Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below Hi guys, I'm new here ... in fact this is my first post! Great training board you got here. I was wanting to ask a question about muscle mass and the heart. Does added muscle mass put a strain on the heart as the same quanitity of fat would? Say for instance would a natural ( steroid free ) 5'10'' 200lb ripped guy for example's sake have any added strain on the heart and circulation system as say a 5'10'' 200lb overweight guy at 25% bodyfat would? My health teacher back in high school said lean muscle doesn't put any strain on the heart but fat does ( due to having a hard time pumping the blood around ect ) but I'm not certain so just thought I'd get some opinions!
Muscle mass and the heart
- Thread starter Jase
- Start date
That's how I see it too.
The amount of force the heart has to exert to push blood through the arteries is what you have to consider, not how much fat or muscle a person has. If you have plaque build up in your arteries then your BP is going is to be higher because your heart is having to pump harder to push the blood through your body. Usually substantially overfat people have somewhat higher cholesteral levels than leaner people but not neccessarily so. In other words you can be pretty fat but have no plaque build up and have a normal blood pressure. Bodybuilders and powerlifters sometimes also have high BP for the same reasons, a diet too high in cholesteral, but they may still be leaner due to their activity level. But the amount of fat or muscle on your body wouldnt have a direct relationship to "heart strain" in most cases.
The only exception I can think of is if a person is very overfat and is carring a lot of "dead weight" around which is akin to constant exercise for them. This could I suppose keep their BP elevated.
U
UA_Iron
Guest
I think I remember reading somewhere that persons with greater muscle mass generally have a healthier heart then sedentary people. I cant cite any sources so dont take that as the absolute truth. But we can approach this at another angle - someone who is ripped will definitely have a better diet then someone with a greater precentage of body fat. But with the diet and exercise would come a decrease in overall bodyfat and probably a lowering of bad cholesterol levels which would just make the ripped guy healthier and would certainly lower the stress on his heart.
You don't want to look at it like everyone has the same heart, but different bodies. A better comparison might be someone who is 5'10" 140lbs skinny and same height 200 pounds ripped and technically the extra 60 pounds is going to take more blood to keep alive even when resting, but there's no reason why the bigger guy doesn't have good conditioning and a strong heart that might even have fewer beats per minute, but pump a shitload more blood per pump.
Interesting replies. Yeah true everyone doesn't have the same heart ... hearts can vary according to fitness and genetic factors ect. I would guess the heart can pump blood to muscles relatively easy if there's next to no fat to obstruct it. I would agree the strain on the hearts of obese people, apart from cholesterol and blockages ect, would be all the dead weight they have to haul around 24/7 being akin to constant exercise. I would guess it wouldn't be near that extent with large amounts of muscle mass though because it's not '' dead weight '' ?
Mike_Rojas
New member
Doesn't the heart grow larger, too? It's a muscle. If you go from 150 to a lean 250 I would think your heart would get bigger and stronger.
I think that if you control for all other factors and you had the example that you gave of the muscle vs. fat with the same height and weight, the muscle would probably require more blood, especially if you do anything with it. Like if some huge muscle guy just does normal activities like walking around and carrying something light, moving around etc. his muscles will need more blood vs. inert fat that just sits there. There's nothing about muscle that make it less taxing on the heart, and I'm pretty sure it is actually more. But if you take everything into account it's way way more healthy to be the muscular guy.
I do wonder though if huge powerlifters and the kind of body type that the world's strongest man competitors have is overly taxing, like your heart can get stronger to compensate with more blood flow up until a point where it is past anything it has evolved for. I don't think the guys in the muscle magazines represent anything that evolution "had in mind."
On the other hand the heart is a muscle, and while you don't want it getting bigger, it does get stronger so who knows what the limits are.
I do wonder though if huge powerlifters and the kind of body type that the world's strongest man competitors have is overly taxing, like your heart can get stronger to compensate with more blood flow up until a point where it is past anything it has evolved for. I don't think the guys in the muscle magazines represent anything that evolution "had in mind."
On the other hand the heart is a muscle, and while you don't want it getting bigger, it does get stronger so who knows what the limits are.
I've been doing a bit of research on the topic tonight. I've found bigger muscles need more of everything - blood, oxygen, calories ect. From some of the stuff I've read it seems the heart is under no added stress at all because chambers in the heart also enlarge allowing more blood to be pumped through the body at basically the same workrate or less. I don't think this happens in the obese, at least nothing close to the extent of pure hypertrophy. One interesting tidbit I recall is in an interview with Mark Henry ( WWE professional wrestler / powerlifter ) he said his blood pressure was only 125/65 - probably about normal for a 110lb woman - astounding for a 320lb monster who also carries very liberal amounts of bodyfat. Could be all the lifting as that does decrease blood pressure, he'd also been doing a cardivascular program in an effort to drop weight. Astounding none the less though.
Ogrelleh said:
Yeah I read about that. There is as you say a bad kind of enlarging of the heart too, it can also be caused by abusing anabolic steroids I believe. I'm just talking about the normal changes your heart makes with better functioning and increased fitness, enlargement of some parts is perfectly normal and healthy.
