The Benefits of Exercise for Coronary Heart Disease

Background

The anatomy of the heart determines its function and regulation. The regulation is determined by three main measurements. The Cardiac Output, the Stroke Volume and the Heart rate. The Cardiac Output is defined as the amount of blood which is ejected from the ventricles of the heart every minute to the Aorta. To establish the Cardiac Output, the stroke volume and the heart rate are multiplied. The Cardiac output produces information to explain healthy or unhealthy results as it reflects the stroke volume and the heart rate. At rest the blood pumped through the heart should reach approximately five litres every minute. Variations of this amount using either stroke volume or heart rate could result in an unhealthy heart (Tortora, G. Grabowski, S. 2000). Using exercise to maintain or improve the hearts function has been studied by medical analysts to highlight the benefits of Resistance training, Endurance Training or a combination of both.

Alison Cooper introduces this page to provide a background to the upcoming information in regards to how Endurance Training and Resistance Training can maintain or improve heart stabilisation.

Endurance Training is the practise of aerobic exercise designed to exert the heart for a long period of time, which will in turn increase stroke volume and could decrease heart rate, resulting in a fit heart. How the effects of this are used for coronary heart disease is explained by Alison Cooper.

Resistance Training is the practise of increasing strength and targets the build up of the muscle. It is used to manage and maintain strength in the body and heart. This is explored and relayed by Zainab Qureshi.

Combination Training has been studied to understand how heart failure can be managed using both resistance training and endurance training. We will attempt to demonstrate how this is the case and what studies have been used to either support or reject benefits of combination training. This is also written by Zainab Qureshi.