Happy Heart

How does cardiovascular exercise affect your heart?

While rocking out your cardio training, blood flow is directed toward your working muscles and away from areas that aren’t doing much (digestive tract). There is also an increase in blood flow and blood volume returning to your heart.

As your heart registers a larger blood volume, over time the left ventricle adapts and enlarges. This larger cavity can hold more blood and ejects more blood per beat, even at rest. Over time, with cardio training, our resting heart rate drops because each beat delivers a bigger burst of blood and fewer beats are needed. This takes work off your heart and is why cardio exercise is recommended for heart health.

How does strength training affect your heart?

Strength training works the heart in a completely different way. As the muscles contract—say the arm muscles during a bicep curl—they press and close the blood vessels that flow through them. This leads to increased blood pressure in the rest of the body which makes the heart have to fight against a stronger force to push blood out. The heart adapts to this by increasing the thickness of the left ventricle wall. This thickness helps your heart become stronger and lowers your resting heart rate.

Exercise also stimulates the production of new blood vessels. As we make more blood vessels, there are more places for blood to flow, which results in more efficient circulation. Cardio training increases the number of new blood vessels while strength training increases the size of those blood vessels.

Here are some opportunities to increase your lovely heart health - please sign up for your classes.

Monday: HIIT @ The Little Theater and Zoom - 8:15-9:15 am

Tuesday: HIIT Yoga Fusion @ The Little Theater and Zoom - 8:15-9:15 am

Thursday: PiYo @ The Athletic Club and Zoom - 12-1 pm

Friday: HIIT @ The Little Theater and Zoom - 8:15-9:15 am

Make a plan now for your happy heart! Drink lots of water, eat foods that make your body and brain feel good, go to bed a bit earlier, get sweaty, and let your soul shine, shine, shine!!!

Jode xo