Summary
The influence of aerobic capacity on the cardiovascular response to handgrip exercise, in relation to the muscle mass involved in the effort, was tested in 8 trained men (T) and 17 untrained men (U). The subjects performed handgrip exercises with the right-hand (RH), left-hand (LH) and both hands simultaneously (RLH) at an intensity of 25% of maximal voluntary contraction force. Maximal aerobic capacity was 4.3 l·min−1 in T and 3.21·min−1 in U (P<0.01). The endurance time for handgrip was longer in T than in U by 29% (P<0.05) for RH, 38% (P<0.001) for LH and 24% (P<0.001) for RLH. Heart rate (f c) was significantly lower in T than in U before handgrip exercise, and showed smaller increases (P<0.01) at the point of exhaustion: 89 vs 106 beats·min−1 for RH, 93 vs 100 beats·min−1 for LH and 92 vs 108 beats·min−1 for RLH. Stroke volume (SV) at rest was greater in T than in U and decreased significantly (P<0.05) during handgrip exercise in both groups of subjects. At the point of exhaustion SV was still greater in T than in U: 75 vs 57 ml for RH, 76 vs 54 ml for LH and 76 vs 56 ml for RLH. During the last seconds of handgrip exercise, the left ventricular ejection time was longer in T than in U. Increases in cardiac output (Q c) and systolic blood pressure did not differ substantially between T and U, nor between the handgrip exercise tests. It was concluded that handgrip exercise caused similar increases inQ c in both T and U but in T the increased level ofQ c was an effect of greater SV and lowerf c than in U. Doubling the muscle mass did not alter the cardiovascular response to handgrip exercise in either T or U.
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Grucza, R., Smorawiński, J., Cybulski, G. et al. Cardiovascular response to static handgrip in trained and untrained men. Europ. J. Appl. Physiol. 62, 337–341 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00634969
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00634969