Heart not wanting to be past a certain weight?

USMuscle9403 · May 31, 2005

Just for a disclaimer, I'm not asking for medical advice. I'm just telling you my situation and want to know fi anyone else has experienced this and what it may be. I plan on seeing the doc soon if symptoms persist.

I'm 20 yrs old, 5'6" and 239 is my current 'dry' weight. I'm very muscular but have a fair amount of excess bodyfat on me. However, I am starting to notice taht when I get into the 250+ range, whether it be via water retention or whatever, it's almost as though I can feel my heart working harder. This doesn't really seem to be a problem for me when I'm in the lower weight range. I am cutting this fat off me as we speak so hopefully my condition will improve, but if not, I'm definitely going to see a doc. I'm not on any anabolics or even any stimulants. The only things I'm taking are multivit/min, CEE, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin B complex, BCAAs, Glutamine peptides.

Have you guys ever noticed this problem on yourselves? If so, please share your experience...it's greatly appreciated.

Hypertrophyguy · May 31, 2005

Yes it happened to me. And I wrote it off forever as me just being heavy. THen I met my current training partner. 5'8" 260 probably 5%bf (offseason). He literally runs from station to station. I puked the first 2 times I trained with him and I Still have to lie down now and then between lifts. But my cardiovascular health has increased 10 fold. I now train regularly for 2 hours nonstop just bang bang bang ripping through them. And today actually I found myself running (yes running) across the parking lot to my car. I probably haven't sporadically ran for over 2 years. Yes your heart has to work harder as you grow bigger but at your size you say 250 with some chub. you are probably low 200s lean weight. This is easily accomidated by your heart. You are just slightly out of shape. Im not huge but im 5'9" and about 253 probably 12% bf. Not mr. olympia but im bordering the freak zone I'd like to think. And I can still run a 7 minute mile. (not often as it hurts the next day) but you should concentrate on your heart health for a li ttle while. Do some fast intervals on the treadmill after you lift, and decrease you rest time a little. It should help and 20 mins of cardio to help out your heart isn't going to shrink your muscles I promise.

BigBoyJ · May 31, 2005

I definitely get the same problem. The heart does have to work harder to supply blood to a pound of new muscle than it does to a pound of new fat. In other words, if you are 70 pounds over weight with muscle mass it is harder on your body than being 70 lbs over weight with fat. Fat is a sedentary tissue, it requires very little blood and nutrients to stay alive. Muscle on the other hand has to have new blood vessels and capillaries built to supply to large demand for blood. This also means the body's blood volume increases. Your body keeps getting bigger, you have more and more blood that must be pumped, but you still have the same old heart you always had. The bigger you get, the more strain on the heart.

I'm not saying that being obese is more healthy than being extremely muscular. Obesity causes a shitload of other health problems to worry about too. But, from the strict viewpoint of strain on the heart, muscle causes more stress than fat. And on top of that, we add the stress of anabolics which we recently found out have a direct effect on hypertrophy of the heart as well. All in all, being a huge freaky bodybuilder isn't really too healthy.

USMuscle9403 · May 31, 2005

Thanks fellas for the responses, keep 'em comin!

I admittedly have not been as strict with my diet OR my training (this includes cardio training) in the past month or so like I should be. Big mistake. I've just been 'on' for so long (training, not meaning on gear) that i thought a complete and total break from bbing would be beneficial. I'm not talking just cutting back on intensity etc., I mean actually stopping the training all together. I just took it too far I suppose, should have been watching my diet and doing my cardio still. Today marked the day of me starting back, hopefully this will improve but it seems as though I experienced the same problem when I was training and doing cardio a couple months back. I don't think it has anything to do with me being a freak. Because, truth-be-told, I'm not. I've never done any steroids, just straight natural heavy ass training and eating on and off for the past 8 or so years now.

Again guys thanks for the responses and I'm interested in hearing from others as well...