Interindividual responsiveness of blood pressure to the increase in the volume, intensity and duration of aerobic training in hypertensive patients

We tested the hypothesis that increasing exercise dose will reduce BP non-responsiveness after recommended continuous aerobic training in hypertensive patients. Hypertensive women were randomly allocated in continuous aerobic training (CAT) and control (CON). Training group cycled at moderate intensity for 12 wk and CON did not engage in exercise training. Clinic BP was evaluated before and post 12 wk. Participants classified as non-responders after CAT, remained for more 12 wk-training, increasing the exercise dose, being randomly allocated in: continuous aerobic training 3, continuous aerobic training performed 4 and high-intensity interval training. Despite SBP reduction after first 12 wk-training period, there were wide heterogeneity in inter-individual responses, with 67% of hypertensive women being non-responders to CAT. SBP and diastolic BP changes were negatively correlated with baseline values. In second 12-wk training period, after increasing exercise dose, the number of SBP non-responders reduced from 67 to 27%. In hypertensive women, traditional CAT program is not sufficient to significantly decrease BP in most people. However, individuals who are not sensitive to recommended exercise may reduce BP if they were exposed to increased exercise doses.