The Flutter Over Heart Rate

[Bouncer]

I have a confession to make. I get so competitive about heart rates when I am at the gym that my husband will not tell me his.

“How was your workout?” I’ll ask when we get off of Spinning bikes or elliptical cross-trainers. He’ll reply that it was good, he worked at “80 percent.” But 80 percent of what? I want to know what he thinks his maximum is. But he won’t say.

Of course, I know it’s ridiculous to think that a higher maximum heart rate means that I’m a better athlete than my husband. He may have a slower heart rate, but he can beat me in cycling any day. And, after all, the goal in exercise is to get more blood to your muscles. The heart does that by beating faster and by pumping more blood with each beat. If your heart is more powerful, it does not have to beat as fast. “There is no association between maximum heart rate and exercise performance,” said Hirofumi Tanaka, the director of the Cardiovascular Aging Research Laboratory and an exercise physiologist at the University of Texas in Austin.

Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/10/he...th&oref=slogin

[coffee-guy]

Question (albeit an uneducated one)...

If aas has a propensity to enlarge the heart (and we assume the user "controls" their bloodpressure) is it possible that aas can help increase the efficiency of your heart/heartrate??

[FitnessBrat]

Question (albeit an uneducated one)...

If aas has a propensity to enlarge the heart (and we assume the user "controls" their bloodpressure) is it possible that aas can help increase the efficiency of your heart/heartrate??

If your heart is enlarged, then generally it's weaker, or has to work harder.

[coffee-guy]

If your heart is enlarged, then generally it's weaker, or has to work harder.

"Generally" though right? Aren't elite athletes like Lance Armstrong known to have larger than average hearts, lungs, oxygen uptake/capacity etc? As in... wouldn't a larger heart (that's "healthy") essentially pump more blood with less effort - with less beats per minutes - with less energy expelled etc??

[FitnessBrat]

"Generally" though right? Aren't elite athletes like Lance Armstrong known to have larger than average hearts, lungs, oxygen uptake/capacity etc? As in... wouldn't a larger heart (that's "healthy") essentially pump more blood with less effort - with less beats per minutes - with less energy expelled etc??

So were they born with larger than average hearts, or they became enlarged after years of exercise, etc? I still doens't make sense to me though.

[coffee-guy]

I still doens't make sense to me though.

Aye - I'm not sure you'll ever make sense to you :P

God knows 'I still doens't make sense to me" either :mad:...

[coffee-guy]

So were they born with larger than average hearts, or they became enlarged after years of exercise, etc?

I actually think it had a lot to do with genetics but quite a bit of it could be attributed to years of exercise - there were a lot of shows about this a few years ago when Armstrong was at his peak - they talked about how more efficient his body was than the average human due to all sorts of factors including this one....

[FitnessBrat]

Aye - I'm not sure you'll ever make sense to you :P

God knows 'I still doens't make sense to me" either :mad:...

Luckily, I don't need to make sense of me :D


I think your example (Lance Armstrong) is just an exception to the rule - sort of like how they say he really is "one of a kind." Our heart is a muscle we don't want to enlarge. Your heart pumps the same whether it's big or small - so enlarging it would make it work harder. :hmm:

[The_Grinder]

.... Our heart is a muscle we don't want to enlarge. Your heart pumps the same whether it's big or small - so enlarging it would make it work harder. :hmm:

Very true. The guy in my avatar died because he had an enlarged heart.

[FitnessBrat]

Very true. The guy in my avatar died because he had an enlarged heart.

Just out of curiosity - do you know if his was always that way, or was it a result of something else? I know someone who's heart is enlarged *most likely* because of untreated high blood pressure - it's scary stuff.

[The_Grinder]

Just out of curiosity - do you know if his was always that way, or was it a result of something else? I know someone who's heart is enlarged *most likely* because of untreated high blood pressure - it's scary stuff.

Well he was a big guy. 6'5", 365 or so. But he wasnt a fat 365 at all, very athletic. I don't know if anyone knew about his heart before the autopsy. They found no traces of steroids or drugs in his system and I know he passed a few NCAA drug tests during his college career so it wasn't caused by AAS. In all honesty I'm not sure if he was born like that or if it developed. But either way he had an enlarged heart which caused sudden cardiac dysrhythmia. (I think thats what it is called) Either way, scary stuff you are right.

[toolwtf]

I've heard Lance Armstrong has a larger than normal lung capacity - but have never heard he has a larger/stronger heart.

An "enlarged" heart is never a good thing. One of the main reasons, I, personally stay away from AAS & GH.

[FitnessBrat]

I've heard Lance Armstrong has a larger than normal lung capacity - but have never heard he has a larger/stronger heart.

An "enlarged" heart is never a good thing. One of the main reasons, I, personally stay away from AAS & GH.

That would make MUCH more sense.

[Bouncer]

"Generally" though right? Aren't elite athletes like Lance Armstrong known to have larger than average hearts, lungs, oxygen uptake/capacity etc? As in... wouldn't a larger heart (that's "healthy") essentially pump more blood with less effort - with less beats per minutes - with less energy expelled etc??

where does it say that lance armstrong has a larger heart then most? i have never heard that.

[toolwtf]

where does it say that lance armstrong has a larger heart then most? i have never heard that.

I searched google and couldn't find anything at all. Sounds like someone made something up out of thin air to fit their agenda.