State anxiety and blood pressure responses following different resistance exercise sessions

The purpose of this investigation was to examine anxiety and blood pressure responses following different resistance exercise (RE) sessions. Fifty-fou r female participants were randomly assigned to a circuit resistance exerci se condition (CRE) multiple set resistance exercise condition (MSRE) or con trol condition (CON). RE consisted of performing one set of 10 to 20 reps a t 50% of one repetition maximum (IRM) for 12 different exercises in CRE con dition, and three sets of 6 to 10 reps at 75% of 1RM for four different exe rcises in the MSRE condition. Dependent variables consisted of state anxiet y (SA) body awareness (BAS) systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blo od pressure (DBP). These variables were assessed immediately before as well as immediately, 20 60, 120 and 180 minutes following each condition. Perce ived exertion (RPE) was assessed following the 1RM test session for all con ditions and following the second session for the CRE and MSRE conditions. D ata were analyzed with a 3 (conditions) x 6 (trials) mixed model ANOVA and Turkey post hoc tests. SA was analyzed using an ANCOVA with the baseline me asure as the covariate. Results indicated that SA was significantly (p < 0. 05) decreased 120 and 180 minutes following each condition. Significant (p < 0.05) elevations in BAS and SEP were observed immediately following the M SRE condition. No significant differences in RPE were detected between the conditions following the IRM test session, however, RPE was found to be sig nificantly higher (p < 0.05) in the MSRE condition following the second ses sion. It is concluded that one session of CRE is associated with reductions in SA that ave evident 120 and 180 minutes following exercise, while one s ession of MSRE is associated with increases in BAS and SEP immediately foll owing RE.