Take well-balanced exercise and fitness regimen to 'heart'
It is important to do a variety of fitness activities for optimum heart health. Too often, people stick to their favorite type of exercise and might even become resistant to change. New breakthroughs in exercise science have shown the kind of exercise you do can have an effect on the structure of your heart.
Vigorous athletic exercise generates noticeable changes in cardiac structure and function, according to collaborative research done at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) with Harvard University Health Services. It was found that 90 days of training changed the heart and it varied according to the type of exercise performed. The study appears in the April Journal of Applied Physiology.
MGH researchers enlisted two groups of student athletes. One group was endurance athletes (rowers) and the other, strength athletes (football players.) The students were studied during regular team training to see how the heart adapted to a normal season of competition. The endurance athletes did one to three hour long rowing sessions at the time of testing, while the strength athletes did weight training and drills to better reaction time and improve muscle strength. Each student's heart was checked by an ultrasound exam at the start and conclusion of the 90 day study.
At the conclusion of the study, both the endurance and strength athletes had a noticeable increase in heart size. The endurance athletes experienced an expansion of the heart chambers that send blood to the aorta and lungs, which are both the left and right ventricles. In the strength athletes however, the heart muscle tended to thicken and seemed to be limited to the left ventricle.
The biggest difference in function had to do with the ability of the heart muscle to relax between beats. This increased among the endurance athletes, yet decreased in the strength athletes, although both stayed within normal ranges.
More severe reduction in the heart's ability to relax is often observed in people that have a form of heart failure, says lead author Aaron Baggish, a cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health, about 5 million people in the U.S. have heart failure, meaning that the organ doesn't pump enough blood. This condition mostly affect those 65 years and older.
Longer term study is still needed, yet what a potential bonus this information can be for physical activity choices and exercise selection for optimum heart health. There are three basic types of exercise - resistance or strength training, cardiovascular or endurance training, and flexibility training.
Resistance exercises are mainly concerned with development of muscular strength, cardiovascular exercises involve strengthening of the heart, lungs and blood vessels, and flexibility exercise works to maintain healthy range of motion for our muscles and skeletal system. A well balanced regimen has a good mix of these kinds of activities. It's a good thing. Especially now.
DJ Reese, a personal trainer and fitness instructor at health clubs and private settings in the mid-Hudson Valley, writes on fitness every Thursday in Players. She can be reached at deejayfitness@yahoo.com
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