These experiments were designed to study the effect of resistance exercise on parameters pertinent to the hemostatic and fibrinolytic systems. Seven normal healthy subjects (6 male, 1 female, 25 +/- 3 yr mean SD) were studied under three conditions: control (C) [no exercise], high volume resistance exercise (HVRE), and low volume resistance exercise (LVRE), which were randomized for each subject, with 7 d separating tests. Both HVRE and LVRE trials encompassed the performance of five sets of nine exercises. After establishing one repetition maximum (1 RM), the HVRE involved the performance of moderate resistance, higher repetition, and shorter resting periods, whereas LVRE involved the use of high resistance, lower repetition, and longer resting intervals. Heart rate (HR) was monitored at rest and continuously during trials and venous blood was removed with minimum stasis, before and immediately after HVRE, LVRE, and before and after 38 min of supine rest (C). The blood was enzymatically analyzed for lactic acid (LA) and assayed using chromogenic substrates for the determination of tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA), plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI), and Factor VIII (FVIII) activities. Global fibrinolysis (GF) was also screened in the fibrin plate and hematocrit ratios were employed to calculate percent plasma volume changes. Values were corrected for changes in plasma volume then data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA. There were no significant (P > 0.05) changes in the parameters measured in the resting condition over the three testing occasions and no significant differences (P > 0.05) were observed during the control experiment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)