When You Stop Moving, So Does Your Heart - Part 2

CPR for Life

Make your heart younger and stronger- even if you've had a heart attack. Dr. Franklin is an internationally renowned exercise scientist and he breaks down the relevant science into usable chunks.

Check out his newest book, GPS for Success, at DrBarryFranklin.com

If you need help turning knowledge into action get a free consultation at cprhealthclinic.com

Transcript (for the whole transcript, sign up for the newsletter at CPRHealthClinic.com):

(This transcript is auto-generated and may have errors)

Dr. Franklin: Number one, I say to all patients, what are the 10 most empowering two-letter words?

Dr. Sagar: In the last segment, we left off talking with top exercise scientist and cardiac rehabilitation expert Dr. Barry Franklin about overdosing on exercise.

Dr. Franklin: so you're asking, you're saying to me, Barry, is it possible to get too much of a good thing? Yes. Mm-hmm.

Dr. Sagar: how do I know if I'm getting too much of a good thing?

Dr. Franklin: Well I in general if you're sore from one workout to another if you're tired, if you find yourself tachycardic, you're probably getting too much. People who do what we call high volume, high intensity exercise, in our experience and in the literature have two reported mal adaptations.

Dr. Franklin: Things you don't want. Number one, higher levels of coronary calcium. So marathon runners have higher levels of coronary calcium, which as you well know, is a 4runner for cardiovascular disease. Now, that's the bad news. The good news is in those same marathon runners, when we look at their blockages, the coronary artery blockages, They have more stable plaques, they're less likely to rupture, more stable, cuz there's more calcium and less lipid.

Dr. Franklin: Whereas the inactive guy has a thin fibrous cap and a large lipid core, those are vulnerable plaques and they're more likely to rupture so that calcium may not be all that bad. The note is that higher level, higher incidents about heart rhythm, irregular irregularity called atrial fibrillation.

Dr. Franklin: Atrial fibrillation can predispose somebody to transient ischemic attacks little strokes or major strokes, so to speak. Lots of studies now suggest that veteran endurance athletes are two to 10 times more likely to develop atrial fibrillation in older age, two to 10 times more likely to develop that.

Dr. Franklin: You say, gimme the thresholds, one study came out and said over 2000 hours of vigorous to high intensity exercise, and another study said, over 20 years, they're more likely to develop incident atrial fibrillation, which is in irregular heart rhythm irregularity, which people to stroke or transient ischemic attack.

Dr. Franklin: The good news is if you can get those guys to start walking and markedly reduce their exercise dosage and intensity, oftentimes that atrial fibrillation with more modest routines can revert to what we call irregular heart rhythm or normal sinus rhythm. So those are two adverse effects, potentially adverse effects that extreme exercise regimens can confer.

Dr. Sagar: You mentioned soreness and tachycardia. Did you mean after the exercise bout having, still being sore before or rather when you get to your next workout

Dr. Franklin: Yeah.

Dr. Sagar: having a fast heart rate by the time you get, all right, so not during

Dr. Franklin: Not, during, no. That, that's afterward can for days then they're probably doing too much.

Dr. Sagar: Okay.

Dr. Franklin: Yeah. look at it. Look at it this way. If, if you say to me from a standpoint of survival, here's something that people will find astounding. If you're a runner beyond, how many minutes per day do the mortality benefits level off the, the answer is go to when.

Dr. Franklin: And colleagues, Lance, at 2011, I've cited this study a thousand times when, and colleagues Lance, 2011 and basically what they found, looking at all the data, is runners who run more than 40 to 45 minutes per day. The, the survival benefits plateau plateau at about 45%. So that's, that's pretty damn good.

Dr. Franklin: But if you run two hours or three hours a day, you're not any healthier. And there may be some signs that there's what's called a reverse J shaped curve where you're, in general, the more you do, the lower the risk. But if you get to the extremes, the risk starts going up again.

Dr. Sagar: Yeah. If you get to that cumulative 2000 hours or

Dr. Franklin: Yeah.

Dr. Sagar: 20 years,

Dr. Franklin: You, you're more likely to develop atrial fibrillation, so it's possible to get too much of a good thing. Yeah.

Dr. Sagar: Okay. What about in terms of strength training? Is there too much of a good thing there?

Dr. Franklin: My knowledge, no. I mean, you can get huge muscle, muscle mass, and in fact, the studies years ago showed that elite weightlifters had lower aerobic capacities than normal healthy men, to tell you the truth. You know, they'd be bulk bulked up and so on and so forth. So, I suppose it's possible with with, with, with strength training.

Dr. Franklin: I personally think strength training is a great compliment to an aerobic training program. Shouldn't replace it, but should compliment it. It lowers heart rate and blood pressure when you're lifting any given load. So the stronger you are, the lower the heart and blood pressure carrying suitcase or whatever.

Dr. Franklin: It improves muscle strength and muscle endurance to a greater extent than does aerobic training. It maintains or enhances basal metabolic rate. So Payson says to me, geez, I wanna, I wanna lose weight. My answer is, I want you to compliment that aerobic training with some resistance training, because that really doesn't do very much for the basal metabolic rate.

Dr. Franklin: It'll, the, the resistance training will maintain or enhance muscle mass, which will preserve the BA or enhance the basal metabolic rate and burn more calories throughout the day. So those are all good reasons to use resistance training to compliment aerobics.

Dr. Sagar: Yeah. Fantastic. And I'm gonna ask you about all those different kinds of exercises in a little bit........