Abstract details

Abstract-ID: 1910
Title of the paper: Can set configuration modulate the arterial stiffness and post-exercise hypotension response in postmenopausal women?
Authors: María Rúa Alonso, Revuelta-Lera, B., Nine, I., Rial-Vázquez, J., Fariñas, J., Rivera-Mejía, SL, Ovies-Gutierrez, F., Iglesias-Soler, E.
Institution: University of A Coruña - Q6550005J
Department: Department of Physical and Sports Education, Performance and health group
Country: Spain
Abstract text INTRODUCTION:
Menopause is a critical phase in women’s health, increasing the risks of hypertension and vascular dysfunction (1). Resistance exercise (RE) can promote a post-exercise hypotensive response in postmenopausal women (2). Set configuration can modulate the acute cardiovascular response to RE (3,4). However, menopause may influence the acute effects to exercise (2). Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore arterial stiffness and blood pressure response in postmenopausal women after RE protocols with different set configurations.
METHODS:
50 postmenopausal women with a physically active lifestyle (37 normotensive/13 hypertensive) participated in this study funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2021-124277OB). After a medical screening and familiarisation with the RE protocol composed by four exercises, each woman completed one control (CON) and three experimental sessions equated by intensity (12RM load), volume (144 reps) and total resting time (18min), but differing in set configuration: 9 sets of 4 reps with 45s rest (9S); 6 sets of 6 reps with 72s rest (6S); and 4 sets of 9 reps with 120s rest (4S).
Arterial stiffness, measured by pulse wave velocity (PWV), was assessed before, immediately after, and 60 min after session. Blood pressure, including systolic (sBP), diastolic (dBP), and mean arterial pressure (MAP), as well as low frequency of SBP oscillations (LFsBP), were evaluated before and after each session at intervals of 5-15, 15-25, 30-40, and 40-50min.
RESULTS:
No differences between normo- and hypertensive participants were observed.
ANOVA analysis detected a main effect of time, session, and time×session interaction (p=0.002) for PWV. Immediately after session, all RE protocols caused higher values than CON (p=0.006). Increases compared to baseline were observed only after 6S and 9S (p=0.039), with no significant differences between the experimental sessions. After 60min from the end of the session, all RE protocols showed a reduction in PWV compared to immediately post-exercise records (p=0.005), without differences between experimental sessions and CON (p=0.075). Only a main effect of time was observed for sBP, MAP and LFsBP (p=0.021).
CONCLUSION:
Set configuration may modulate the arterial stiffness response after exercise, despite the absence of a post-exercise hypotension response in physically active postmenopausal women. Long set configurations increase arterial stiffness without providing the hypotensive benefit. Thus, in order to reduce the cardiovascular risk while still reaping the benefits of RE, short set configurations (i.e., an intensity of effort of 33%, 4 out of 12) should be recommended for postmenopausal women, similar to healthy young people (3,4).

REFERENCES
1) Hulteen et al., Int. J. Sports Med, 2023
2) Le Bourvellec et al., J Appl Physiol, 2024
3) Mayo et al., J Strength Cond Res, 2016
4) Rúa-Alonso et al., Eur J Appl Physiol, 2020
Topic: Health and Fitness
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