cesari-fitness
09-18-2004, 04:19 PM
Increasing your strength capacity will result in lower blood pressure levels throughout all of your daily activities that require exertion. How important this fact is cannot be overstated when it comes to managing hypertension. Then of course the way to increase strength capacity is strength training. This will show just how very beneficial strength training can be for everyone including those that suffer from hypertension.
But some precautions must be taken to ensure that harmful elevations don’t occur in the process. So a hypertensive person has to be very careful with how they train. As stated earlier the elevation caused by exertion is directly related to how much effort is being placed on the body from the exertion. As a result, blood pressure increases dramatically as a set progresses and momentary muscular failure and fatigue are reached, regardless of how many reps have been performed.
If you think about this, it's apparent that established guidelines that suggest higher repetition sets for hypertensive people training with weights are misleading. It is not the number of repetitions that is the important aspect, but how challenging the actual repetitions being performed are. The important thing for the hypertensive people to keep in mind, therefore, is to stop their set before the challenge associated with the effort becomes to great.
So Mike Mentzer’s Heavy Duty, high-intensity training as much as it has been a hot topic in the bodybuilding community it isn’t a hot idea for the hypertensive person. Certainly neither is Dorian Yates super intense training the right kind of training. Any health, fitness, or medical professional could not recommend that hypertensive people train for any kind of athletic endeavor that would require that kind intensity.
Breathing and movement speed is also an important consideration for hypertensive people that strength train. Bodybuilders that are trying to challenge them selves using maximal poundage often use the breathing technique known as the Valsalva maneuver during difficult lifts. According to the Echocardiography Journal there are four phases during the Valsalva maneuver. Phase one is the onset of straining with increased intrathoracic pressure.
The heart rate does not change but blood pressure rises. Phase two is marked by the decreased venous return and consequent reduction of stroke volume and pulse pressure as straining continues. The heart rate increases and blood pressure drops. Phase three is the release of straining with decreased intrathoracic pressure and normalization of pulmonary blood flow. Phase four marks the blood pressure overshoot (in the normal heart) with the return of the heart to baseline.
When the bodybuilder uses this breathing technique this involves taking a deep breath in, then expiring against a closed flap in the windpipe that, when closed, prevents air expulsion. This process increases intrathoracic pressure and appears to augment force development efforts. When intrathoracic pressure increases during the Valsalva maneuver, the blood returning to the heart is slower. While this action is probably harmless for healthy individuals, it does cause significant elevations in blood pressure.
Which of course is a potential problem for those suffering from hypertension. Since use of the Valsalva also appears to be related to the relative intensity of the effort, avoiding muscular fatigue and continuing to breathe are important concerns. Strength training should be dynamic in nature there by avoiding those all out fatigue inducing repetitions, since movement speed will inevitable slow down significantly as fatigue sets in.
The person with high blood pressure will of course also have to be very careful with their cardio vascular work just as they would with the strength training. As any of us who have competed in bodybuilding shows knows short and intense is where it is at for burning fat. It is not realistic for the people with high blood pressure to work intensely with their cardio. It is a must that they show patience keeping a close eye on their rating of perceived exertion and heart rate.
So that way they don’t risk a rise in their blood pressure too soon or to quickly. Going with lower intensities and longer duration efforts would be more ideal for them. Cross training is an approach that bodybuilders would utilize that people with high blood pressure can take advantage of. Using a variety of different types of cardio will help them in all the same ways. Over use injury potential will be decreased, and a different challenge will be placed on their bodies.
The National Strength and Conditioning Association defines the heart as a muscular organ that in reality is two interconnected but separate pumps; the right side of the heart pumps blood through the lungs, and the left side pumps blood through the rest of the body. Each pump has two chambers: an atrium and a ventricle. The right and left atria function primarily as blood reservoirs, delivering blood into the right and left ventricles.
The right and left ventricles supply the main force for moving blood through the pulmonary and peripheral circulations. The degree of blood pressure elevation during exercise is also dependent on blood returning to the heart during the exertion. When blood flow to the heart is reduced, the body responds by enacting mechanisms to elevate pressure in an attempt to force more blood through the system. This of course can cause dramatic elevations in pressure.
Despite the fact that people with high blood pressure can’t train the same as bodybuilders would with their strength training and cardio efforts. They can still benefit from similar strategies they would use nutritionally. The first step is to slow down on their calorie intake. Of course the calories eaten must pale in comparison to the calories burned via exercise. Another step is writing down everything that they eat for at least three days, then calculate how much fat they would like to lose.
The more that they keep meticulous written records of their nutrition the better results they could have. That will allow them to be more aware of what is working for them. When a strategy doesn’t appear to work an adjustment can be easily made. To sum it all up cleaning up the nutrition plan the way both competitive or recreational bodybuilders do to achieve fitness goals is ideal for everyone including those with high blood pressure.
But some precautions must be taken to ensure that harmful elevations don’t occur in the process. So a hypertensive person has to be very careful with how they train. As stated earlier the elevation caused by exertion is directly related to how much effort is being placed on the body from the exertion. As a result, blood pressure increases dramatically as a set progresses and momentary muscular failure and fatigue are reached, regardless of how many reps have been performed.
If you think about this, it's apparent that established guidelines that suggest higher repetition sets for hypertensive people training with weights are misleading. It is not the number of repetitions that is the important aspect, but how challenging the actual repetitions being performed are. The important thing for the hypertensive people to keep in mind, therefore, is to stop their set before the challenge associated with the effort becomes to great.
So Mike Mentzer’s Heavy Duty, high-intensity training as much as it has been a hot topic in the bodybuilding community it isn’t a hot idea for the hypertensive person. Certainly neither is Dorian Yates super intense training the right kind of training. Any health, fitness, or medical professional could not recommend that hypertensive people train for any kind of athletic endeavor that would require that kind intensity.
Breathing and movement speed is also an important consideration for hypertensive people that strength train. Bodybuilders that are trying to challenge them selves using maximal poundage often use the breathing technique known as the Valsalva maneuver during difficult lifts. According to the Echocardiography Journal there are four phases during the Valsalva maneuver. Phase one is the onset of straining with increased intrathoracic pressure.
The heart rate does not change but blood pressure rises. Phase two is marked by the decreased venous return and consequent reduction of stroke volume and pulse pressure as straining continues. The heart rate increases and blood pressure drops. Phase three is the release of straining with decreased intrathoracic pressure and normalization of pulmonary blood flow. Phase four marks the blood pressure overshoot (in the normal heart) with the return of the heart to baseline.
When the bodybuilder uses this breathing technique this involves taking a deep breath in, then expiring against a closed flap in the windpipe that, when closed, prevents air expulsion. This process increases intrathoracic pressure and appears to augment force development efforts. When intrathoracic pressure increases during the Valsalva maneuver, the blood returning to the heart is slower. While this action is probably harmless for healthy individuals, it does cause significant elevations in blood pressure.
Which of course is a potential problem for those suffering from hypertension. Since use of the Valsalva also appears to be related to the relative intensity of the effort, avoiding muscular fatigue and continuing to breathe are important concerns. Strength training should be dynamic in nature there by avoiding those all out fatigue inducing repetitions, since movement speed will inevitable slow down significantly as fatigue sets in.
The person with high blood pressure will of course also have to be very careful with their cardio vascular work just as they would with the strength training. As any of us who have competed in bodybuilding shows knows short and intense is where it is at for burning fat. It is not realistic for the people with high blood pressure to work intensely with their cardio. It is a must that they show patience keeping a close eye on their rating of perceived exertion and heart rate.
So that way they don’t risk a rise in their blood pressure too soon or to quickly. Going with lower intensities and longer duration efforts would be more ideal for them. Cross training is an approach that bodybuilders would utilize that people with high blood pressure can take advantage of. Using a variety of different types of cardio will help them in all the same ways. Over use injury potential will be decreased, and a different challenge will be placed on their bodies.
The National Strength and Conditioning Association defines the heart as a muscular organ that in reality is two interconnected but separate pumps; the right side of the heart pumps blood through the lungs, and the left side pumps blood through the rest of the body. Each pump has two chambers: an atrium and a ventricle. The right and left atria function primarily as blood reservoirs, delivering blood into the right and left ventricles.
The right and left ventricles supply the main force for moving blood through the pulmonary and peripheral circulations. The degree of blood pressure elevation during exercise is also dependent on blood returning to the heart during the exertion. When blood flow to the heart is reduced, the body responds by enacting mechanisms to elevate pressure in an attempt to force more blood through the system. This of course can cause dramatic elevations in pressure.
Despite the fact that people with high blood pressure can’t train the same as bodybuilders would with their strength training and cardio efforts. They can still benefit from similar strategies they would use nutritionally. The first step is to slow down on their calorie intake. Of course the calories eaten must pale in comparison to the calories burned via exercise. Another step is writing down everything that they eat for at least three days, then calculate how much fat they would like to lose.
The more that they keep meticulous written records of their nutrition the better results they could have. That will allow them to be more aware of what is working for them. When a strategy doesn’t appear to work an adjustment can be easily made. To sum it all up cleaning up the nutrition plan the way both competitive or recreational bodybuilders do to achieve fitness goals is ideal for everyone including those with high blood pressure.