Methods
Sample
Eleven normotensive (NT) and nine hypertensive men (HT) under regular antihypertensive treatment (period of treatment = 9.7 ± 4.9 years; Table Table1)1) participated in this study. Inclusion criteria were: age greater than 50 years old, no smoking for at least 1 year, no practicing of regular physical exercise (frequency up to one session per week) for at least 1 year. None of the study subjects had a history of musculoskeletal injury or cardiovascular diseases that could affect results, no arrhythmias were detected in the resting electrocardiography and none were using beta blockers. All of the subjects provided written voluntary informed consent, which was approved by the University Human Ethics Review Board and followed the recommendations from the Declaration of Helsinki.