Reduce the risk of Heart Disease - strength training can help support many systems.

Adding stress to the body during training means your body can adapt and overcome other stresses. Focus on creating your healthiest body - we want to protect every system and live our most optimal life.

When we put our body through stress it adapts - this includes our cardiovascular system. And when we weight train we might not be huffing and puffing like we would on a run or the rowing machine but the demand of the cardiovascular system to continuous pump oxygen and nutrient rich blood to help provide you with the most optimal energy to give you the strength to last your session.

Weight training has an impact on body composition, increasing lean muscle mass and decreasing the percentage of fat tissue - when the body is at a lower (but safe) body fat percentage it has an impact on overall health, hormone production, bodily functions and puts less stress on the heart and other systems.

Women are at a higher risk of developing heart disease than men, our hormones and anatomy of the vascular system play a part in this … so it is vital that we do all we can to prevent the risk even more. Being mindful of a good diet, staying in a healthy weight, getting in adequate exercise in the week and avoiding poor lifestyle choices like being very sedentary, smoking or excessively drinking.

Weight training of course contributes to decreasing the level of body fat percentage (when you follow a diet to support this) and this type of training will reduce the fat levels around the heart and arteries so in hand will reduce the blood pressure through these vessels.

Get in the weights room … we’ve already covered some of the many benefits but this one is something we don’t see on the outside, its a topic that is scary, that unfortunately many of us may have to deal with in our own health or with someone close to us.

We can do a lot in our power to help reduce the risk of heart disease and other health problems linked - so when you’re thinking about your training try to dig a little deeper in to what you do and the why behind it.

Yes we want strong muscles, we want to look good, we want to feel good and we should be focusing on making every single inch of us strong … including our heart and other systems!

- 60 million women in the states are living with some sort of heart disease - that 44%

- Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the sates

- Women are more likely to suffer the risk of heart disease - because of more narrow arteries and a thinner muscular wall of the heart.

- 44% of women have high blood pressure - increases the risk of heart disease

- Pregnant women with high blood pressure are more likely to suffer heart disease later in life

• Hormonal changes during peri/menopause lead to a decline in estrogen levels - this can contribute to a greater risk of heart disease in women.