ABSTRACT
The most recent statistics show that cardiovascular disease (CVD) accounted for 32.8% of all deaths, or one out of every three deaths, in 2008 in the United States.1 Consequently, it is not surprising that CVD is a signicant economic burden costing more than $298 billion annually in the United States alone.1 One mechanism used to explain the high mortality rate associated with patients with CVD is their lack of physical activity. For example, Myers et al.2 showed that a metabolic equivalent (or a unit of energy expenditure) increase in aerobic tness was associated with a 12%
Introduction ..............................................................................................................23 Inclusion Criteria .................................................................................................24
Resistance Training and Hypertension .....................................................................25 Systemic Blood Pressure .....................................................................................25 Resistance Training and Hypertension Control...................................................25 Resistance Training in Prehypertension ..............................................................26
Resistance Training and Arterial Stiffness ...............................................................26 Young and Middle-Aged Adults without Cardiovascular Disease ......................27 Older Men and Women without Cardiovascular Disease ....................................29 Mechanisms for Change in Arterial Compliance ................................................30
