The findings, published in BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, suggest that even a single weekly session of isometric exercise could help people preserve improvements in blood pressure. Isometric exercise involves tightening muscles while holding the body in a fixed position. Common examples include wall squats, planks, and handgrip exercises.
Earlier research has found that isometric training can lower blood pressure effectively. However, researchers have not fully understood how often these exercises need to be performed to maintain their cardiovascular benefits.
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Researchers enrolled 100 adults with an average age of 37.4 years. Participants had systolic blood pressure between 120 and 140 mmHg and did not regularly participate in structured exercise programs. None had been diagnosed with hypertension.Participants were randomly assigned to five groups. One served as a control group, while the other four began the same four-week exercise program at home.
The training consisted of four wall squat holds per session, with two minutes of seated recovery between each hold. Participants completed this routine three times weekly during the first four weeks.
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For the following four weeks, one group continued three weekly sessions, another reduced its frequency to twice weekly, and a third exercised once a week. The fourth group stopped training altogether.
Researchers evaluated blood pressure, heart rate, and other measures of cardiovascular function at the beginning of the experiment and after four and eight weeks.
Even one weekly workout helped preserve blood pressure benefits
After the first four weeks, all exercise groups showed significant reductions in systolic and diastolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure compared with the control group. However, diastolic blood pressure improvements were not sustained after participants switched to less frequent exercise schedules.By the end of the eight-week study, participants exercising once or twice weekly had maintained significant reductions in systolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure compared with the control group.
The greatest benefits appeared among participants who continued performing wall squats three times per week. Their systolic blood pressure fell by an average of 13.73 mmHg from the beginning of the study.
By comparison, the twice-weekly group experienced an average reduction of 6.95 mmHg, while participants exercising once a week recorded a decrease of 6.56 mmHg.
Those who maintained the three-session schedule also preserved improvements in other cardiovascular measurements, including total peripheral resistance and heart rate variability.
Stopping exercise caused blood pressure benefits to fade
Those who discontinued wall squats after the initial four weeks experienced a reversal of their earlier blood pressure improvements. By the end of the study, their readings were no longer statistically different from those of the control group.This finding suggests that maintaining regular isometric exercise may be important for preserving cardiovascular benefits. However, the maintenance phase lasted only four weeks. Additional studies will be needed to determine whether less frequent training can preserve these benefits over months or years.
"The study demonstrates that while lower frequency isometric exercise training may be sufficient to maintain blood pressure reductions over the short term, higher frequencies are required to preserve these benefits and the associated vascular and cardiac autonomic adaptations," the researchers write.
"The study offers evidence that lower frequency isometric exercise training can help maintain short-term blood pressure reductions, providing a pragmatic option for individuals with limited time or adherence challenges."