Endurance Training - Good Or Bad For Heart Health?
Outdoor Fitness|November 2019
We all know that exercise is good for you – but is it possible to take it too far, to the point where you could damage your heart? Dr. Juliet McGrattan investigates, and also shares her expert advice
Dr. Juliet McGrattan
Endurance Training - Good Or Bad For Heart Health?

It’s irrefutable that exercise is good for your heart. Regular exercise will lower your heart rate and blood pressure and can reduce your risk of heart disease by 20-35 percent. The benefits are widely known and the evidence is strong. But is there a tipping point at which too much exercise becomes harmful to the heart? Could multiple and back-to-back endurance events actually increase your risk of cardiac conditions? This is a complicated and at times controversial topic but important to explore.

BASIC ANATOMY

First, let’s consider basic cardiac anatomy. The heart is made up of four chambers, two atria, and two ventricles. After the blood has circulated around the body, it returns through the veins into the right atrium, travels on to the right ventricle which then pumps it to the lungs. Here, the blood receives oxygen and flows on to the left atrium where it briefly lingers before being forcefully ejected by the thick, muscular left ventricle, to the rest of the body. The muscle making up the heart is a special kind of muscle called cardiac muscle and its contractions are controlled by a network of nerve pathways called the cardiac conduction system.

CARDIAC CHANGES WITH IMPROVED FITNESS

Increasing your fitness improves the effectiveness of the heart to pump oxygenated blood around the body. Like any muscle, cardiac muscle responds to an increased training load by strengthening itself during recovery. The muscular walls of the chambers contract with greater force, meaning that less-frequent heartbeats are required and resting heart rate falls. Larger volumes of blood are pumped with less effort. While blood pressure increases slightly during exercise itself, it falls when exercise stops and remains below its normal value for several hours. Regular exercise will reduce your heart rate, lower your blood pressure and improve your cardiovascular health.

Esta historia es de la edición November 2019 de Outdoor Fitness.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición November 2019 de Outdoor Fitness.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE OUTDOOR FITNESSVer todo
Get Confident In The Mountains
Outdoor Fitness Adventure

Get Confident In The Mountains

Taking a Mountain Leader course isn’t just for those who want to do it for a living – if you enjoy exploring the mountains, you’ll feel more confident and safer if you undertake this training.

time-read
4 minutos  |
January 2020
15 Ways To Be A Better Runner
Outdoor Fitness Adventure

15 Ways To Be A Better Runner

Whether you’re hoping to run faster, further or simply increase your motivation, Christina Neal has these top tips on how to improve your running

time-read
5 minutos  |
January 2020
PUTTING THE TRAINING HOURS IN
Outdoor Fitness Adventure

PUTTING THE TRAINING HOURS IN

Are your training goals ambitious? How can you find time to work out when you have a busy job and a family, yet want to train hard and long? Personal trainer Jeff Archer has some advice on finding the right balance

time-read
5 minutos  |
January 2020
SECRETS OF THE 100 MARATHON CLUB
Outdoor Fitness Adventure

SECRETS OF THE 100 MARATHON CLUB

Just how do the members of this small but high ly prestigious club, some of whom have run over 500 marathons, race 26.2 miles or more, week in, week out? Lisa Jackson finds out

time-read
6 minutos  |
January 2020
HIKING HOLIDAYS TO BOOST MENTAL HEALTH
Outdoor Fitness Adventure

HIKING HOLIDAYS TO BOOST MENTAL HEALTH

While hiking is a wonderful way to get fit, it is also noted for its benefits for mental wellbeing.

time-read
4 minutos  |
January 2020
‘I CLIMBED MY WAY OUT OF DEPRESSION'
Outdoor Fitness Adventure

‘I CLIMBED MY WAY OUT OF DEPRESSION'

Thomas Palmer was suffering from anxiety and felt unable to leave the house. Then, he was inspired to climb multiple mountains despite having no previous climbing experience. He tells Christina Neal how he turned his life around…

time-read
8 minutos  |
January 2020
DON'T BE A FAIR-WEATHER CYCLIST
Outdoor Fitness Adventure

DON'T BE A FAIR-WEATHER CYCLIST

British pro cyclist Alex Dowsett, a six-time national time trial champion and former hour world record holder, reveals how to stay motivated to keep cycling in winter.

time-read
4 minutos  |
January 2020
MICRO-RUNNING ADVENTURES
Outdoor Fitness Adventure

MICRO-RUNNING ADVENTURES

You don’t have to go on a grand expedition to have fun on the run – here are quirky ways to rev up your running mojo that will add a dash of excitement to your training.

time-read
5 minutos  |
January 2020
DARK SKY ADVENTURES
Outdoor Fitness Adventure

DARK SKY ADVENTURES

locations are areas where the sky at night is unaffected by light pollution from big cities, enabling us to have a much clearer view of the stars Angela Youngman explains where they are and how to combine viewing them with outdoor exercise

time-read
5 minutos  |
January 2020
BRAVING THE WATER IN WINTER
Outdoor Fitness Adventure

BRAVING THE WATER IN WINTER

We often associate surfing with summer, but many UK surfers happily do it all year round. With the right kit and a little winter sun, it’s an invigorating and fun activity, says Ruth Pocock

time-read
4 minutos  |
January 2020