Effects of resistance training on blood pressure in the elderly

The aging process drastically reduces muscle mass, strength and power, decreasing the capacity to perform the activities of daily living. The practice of resistance exercises can reverse this picture, helping to maintain the muscular mass and improving muscular strength and resistance. However, the aging process causes cardiovascular alterations, which can result in increased blood pressure levels at rest and it is important to analyze the effects of resistance exercises on the blood pressure of elderly individuals. The objective of this study is to evaluate the current scientific knowledge on the responses of the blood pressure to resistance exercises and their mechanisms in elderly individuals. In order to do that, we carried out a literature review related to the theme, in both Portuguese and English. Based on the studies found, the current corpus, although scarce and controversial, suggests that, chronically, resistance exercises can have a hypotensive effect on elderly individuals. However, this effect occurs mainly in normotensive elderly individuals submitted to low-intensity training. The mechanisms involved in the hypotensive response still need to be clarified. Although the resistance training is recommended for elderly individuals and there is some evidence that it can have a chronic hypotensive effect, there is still lack of scientific data and much debate on the subject, which demonstrates that this field is still open to investigation.