Now we will discuss such a topic as bodybuilding and the heart. The more important muscle for us, as expected, is the heart. How it is trained depends not only on the current appearance, but also on the future fate of a person. But most people have no idea how to conduct his training and what the impact of bodybuilding is on the heart. Let's discuss this and find a solution.
The cardiovascular system of any of us, regardless of physique, has enormous strength. It can, thanks to the resulting pressure, push blood 9 m forward. Reducing every minute, 365 days a year, it achieves indescribable statistics - 40 million reductions. Due to the similar heavy load, the number of cardiovascular diseases in people increases with each new day.
You just have to train it because it will increase your resistance to physical factors. If, after 30-60 seconds of small loads, you begin to choke, of course, you did not take care of your health correctly or at all earlier. It's time to change everything!
The cardiovascular system has the goal of transporting oxygen and various substances to organs and cells. Thus, we can come up with some method: a huge body - you need a lot of blood, which means you need a larger heart or make contractions more often. A huge heart can pump more than a small one, which has to contract more often for the same amount of blood. The more often there are cuts or blows, the more wear and tear and the longer the life expectancy, the fewer blows.
In an ordinary person, 1 liter of blood can carry 150 ml of oxygen. Multiplying this oxygen by the number of blood per minute, we get oxygen per minute. About 4 liters of oxygen are released in 60 seconds with a pulse of 180 contractions. But if this is enough for a tradesman, it will not be enough for an athlete, because... kilograms of muscle need more liters of blood. With a small heart size, the athlete will quickly begin to choke.
There are 2 methods to solve this problem with shortness of breath: lose weight (reduce oxygen consumption) or increase the volume of pumped blood (the volume of the heart itself). All techniques are aimed specifically at the latter method.
Increasing volume and size are not the same thing. As volume increases, the walls of the heart stretch. But when they increase the size, then the walls thicken. The first case will only bring benefit, while the other leads to myocardial infarction.
In order for our heart volume to increase as a result of exercise, keep your pulse during training at 120 – 140 beats per minute for a long time. For many, a heart rate of 130 will be perfect. With long, measured exercises with such a pulse, you can move a large amount of blood. Working out the heart muscle with this regimen 3 times a week for an hour for half a year can fully achieve 30% stretching of the heart. An ordinary person without athletic readiness has a heart volume of approximately 650 ml, a trained person - 1200 ml.
There is no more rational method of working out the heart muscle! It’s safe to say, it doesn’t matter if it’s running, boxing or swimming. The longer you work with a “good” pulse, the better the result. The whole point is to keep your heart rate at ~130 beats for 60 minutes.
When the pulse becomes 200 beats, fatal consequences are likely. Your heart muscle does not have time to relax between contractions, because needs to shrink again. Blood cells have difficulty passing through, which leads to the formation of huge amounts of lactic acid and hypoxia. As a consequence of all this, thickening of the walls. Constant exercise with a pulse above 180 leads to the death of heart cells, which will accumulate as unnecessary ballast. In fact, these are inconspicuous microinfarctions. Thus, many athletes die due to very intense activities.
It is also worth keeping in mind that these dead cells will remain with us for life. Therefore, it is better today to listen to practical advice and change your program so that bodybuilding and the heart cooperate on mutually beneficial criteria.
The human heart is a kind of pump that pumps liquid through “pipes” - vessels. The cardiovascular system provides every cell with oxygen and nutrients essential for the normal functioning of the human body. That is why every athlete must understand the natural dependence:
This dependence is an important aspect for bodybuilders - 10 kg of excess muscle mass requires 3 liters of oxygen per minute, the lack of which can lead to increased blood pressure and rapid heartbeat. To avoid this, the main muscle of the human body also needs training.
The force of blood movement against the walls of blood vessels is called pressure. High blood pressure means additional tension in the arteries and the risk of developing vascular diseases. For a bodybuilder, as for any person, it is equally bad when the pressure is high or low. The norm for an athlete is 120/80 with deviations of 10 mm.
Many factors lead to the occurrence of hypertension - sedentary work, metabolic disorders in the body, bad habits, genetic predisposition. Athletes with intense exercise should especially closely monitor their blood pressure, where the number of heart beats per minute is very important.
Professional bodybuilding and high blood pressure can become friends with proper organization of classes, nutrition, and rest. Surely, few people know that the legendary Arnold Schwarzenegger had heart disease. Thanks to training, he strengthened the muscle motor, providing the body with oxygen and nutrients.
Bodybuilding and pressure are neighboring concepts. The secret of such intimacy lies in the production of the hormone adrenaline, which is released into the blood during lifting of heavy weights.
The negative impact of bodybuilding on the heart can be reduced by learning to control adrenaline by calming the central nervous system.
Proper nutrition not only contributes to productive training. But it also reduces the risk of many diseases. Boiled chicken, rich in the amino acid L-tryptophan, will help calm the central nervous system after an intense workout. Professionals recommend using a special fitness bar as a post-workout meal - dark chocolate and nuts will reduce adrenaline, calm the heartbeat and lower blood pressure;
good sleep is an irreplaceable source of energy and calm. The physiological state of the body is normalized with a quality night's rest. It is especially important for an athlete to get adequate rest every night;
A hot shower after training is an excellent way to relieve tension and reduce adrenaline levels.
Bodybuilding with hypertension is possible, but you should avoid doing some exercises:
It is recommended to work with medium weights, reduce the number of approaches, and increase the speed of lifting the charge. Bodybuilding and the heart will become allies only with proper nutrition and cardio exercises. After strength exercises, 15 minutes of slow walking on a treadmill will ensure your blood pressure levels calm down and return to normal.
Bodybuilding is a difficult sport. Contraindications to power loads with weights prevent the performance of a set of exercises at a professional level:
With a well-designed program and an established sports regime, bodybuilding will help cope with many diseases and increase the body’s resistance to adverse environmental influences.
The heart is an organ that ensures the movement of blood, which means the transport of oxygen and other nutrients to all tissues. Moderate cardio exercise has a beneficial effect on the condition of the heart muscle. However, to build a body, a bodybuilder needs to work with maximum and submaximal weights, which can cause a number of health problems.
The myocardium, like any other muscle, needs oxygen to function properly. Excessive exercise increases the need for oxygen in the heart muscle. If the ability to supply the heart tissue with oxygen is lower than its needs, diseases of the cardiovascular system develop, such as:
Taking fat burners and anabolic steroids, violating the rules of rational training and stress in everyday life increase the risk of overload and heart failure.
We will tell you about what types of heart medications there are, what their principle of action is and how they differ from each other. But before taking any of them, you need to consult a doctor in person.
A group of drugs for the treatment and prevention of hypertension. They block beta-adrenergic receptors and alpha receptors, thereby reducing precardiac load. Prevents the development of myocardial hypertrophy - reduces heart rate and myocardial oxygen demand. They have a vasodilating effect. Heart medications in this group are Bisoprolol and Carvedilol.
This group of drugs is aimed at preventing a decrease in the ATP content inside the cell. They optimize the processes of energy creation and consumption, normalize the transport of potassium and sodium ions. Reduce the frequency and intensity of angina attacks. Increases the body's resistance to hypoxia - lack of oxygen. This increases performance and endurance. Example - Trimetazidine or Preductal.
Asparkam, Panangin, Mildronate, Riboxin, Inosine - these and other drugs are aimed at improving the transport function of the blood. By dilating blood vessels and increasing membrane permeability, ion transport improves and swelling decreases. They have antisclerotic and antiarrhythmic effects. Stimulate the renewal of ischemic tissue. Increases resistance to hypoxia.
Products based on acetylsalicylic acid can also be classified in this group. Cardiomagnyl, Aspecard and Aspirin improve the rheological properties of blood (viscosity and fluidity) and microcirculation, and prevent the formation of blood clots. They have an anti-inflammatory effect.
Tinctures of Rhodiola rosea, Leuzea, hawthorn and Eleutherococcus are natural stimulants of the cardiovascular system and immunity. They normalize blood pressure, improve immunity, and increase physical endurance.
Complexes of vitamins and minerals compensate for the lack of nutrients coming from food. Sufficient amounts of magnesium and potassium are necessary for normal cardiac function.
Omega-3 fatty acids reduce the level of triglycerides in the blood, stabilize heart rhythm, and prevent the development of arrhythmia and tachycardia. Prevents degenerative changes in the brain.
The need for preventive medications for the heart is obvious. But like any medicine, they have contraindications, acceptable periods and other nuances of use. The example of your gym mates should not be the only and final authority on choosing a drug. Consulting a doctor about heart health is the best way to prevent poor choices and dosage errors. Be healthy!
Irina Tsebenko, physical rehabilitation specialist, trainer-teacher
The athlete's heart: the effect of training on the myocardium
Regular training entails irreversible changes in the heart!
Doctors have already conducted many studies in which the following were the “test subjects”: strength athletes, weightlifters and bodybuilders, as well as track and field athletes - runners, tennis players, swimmers, etc. When studying their cardiovascular system, attention was drawn to the fact that the heart of people exposed to physical activity begins to differ morphologically and functionally from the heart of ordinary people.
Playing sports at the professional level is clearly recognized by doctors and scientists as unfavorable for health, because athletes who train for records have to overcome such serious loads that everyone else has never dreamed of.
The history of professional sports has preserved many cases when famous athletes died in front of everyone for no apparent reason. Only later was it established that the cause of death was heart disease, which had been secretive until that moment. This is why doctors are opposed to professional sports and recommend relatively small loads for recovery, amounting to 30-40% of the maximum.
So, we can distinguish two main conditions that occur in the heart muscle during training:
The force of myocardial contraction changes according to the Frank-Starling law. This law states: “The more a muscle is stretched before contraction, the more intense its subsequent contraction.” However, if the myocardium of the left ventricle is subjected to strong blood pressure (after all, with statically contracted muscles, it is more difficult for the heart to push blood into them, therefore, more of it remains in the cavities of the ventricles) systematically, it gradually loses the ability to contract strongly enough - blood stagnates in the cavities of the heart, which further aggravates the situation.
Physiology distinguishes two main types of muscle contractions:
So, powerlifting, weightlifting and (to some extent) bodybuilding are characterized by a predominance of static loads, while athletics - dynamic. At the same time, the blood flow in the muscle tissue increases significantly, the blood does not stagnate at the periphery, but quickly returns through the venous system back to the heart - this is facilitated by the pressure of periodically contracting muscles on the vessel wall. A “second heart” appears, helping the first (and main) to carry out its function.
With frequent static loads during strength sports, due to prolonged constant muscle tension during exercise, the arteries and veins located in them expand, therefore, the heart needs to make more effort to push blood through the vessels.
Also, many strength athletes have varying degrees of arterial hypertension - this is another consequence of constant and extreme static loads.
A very dangerous moment is the sudden cessation of sports. As soon as you stop training, the process of weakening all muscles, including the heart muscle, begins. This can also trigger the development of heart failure.
Working out at the gym not only sharpens your figure, but also improves your heart health. Proper stress on the heart trains it, preventing rapid wear and tear. But illiterate training can lead to disruption of the cardiovascular system. How to exercise without harming your heart?
One of the dangerous mistakes when playing sports is skipping a warm-up. Warm-up is needed to prepare the muscles, organs and body systems for heavy loads. And the heart is no exception.
Warm-up exercises raise your heart rate and increase blood flow.
To create optimal stress on your heart, focus on low- to moderate-intensity exercise. The desire to quickly lose weight or quickly build muscle can motivate a person to exercise with triple force. But constant unreasonable tension in the body will have a bad effect on blood vessels. The heart rate during physical activity should not exceed 70-80% of the maximum heart rate.
The maximum is calculated using the formula: 220 minus the person’s age in years. 70-80% of your maximum heart rate is your fat-burning heart rate.
The increase in load on the cardiovascular system should be gradual. There is no need to immediately do a large number of repetitions of exercises. It is better to spend more time doing one exercise well than to do several quickly and incorrectly.
If your physical fitness is still weak, do not use weights during exercise. This will lead to an uncontrollable increase in heart rate and heart problems.
By gradually increasing the load, over time your heart will be able to handle more intense training. But even in this case, the exercises must be performed technically, without overexerting and breathing correctly.
During exercise in the gym, the heart muscle pumps large volumes of blood to enrich the muscle fibers with oxygen. To ensure that such work does not harm the health of the heart, training should take place alternating exercises, working approaches and rest breaks.
The additional load on the heart that it receives during the heart increases the frequency of contractions and the volume of blood pumped by the heart. Regular and properly distributed loads train the organ, and as a result, the heart wears out more slowly. But like any muscle, the heart needs time to adapt and rest. The desire to quickly get results through intense training can be bad for your heart health. To make sure your heart is healthy, don't be afraid to visit your doctor.
To prevent cardiovascular diseases, it is enough to take control measurements of blood pressure, a cardiogram, and periodically take a blood test for hemoglobin and hormone levels. Your doctor will tell you how often to do this.
To stay on top of your heart's warning signs, monitor how you feel after your gym session.
Elena Kukuevitskaya
