For example you could be super in shape from a muscular perspective but have really bad cardio and vice versa.
How is cardio different from physical shape and what exactly happens in your body that makes you have more cardio?
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In respect to your heart, cardio will increase the volume of blood the right and left chambers (ventricles) can hold. Meaning your heart can take on a greater amount of blood while it fills in between heartbeats. This means the heart can now pump more blood per beat. This is why runner’s typically have a lower resting heart rate. Their hearts don’t need to beat as often as to move the same volume of blood as someone who is not “cardio-adapted”.
Now, just like a skeletal muscle (e.g., bicep, quad, etc..) gets bigger (hypertrophies), the heart can also hypertrophy. This usually manifests itself as a thickening of the left side (left ventricle). This allows the heart to generate more pressure (i.e., contract with more force). This type of adaption is not typically brought to fruition through cardio, but rather through weight training. Too much hypertrophy (thickening) of the left ventricle can be pathological (normal weightlifting will not push your heart to this extent, don’t be scared to lift weights!). This is typically only brought about by diseases or unhealthy lifestyles that lead to increased blood pressure like alcohol abuse, drugs, too much sodium, anabolic steroid use, etc.. The reason having “too thick” of a heart is bad is because as the heart the thickens, the chamber size decreases, meaning the less blood it can fill with in between beats. Which leads to the heart having to work harder (beat more often) to move the same volume of blood as someone who’s heart is not in this condition.
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