| | Bill,
Someone told me that resistance training lowered diastolic pressure more than systolic. Do you have any info on that? Resistance training lowers diastolic about as much as systolic blood pressure. The reason that folks told you that it lowers diastolic more than systolic is because they were mentally contrasting it against aerobic exercise -- which lowers systolic almost twice more than it does diastolic. So what does this mean in plain talk? Well, I'm glad that you asked. :-) Here is what it means:
Resistance training lowers diastolic blood pressure about the same as aerobic exercise does. Resistance training lowers systolic blood pressure, too (about the same as it does diastolic). But if you want the most systolic blood pressure reduction, then do some aerobic training. Aerobic training lowers systolic blood pressure the most. If, for example, you weren't on blood pressure medication and you started with the following blood pressure (mm/Hg):
systolic: 140
diastolic: 80
... then a month of resistance training would give you approximately this blood pressure (mm/Hg):
systolic: 136
diastolic: 76
... or a month of aerobic training would give you approximately this blood pressure (mm/Hg):
systolic: 135
diastolic: 77
Ed
Adapted from:
Collier SR, Kanaley JA, Carhart R Jr, Frechette V, Tobin MM, Hall AK, Luckenbaugh AN, Fernhall B. Effect of 4 weeks of aerobic or resistance exercise training on arterial stiffness, blood flow and blood pressure in pre- and stage-1 hypertensives. J Hum Hypertens. 2008 Oct;22(10):678-86.
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