Gender influence on post-resistance exercise hypotension and hemodynamics

Post-resistance exercise hypotension has been extensively described in men and women. However, gender influence on this response has not yet been clear. Gender might change post-exercise hemodynamics, since men and women respond differently during exercise. Thus, the purpose was to compare post-resistance exercise hypotension and its hemodynamic determinants in men and women. Normotensive subjects (22-male, 22-female) underwent 2 sessions: control (40 min of rest) and exercise (6 resistance exercises, 3 sets, 20 repetitions, at 40-50% of 1RM). Blood pressure, heart rate, and cardiac output were measured prior to and following interventions. Blood pressure decrease after exercise was similar between the genders. However, hemodynamic determinants responded differently in men and women. Systemic vascular resistance reduced in women (-4.6±1.9U, P<0.05), while cardiac output decreased in men (-0.6±0.2 L/min, P<0.05). This response was accompanied by a decrease in stroke volume in men (-21.6±5.1 ml, P<0.05) and a more pronounced increase in heart rate in men than in women (+11.3±1.3 vs. +6.5±1.7 bpm, P<0.05, respectively). In conclusion, post-resistance exercise hypotension was similar in men and women. However, its hemodynamic determinants differ between the genders, depending on cardiac output decrease in men and on systemic vascular resistance decrease in women.