Auswirkungen eines akuten Maximalkrafttrainings auf die aortale Gefässsteifigkeit

Background: Increased arterial stiffness is an emerging risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Aerobic exercise reduces arterial stiffness, while resistance training (RT) seems to have a negative effect on arterial stiffness, but this is not a universal finding. However, it is unclear, to what extend the involved extremities contribute to this effect. Previous studies measured arterial stiffness predominate by pulse wave velocity (PWV). This pilot study investigates the effects of acute lower limbs, upper limbs and whole-body RT (hypertrophy-method) on the blood pressure-dependent PWV and the blood pressure-independent cardio ankle vascular index (CAVI). Method: 15 young healthy men (age, 29.1±5.7 years, mean ± SD) were studied before and after acute whole-body RT, comprising six exercises of large muscle groups. Five subjects performed an additional upper and lower limbs RT. In each case, RT was accomplished with 70% of 1RM (4 Sets with 10 Repetitions per exercise). Synchronous measurements of CAVI and brachial-ankle PWV (baPWV) were made before and immediately after RT, as well as 20, 40 and 60 minutes post-intervention. Results: baPWV increased significantly immediately after whole-body RT (pre: 11.13 ± 0.20 to post: 11.72 ± 0.22; p=0.043) and after upper limbs RT (pre: 10.84 ± 0.22 to post: 12.78 ± 0.47; p= .019), while lower limbs RT led to a significant decrease in baPWV (prä: 11.30 ± 0.18 to post: 10.40 ± 0.25; p= .002). This measure returned to baseline values within 60 minutes after whole-body and upper limbs RT. Practicing lower limbs RT, baPWV remained decreased 60 minutes post-intervention. In contrast, CAVI significantly decreased immediately after whole-body RT (pre: 6.35 ± 0.20 to post: 5.77 ± 0.30;p=0.027) and lower limbs RT (pre: 6.00 ± 0.24 to post: 4.46 ± 0.20; p= .001). These changes returned to baseline levels within 60 minutes post-intervention. After upper limbs RT CAVI remained unchanged (pre: 5.67 ± 0.20 to post: 5.81 ± 0.40; p= .77). Conclusion: The results of this pilot study suggest that under consideration of blood pressure effects there is no negative influence of acute upper limbs RT on arterial stiffness. Acute lower limbs and whole-body RT even seems to reduce arterial stiffness.