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Background: Cardiorespiratory fitness improves and the risk of cardiovascular diseases decreases through regular exercise. However, the exact mechanism is unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of resistance training on some plasma angiogenic factors in normal rats. Methods: Twenty male Wistar rats were divided into two groups of control and trained (n = 10 each). The rats in the trained group undertook one training session per day, 3 days a week, for 4 weeks. Blood samples were taken and plasma glucose, lipid profile, nitric oxide (NO), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and soluble form of VEGF receptor-1 (sFlt-1) concentrations were determined. Findings: Differences in plasma insulin, glucose, and NO were not significant between the trained and control groups (P > 0.05). Plasma VEGF concentrations were 142.73 ± 3.74 pg/ml and 144.5 ± 5.1 pg/ml in the control and trained rats (P > 0.05), i.e. resistance training did not significantly change plasma VEGF in trained rats. There were no significant differences in plasma sFlt-1 concentrations between the two groups (P > 0.05). Moreover, resistance training could not change VEGF/sFlt-1 ratio in the two groups of animals. Conclusion: Present data showed that resistance training could not be an effective approach to improve plasma angiogenic factors (NO, VEGF, VEGF receptor-1) at least in healthy rats. More research is needed to show the effects of resistance training on angiogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]