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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – LEXINGTON, Ky. – It’s common knowledge that exercise is good for our muscles. Regular workouts help tone the muscle we have and build more muscle on top of that.
But the heart is a muscle, too. When you exercise, your heart “remodels” to accommodate the body’s increased demand for more oxygen-rich blood to feed those muscles.
But does this remodelling affect Olympic athletes differently?
Not exactly, says Dr. Vincent Sorrell at the UK Gill Heart and Vascular Institute. “Anyone who exercises regularly will likely have some remodelling to their heart, which a layperson can see reflected in their resting heart rate,” he says. “But serious amateur and professional athletes – with Olympians being a prime example – have more extensive remodeling .”
Curiously, exercise-induced changes to the heart vary according to the type of exercise.