The number one cause of death in the USA (and in the world) is heart desease.
"A reduction in total cholesterol is considered the gold standard in preventative cardiovascular medicine."
My primary care physician told me years ago that I have risk factors (father who died of a heart attack and now myocardial bridge) that lower my thresholds for healthy cholesterol levels. He also said that one of the factors in their calculation is age and so that even if I maintain my current levels, sooner or later my age would push me into the risk category. Well my last visit my LDL level went over the threshold and he prescribed a statin (atorvastatin). Yesterday I went for a three month check up and he said the results were "dramatic." My LDL went from 130 to 60.
He asked me if I changed anything else and I mentioned that now that I am retired I exercise more. I explained my routines. He encouraged that and suggested I favor aerobic exercise and repeated his warning that when I do resistance not to lift heavy (this is not a general recommendation but for my given situation).
I got curious about the relationship of cholesterol and exercise and found the following article.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Warning- the heavy lifters here might not like it. It says nothing against heavy resistance training, but for lowering cholesterol, volume seems to be better than intensity. I remember in "The Barbell Prescription" Dr. Sullivan reluctantly concedes that for cardiovascular health LSD (long slow distance) was the best.
Some quotes from the article-
Regarding aerobic training-
"Those authors consequently suggested that the training volume, as opposed to the training intensity, is the key to improving the lipid profile.."
"The evidence suggests that a moderate-intensity exercise programme will be effective in increasing HDL cholesterol. This will have a positive impact upon atherosclerosis (hardening of artery walls through plaque and fat accumulation [13]) via HDL cholesterol-facilitated removal of LDL cholesterol. To directly reduce LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels, however, the intensity of aerobic exercise must be increased—something that may not be possible in individuals with a limited exercise capacity or other risk factors."
Regarding resistance training-
" The authors concluded that low- to moderate-intensity resistance training results in greater benefit to the lipid profile than high-intensity resistance training, although the mechanisms underlying this difference are unclear."
"This study once again demonstrated the limited additional benefit of increasing the resistance training intensity when equalizing the training load by reducing the numbers of sets and repetitions being completed to compensate for the increased weight being lifted. "
" During resistance training, it has been shown consistently that the increased volume of movement via increased numbers of sets and/or repetitions has a greater impact upon the lipid profile than increased intensity (e.g. via high-weight low-repetition training)."
"A reduction in total cholesterol is considered the gold standard in preventative cardiovascular medicine."
My primary care physician told me years ago that I have risk factors (father who died of a heart attack and now myocardial bridge) that lower my thresholds for healthy cholesterol levels. He also said that one of the factors in their calculation is age and so that even if I maintain my current levels, sooner or later my age would push me into the risk category. Well my last visit my LDL level went over the threshold and he prescribed a statin (atorvastatin). Yesterday I went for a three month check up and he said the results were "dramatic." My LDL went from 130 to 60.
He asked me if I changed anything else and I mentioned that now that I am retired I exercise more. I explained my routines. He encouraged that and suggested I favor aerobic exercise and repeated his warning that when I do resistance not to lift heavy (this is not a general recommendation but for my given situation).
I got curious about the relationship of cholesterol and exercise and found the following article.
Differential Effects of Aerobic Exercise, Resistance Training and Combined Exercise Modalities on Cholesterol and the Lipid Profile: Review, Synthesis and Recommendations
There is a direct relationship between chronically elevated cholesterol levels (dyslipidaemia) and coronary heart disease. A reduction in total cholesterol is considered the gold standard in preventative cardiovascular medicine. Exercise has been shown ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Warning- the heavy lifters here might not like it. It says nothing against heavy resistance training, but for lowering cholesterol, volume seems to be better than intensity. I remember in "The Barbell Prescription" Dr. Sullivan reluctantly concedes that for cardiovascular health LSD (long slow distance) was the best.
Some quotes from the article-
Regarding aerobic training-
"Those authors consequently suggested that the training volume, as opposed to the training intensity, is the key to improving the lipid profile.."
"The evidence suggests that a moderate-intensity exercise programme will be effective in increasing HDL cholesterol. This will have a positive impact upon atherosclerosis (hardening of artery walls through plaque and fat accumulation [13]) via HDL cholesterol-facilitated removal of LDL cholesterol. To directly reduce LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels, however, the intensity of aerobic exercise must be increased—something that may not be possible in individuals with a limited exercise capacity or other risk factors."
Regarding resistance training-
" The authors concluded that low- to moderate-intensity resistance training results in greater benefit to the lipid profile than high-intensity resistance training, although the mechanisms underlying this difference are unclear."
"This study once again demonstrated the limited additional benefit of increasing the resistance training intensity when equalizing the training load by reducing the numbers of sets and repetitions being completed to compensate for the increased weight being lifted. "
" During resistance training, it has been shown consistently that the increased volume of movement via increased numbers of sets and/or repetitions has a greater impact upon the lipid profile than increased intensity (e.g. via high-weight low-repetition training)."
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Who knew?
