Strength Training - The Heart Of The Matter

The American Heart Association has now added "lack of exercise" to the list of major risk factors for heart disease

. Currently 60% of the world's population does not get enough physical activity to benefit their health with women and older adults being at the top of the list. Worldwide, coronary heart disease kills more than 7 million people each year with a high proportion of them working age adults.

Health systems around the world bear the brunt on the economic impact along with the loss of income and production from those affected either directly or the caregivers of those with heart disease that cease to work. This puts coronary heart disease in the category of a modern day plague.

Heart attacks and strokes don't come out of the blue. Much of the trouble that leads to these killers starts in the arteries, the tubes that carry the blood and allow it to flow to the body's organs. High blood pressure is a major contributor to heart disease. Fatty deposits clog and narrow arteries, restricting blood flow, placing additional permanent strain on the heart system damaging the walls of blood vessels.

The rise of blood pressure with age is so pervasive in western society that we used to believe it was an inevitable consequence of aging. Now we know it is not caused by the passage of time, but is an indicator of silently advancing disease, disease which can be prevented. One of the reasons that many people may ignore the possibility of developing heart disease is that it's a gradual, lifelong process that people can't see or feel, setting the stage for a host of other problems.

If we fail to take sufficient exercise or fail to subject our muscles to adequate loads, muscles atrophy, i.e. they lose strength. The heart is a muscle, just like other muscles and with the correct exercise it becomes stronger. Over time, a weak, flabby and unfit heart becomes enlarged, misshapen, weakens and can only pump small amounts of blood per beat. This causes it to beat rapidly to compensate for its poor pumping capacity. Most people don't realize they have weakened heart capacity until it's too late - when they are in the emergency room after a heart attack.

When a heart is kept fit and well conditioned, it is like any other muscle - it becomes stronger, has more endurance and efficiency. A normal heart beats at a rate of approximately 70 beats per minute at rest or about 100,000 beats a day. A fit heart can actually beat as few as 40 times a minute at rest or approximately 50,000 beats per day becoming more efficient at pumping blood around the body while performing less work. This adds up to a longer healthier life.

To keep all of our muscles strong including the heart strength training exercise is the most productive and effective exercise you can do. Strength training will help us escape the spiral of inactivity strengthening the heart system which in turn reduces stress on our cardiovascular system helping to prevent disease.

Look on your strength training program as a protective measure you have easy access to that will steel your defenses against diseases that kill. If you leave things up to chance you are doubling your risk of a major life threatening disease.

If you plan on living a long time and wish to be active and well beyond your eighties you may need to make some lifestyle adjustments as you get older. Strength training exercise will live up to its promise and more than any other exercise or activity will keep you young and make sure your health span equals your life span.

by: Gen Wright

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