Use different types of exercise for fitness and muscle strength
Posted December 3rd, 2006 at 11:00 AM by Hariz Siddiqui
Section: Health & Fitness, Exercise
You can’t train for heart muscle fitness and skeletal muscle strength with the same exercises. To strengthen your heart muscle, you must exercise vigorously enough to speed up your heart rate and keep it elevated for a while. To strengthen your skeletal muscles, you need to exercise against increasing resistance in short, hard bouts.
To make your heart muscle stronger, you need to exercise vigorously enough to make your heart pump more blood. The formula for heart-lung fitness is to exercise intensely enough to raise your heart rate at least 20 beats a minute above your resting rate at least three times a week. If you can’t exercise continuously for thirty minutes, work until you feel tired, rest, then repeat the cycle, and gradually build up your endurance. The longer and harder you exercise, the more blood you circulate and the stronger your heart will become.
To strengthen your skeletal muscles, you need to exercise against increasing resistance by lifting weights, pushing against strength-training machines, or moving against gravity (such as jogging or cycling up hills). The greater the resistance without causing injury, the greater the gain in strength. However, when you exercise against resistance, your muscles fatigue very rapidly. If you exercise against resistance for more than 50 continuous seconds, you increase your risk of tearing your muscles.
A good program to strengthen both your heart and your skeletal muscles would include cycling, swimming or jogging on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and using strength machines on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
***Note: We encourage EVERYONE to see a doctor before altering their diet, taking a supplement and/or performing athletic, fitness or other strenuous physical activity. It is your responsibility to evaluate the accuracy, completeness and usefulness of any information, instruction, opinion or advice contained in the content. Please also see our complete disclaimer.***
This post is written by Dr. Gabe Mirkin, M.D. and was originally published on his blog “Fitness and Health E-Zine”.
Dr. Mirkin is board certified in Sports Medicine and has practiced for over 40 years. He has completed more than 40 marathons and was a talk show host of a nationally-syndicated radio program for about 25 years. For more articles by Dr. Mirkin, please check out: www.DrMirkin.com
Please also be advised that Dr. Mirkin’s opinions and the references cited are for information only, and are not intended to diagnose or prescribe. For your specific diagnosis and treatment, consult your doctor or health care provider.
***Note: We encourage EVERYONE to see a doctor before altering their diet, taking a supplement and/or performing athletic, fitness or other strenuous physical activity. It is your responsibility to evaluate the accuracy, completeness and usefulness of any information, instruction, opinion or advice contained in the content. Please also see our complete disclaimer.***
Tags: cycling, endurance, exercise, fitness, heart lung fitness, heart muscle fitness, jogging, lifting weights, muscle strength, skeletal muscles, strength training, swimming
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