Resistance training has been pointed as an effective intervention to minimize muscle mass and strength decline observed with advancing age, however, its acute hormonal responses need to be better characterized. The purposes of the present study were characterize and compare the acute hormonal responses to different resistance exercises intensities performed by older women. Sample was composed by 15 women with a mean age of 67,5 years, who performed, in a randomized order, three visits at the laboratory: 1) resistance exercises performed at 50% of 1-RM (G50); 2) resistance exercises performed at 80% of 1-RM (G80) and 3) control session (GC). Blood samples were taken immediately before and after (T0 and T1, respectively) each session, as well as three and 48 hour after (T2 and T3, respectively), for subsequent hormonal analyses by the enzyme immunoassay chemiluminescent method. ANOVA and ANCOVA were used, respectively, to examine intra and inter sessions differences. No significant differences were observed between sessions for any of the evaluated hormone. In T2, cortisol concentrations were significantly reduced when compared to T0 for the three examined sessions, while testosterone was reduced after (T2) GC. Only G80 elicited a significant transient elevation in testosterone/cortisol ratio and none of the sessions provoked alterations on serum GH concentrations. It's concluded that resistance exercises performed at 50% or 80% of 1-RM do not acutely induce significant elevation of cortisol, testosterone or GH in the studied population. On the other hand, the session performed at 80% of 1-RM promoted significant elevations on the testosterone/cortisol ratio three hours post exercises when compared to basal values, in older women.
resistance training; acute responses; older women; hormones
