Impact of Chronic Exercise Training on the Blood Pressure Response to Orthostatic Stimulation

Exercise training elicits morphological adaptations in the left ventricle (LV) and large conduit arteries that are specific to the type of training performed (i.e., endurance vs. resistance exercise). We investigated whether the mode of chronic exercise training, and the associated cardiovascular adaptations, influence the blood pressure responses to orthostatic stimulation in 30 young healthy men (10 sedentary, 10 endurance-trained, and 10 resistance-trained). The endurance-trained group had a significantly larger LV end-diastolic volume normalized by body surface area (vs. sedentary and resistance-trained groups), whereas the resistance-trained group had a significantly higher LV wall thickness and aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) compared with the endurance-trained group. In response to 60-degree head-up tilt (HUT), mean arterial pressure (MAP) rose in the resistance-trained group (+6.5±1.6 mmHg, P