I understand that heart issues are caused by the “pumped” heart in people that take testosterone. But why the aerobic training is beneficial? Doesn’t it also increase musculature in the heart ? Especially something like HIIT
In: Biology
the heart is a muscle that can be worked like any other muscle; if you train your cardio system for long enough (years) you can, but not always, develop a larger heart. many athletes have larger hearts than the general population, however when this is detected they will still undergo exams to be sure the enlarged heart isnt due to some other condition.
enlarging the heart through testosterone or steroids or other chemically aided processes can reduce its function as now it is larger but likely not as powerful or with enough endurance.
basically forcing the heart to be bigger without improving how it works through training is bad. training alone doesnt guarantee a larger heart
I think it is important to note that it is unnaturally high testosterone levels that causes unnatural increase in heart size.
Aerobic exercise does affect heart size and shape.
If you could give unnaturally high aerobic stress to the heart, then likely the effect would also be negative to the heart.
Your body tends to adapt where it “needs” to, based on what you’re exercising. Training for cardio, your circulatory system will get more efficient at extracting oxygen, and pumping it where it’s needed. The heart might gain some size in specific areas, but generally isn’t going to get much physically bigger.
Steroids are untargeted. You’ll build muscle mass regardless of whether you “need” it or not. The heart may gain size all over, which can lead to issues like high blood pressure or risk of clots/strokes.
When you enlarge the heart unnaturally like that, it becomes too stiff making it harder to fill with blood. This is known as a type of heart failure called diastolic heart failure.
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