Weekly Recap 11/16-11/23
Here’s what we are reading, watching, and liking.
The article of the week is The Effect of Resistance Training on High Blood Pressure from Barbell Medicine.
The video of the week is from Bryce of Calgary Barbell and his response to Mark Rippetoe’s most recent video criticizing RPE. Bryce dives into Mark’s argument and also discusses some of the problematic language that is used in the video.
Our first social media post of the week is from Precision Nutrition about stress and its effects on the body. The last post is from Claire Zai of Barbell Medicine discussing the importance of representation and how it can help lower the barriers to women’s health.
Article of the Week
The Effect of Resistance Training on High Blood Pressure
Blood pressure is a key vital sign that describes the force the blood exerts on the walls of the blood vessels. Blood pressure readings are comprised of both the systolic (the “top” number) and diastolic (the “bottom” number) values that correspond to the contraction or relaxation phases of the cardiac cycle, respectively. As of this writing, a normal blood pressure is considered to be < 120 mmHg systolic and < 80 mmHg. A blood pressure of < 90 mmHg systolic and < 60 mmHg diastolic may be considered hypotension (low blood pressure), but this usually requires accompanying symptoms or complications in order to be deemed “abnormal” or to justify treatment.
Prior to 2018, “high blood pressure” was diagnosed when at least two separate readings of ≥ 140/90 mm Hg were measured on at least two separate occasions. All this changed when the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association’s Task Force on Clinical Practice published their latest guidelines in May 2018.
