I don't know about you, but today comes news from the American College of Cardiology that I'm using to power my desire to exercise, when I head over to my gym, Equinox South Beach.
This comes from a new study which shows that regular physical exercise not only provides all the benefits we usually associate with it, but it also helps prevent your heart by growing weaker with age.
The study, presented this week at the American College of Cardiology's 60th Annual Scientific session, was the first to look at the effects of varying levels of lifelong exercise on heart mass. It showed that even elderly people who regularly exercised had hearts that were similar in mass to non-exercisers who were decades younger.
The study focused on heart muscle size, which peaks early in life and diminishes as you age. This kind of diminishing causes the heart muscle to stiffen, leading to a certain type of heart failure common in older people.
Other interesting findings this study turned up included the fact that the more exercise, the better. The elderly people whose hearts were the fittest were those who were committed exercisers (4-5 times a week) and master athletes (6-7 times a week).
So this means no more wimpy 2-3 times a week exercising for me -- I'll be at Equinox South Beach almost every day! See you in the kettle bell class!
More info: Andreas Heuser, Equinox Membership Advisor, 305-673-1172
