In order to better understand the therapeutic benefit of exercise on muscle tissue in hypertension, physical characteristics and muscle morphology were analyzed in normotensive and hypertensive strains of hamsters subjected to different exercise modalities. Endurance trained animals completed 5 weeks of progressive treadmill exercise, while a novel surgical ablation technique was used in a second group of animals to unload and overload different muscles over 6 weeks. Following each protocol, soleus, plantaris, and gastrocnemius muscles were harvested bilaterally from each animal. Fiber type proportions, average fiber cross sectional area for each fiber type, and capillary densities were determined in normotensive and hypertensive hamster strains for each intervention and compared to values calculated from animals under control conditions. While neither training strategy seemed effective in controlling hypertension in the short term, differences in muscle morphology were observed. The hypertrophy of overloaded soleus and plantaris muscle and unexpected hypertrophy of the unloaded gastrocnemius muscle were all greater in hypertensive animals, with a corresponding decrease in capillary density. Endurance training resulted in a general increase in capillary density in normotensive animals that was not observed in the hypertensive strain. The lack of response to endurance exercise may provide a physiological mechanism to explain the development of high blood pressure in the hypertensive hamster strain. Further work is required to better characterize the cause of hypertension in this strain of animals.