The Heart is a Muscle

By: Nick Lape BS, HFS, FMS, IYCA, CRBC

The media and grocery store are not shy about telling you what to eat for heart health. But, what about what you should physically do to improve your heart? If you think about it in one way it can be very easy to understand. The biggest trick is realizing that the heart is a muscle. In order to make it stronger you must use it. Because, everybody all together now, if “You Don’t Use It You Lose It!”

What does this mean? I guess one example would be to say that in order to make any muscle stronger the tissue must be able to expand and then contract in on to itself. Adding speed and/or overload is where these muscle fibers begin to get stronger.

No, technically, you can’t hand your heart a dumbbell and say go, but what you can do is make it beat faster or add speed. The electronic impulses of the heart can be sped up through cardiovascular exercise (cardio = heart). Many people achieve this by running long distances and while that may work, one of the best ways that I have personally found to strengthen the heart is through short bursts of speed followed by a little rest. This allows the muscles of the heart to pump hard and then rest as if you were asking it to do one set of reps. And again, just like any other muscles, we do multiple sets of exercises. When it comes to the heart you can’t treat it any different.

We look constantly to media sources in order to see what we think our body should look like on the outside, but what about the inside? If we don’t allow the muscles of our heart to work as hard as the muscles in our arms or legs then we are missing a HUGE part of our overall health. The next time you exercise, add a little speed to kettlebell swings/snatches, sprints or any of your exercises — any of these can increase your heart rate. A simple change in your workout can increase your heart health. Let us know if you need our help!