Effects of order of aerobic exercise and resistance exercise on blood pressure, blood lactate, and energy metabolic rate after exercise

The study was designed to examine the effects of order of aerobic exercise and resistance exercise on blood pressure, blood lactate, and metabolic rate at rest and during recovery. Twelve men, aged 24.33±2.15 yrs, repeatedly participated in both exercise trials in which the order of aerobic exercise and resistance exercise were altered in a randomized and cross over manner, i.e., aerobic exercise followed by resistance exercise treatment (A-R) and resistance exercise followed by aerobic exercise treatment (R-A). Blood pressure, blood lactate, and energy metabolic rate were measured at assigned time points and compared between two trials as well as among several times simultaneously using a repeated two-way ANOVA. Main results of the present study were as follows: 1) SBP and MAP were significantly lower after resistance exercise than after aerobic exercise regardless of order. 2) Blood lactate level was significantly lower after aerobic exercise than after resistance exercise, and significantly lower in the R-A than the A-R from the completion of the second exercise until 30 min of recovery phase. 3) The oxygen consumption of energy-related variables was significantly higher in the A-R than the R-A in 10 min and 15 min of recovery phase. EPOC was found to be higher in the A-R than the R-A. It was concluded that R-A sequence exercise would have an decreasing effect of blood pressure and fatigue, whereas A-R sequence exercise would have an increasing effect on metabolic rate during recovery phase, suggesting that the order of two types of exercise should be determined appropriately according to the purpose the exercise when the combined exercise is developed and/or prescribed.