Preliminary assessment
Preliminary evaluations were performed on non-consecutive days. On the first day, the volunteers performed a clinical evaluation, anamneses (personal data, lifestyle questionnaires, previous diseases history, and cardiovascular risk parameters) and physical measurements were taken, such as height and body mass for subsequent calculation of the body mass index (BMI = mass/height2; kg/m2), waist and hip circumferences for the calculation of waist–hip ratio and percentage of body fat. Single measurements of systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressures were taken by an experienced evaluator using a calibrated sphygmomanometer after 10 and 20 min of supine resting. The average of these two measurements was retained for analysis. Additionally, mean blood pressure (MBP) was calculated through the sum of the DBP and one-third of the pulse pressure. From the second to the fourth day, the subjects underwent three RE sessions to become familiar with the equipment and exercise techniques. On the fifth and sixth day, individuals performed the test and retest of one-repetition maximum (1 RM) to evaluate the maximum dynamic muscle strength. During the 1 RM assessment, participants were allowed to perform up to five attempts to reach the maximal load for each exercise (see experimental protocol), with rest intervals of 5 min between exercises. Differences lower than 5% between tests were accepted and the greatest 1 RM-value was considered for the prescription of exercise sessions.