The Importance of Exercise For a Healthy Heart
Benefits
Every given year 525,000 Americans have their first heart attack
Adults who do NOT regularly exercise have a 450% increased risk of death from any heart related cause
A 2013 study noted that higher levels of physical activity were associated with a 21% reduction in coronary heart disease (CHD) events for men and a 29% reduction of CHD events in women
One study of heart failure patients found that aerobic exercise (walking or cycling) at 60–70% of heart rate reserve 3–5 times per week for over 3 years led to improved health and overall quality of life (determined by a self-reported Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire, a 23-question disease-specific questionnaire)
These are just 2 of 100s of studies that demonstrate the overwhelming benefits of exercise and heart disease. In fact, the best thing you can do to prevent heart disease is to exercise regularly. How do you go about doing this?
Heart Function
Your heart is a muscle (shocking I know) that functions as a pump to move blood throughout your entire body. The purpose of having blood in the first place is to deliver oxygen to all of your tissues so you can live as a human being
Think of blood as a bunch of taxis that carry oxygen passengers around your body and drop them off at their locations (tissues) (picture of taxis in the cycle)
During exercise, your muscles work harder than normal. This means they require more oxygen to function properly. The only way to get that oxygen is to increase blood flow to the areas that are working harder. In order to get more oxygen to your muscles, your heart starts to beat faster (hence why your heart rate increases during exercise)
This in turns leads to your Left Ventricle, or the chamber of your heart responsible for pumping blood throughout your body, undergoing hypertrophy, or growth becoming larger and stronger just like any other muscle that would the more you exercise it. Because of this, your heart can now get more blood flow throughout the entirety of your body with each pump. This is why the more you exercise, the lower your resting heart rate becomes: it has to beat less often to do the same job.
Exercise
Now in order to train your heart with exercise in order to get the biggest bang for your buck if you will, you must first figure out about what your maximum heart rate is. Traditionally it is
MAX Heart Rate = 220 - age
I don't like this as much because this is a general average. If you frequently exercise or never exercise, your max heart rate can deviate greatly compared to the calculated max. I would suggest getting a heart rate monitor and sprinting as fast as you can or doing some sort of cardiovascular training at your perceived max effort, and then track your HR during these times to get about what you average max heart rate will be.
Once you find your maximum heart rate, you use the heart rate training zones to base your regular exercise:
Zone 1: Very light (50-60%) - Warm up and cool downs. Helps improve blood circulation
Zone 2: Light (60-70%) - Improves circulation and your body's efficiency at burning fat. Recommended for weight control and general conditioning
Zone 3: Moderate (70-80%) - Expands blood vessels, increases lung capacity, and strengthens the heart as a muscle allowing for longer workouts. Recommended for general endurance
Zone 4: Hard (80-90%) - Increases high speed endurance. Recs for max performance
Zone 5: Maximum (90-100%) - Develops maximum performance capabilities. Recs for anaerobic metabolic endurance
Recommendations From ACSM (Sports Med) and AHA
Every American adult should participate in 30-40 minutes or more of moderate intensity activity at least 3-4 days a week, but preferably everyday
Moderate activities: activities comparable to walking briskly at about 3 to 4 miles per hour; may include wide variety of occupational or recreational activities, including yard work, household tasks, cycling, swimming, etc.
Thirty minutes of moderate activity daily equates to 600 to 1200 calories of energy expended per week.
Any length of any given intensity of exercise is better than doing no exercise at all
Lastly I think it’s important to mention that it doesn’t matter whether you only do “cardio” vs. “weight training” as long as you’re hitting these heart rate training zones for heart health
