grant T32-HL-090610 (S. B. Fournier), and National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award U54-GM-104942 and 1P20 GM109098 (P. D. Chantler). STEM Mountains of Excellence Fellowship (E. DeVallance). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
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Communicated by Fabio Fischetti.
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DeVallance, E., Fournier, S., Lemaster, K. et al. The effects of resistance exercise training on arterial stiffness in metabolic syndrome. Eur J Appl Physiol 116, 899–910 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-016-3348-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-016-3348-4