The heart in the body is the most important muscle. Many athletes do not think about strengthening it. Learn how to train your heart and build endurance in bodybuilding. If only the appearance of a person depends on the development of biceps or chest muscles, then the fitness of the heart muscle affects life expectancy. Athletes rarely attach importance to this and it is completely in vain. Today we are going to talk about training the heart and developing endurance in bodybuilding.
The relationship between endurance and the work of the cardiovascular system
Everyone knows that the heart's job is to pump blood through the blood vessels. Thanks to this, the cells of all tissues receive the nutrients and oxygen necessary for their life. Thus, it is easy to notice several factors that affect the performance of the heart:
- The larger the body has, the more blood volume is required to maintain its performance.
- With a large amount of blood in the body, the heart should contract more often and be large.
- The size of the heart affects the volume of blood pumped per beat.
- With its large size, the heart can contract less frequently and provide all organs with nutrients.
- The fewer heart contractions, the less wear and tear.
These facts are of great importance to bodybuilders, as the large volume of muscles interferes with the heart from its task. Scientists have found that every ten kilograms of muscle mass increases the body's oxygen consumption by three liters per minute. If you are short of breath while running, then this is due to a lack of oxygen or, in other words, a low endurance indicator. To increase it, it is necessary to increase the volume of the heart.
Types of cardiac hypertrophy
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that in order to increase endurance, it is necessary to increase not the size of the heart, but its volume. This is very important and you must understand this. If an increase in organ volume leads to an increase in endurance and is a positive factor, then an increase in the size of the heart is a negative factor.
There are two types of hypertrophy - L and D. The difference between them is that with L-hypertrophy, the walls of the muscle are stretched, thereby increasing its volume and increasing endurance. D-hypertrophy is a process of thickening of the walls, which is very bad. Surely you have all heard about such a disease as myocardial infarction, which is a consequence of D-organ hypertrophy. To achieve L-hypertrophy, it is necessary to work in the heart rate range from 110 to 140 beats. For most people, this range is still narrower and ranges from 120 to 130 beats. In humans, on average, the resting heart rate is 70 beats, and under the influence of prolonged cyclic work, this indicator begins to increase.
As the load increases, the body also needs more oxygen, which leads to an increase in heart rate. When the pulse reaches 130 beats, you must continue to work with the same intensity. When a person works for an hour with a heart rate of 130 beats, the heart becomes more "flexible".
A large amount of blood passes through the heart, and the organ is forced to stretch. Actually, this is the training of the heart and the development of endurance in bodybuilding. Exercise in this mode three times a week for an hour and the results will not be long in coming.
With regular exercise, you can increase your heart volume by 50 percent. In an ordinary person, the volume of an organ is 600 milliliters, and in athletes about 1200 milliliters. With three regular sessions, within six months, your heart volume will increase by 30 or 40 percent. Actually, the rule for training the heart and developing endurance in bodybuilding is very simple - the more time you work with a heart rate of 130 beats, the faster and stronger the heart stretches. This mode of operation is considered low and does not cause any negative consequences.
How to train your heart correctly?
Most doctors suggest just running, which is completely unnecessary. The easiest way to tell your patient is to run for an hour at a certain intensity.
At the same time, it doesn't matter to the heart what kind of physical work you do. It is only important to stay in the required heart rate range. You can even use strength training for this. Reduce the weight of sports equipment and work with them in such a way as to maintain the required heart rate.
This could be a set of 10 reps on the bench followed by a 0.5 minute pause and a new set. It makes no sense to advise anything, since you can always determine the heart rate range. You just have to understand the basic principle of heart training. You can use a treadmill, exercise bike, swim, etc.
Surely you yourself know how you can control your heart rate. But just in case, we will remind you. The easiest way is to put the middle finger of the right hand on the wrist of the left (everyone knows the place where the nurse measures the pulse) and count the number of beats in six seconds. Then multiply that number by ten to get your heart rate in one minute. You can use a longer time interval for measurement, as in this case the result will be more accurate.
The second method of measuring the heart rate will require the purchase of a gadget that is currently fashionable called a heart rate monitor. Today there is a large selection of these devices, the cost of which ranges from $ 50 to $ 100. If you intend to study seriously, then the heart rate monitor will be very useful to you, as it gives very accurate results. Thanks to this device, you can not only train your heart, but also burn fat. After all, it is cardio training with low intensity that causes the maximum acceleration of the lipolysis process. Remember only that you cannot go beyond the heart rate value of 130 beats per minute.
Denis Borisov tells about heart training and endurance development:
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