Sprinting or endurance better for heart health?

[evilhugbear]

Hey guys, I've recently started going to the gym, and am interested in making my heart stronger.

I always thought that endurance running or biking would make your heart stronger, but Usain Bolt has one of the lowest RHRs.

Is sprinting better for your heart health? I want to build endurance, but I've seen all the marathon runners are very skinny and non-muscular. Is there any way to increase endurance while increasing muscle, too?

Thanks

 

[No Limit Athlete]

Long distance cardio is safer for your heart and can get your RHR down low as well. Believe Bolt does his fair share of long distance cardio. I have a resting rate of around 41 to 45 bpm and I do not run long distance bu maybe 1 a week or 2.

 

[evilhugbear]

Long distance cardio is safer for your heart and can get your RHR down low as well. Believe Bolt does his fair share of long distance cardio. I have a resting rate of around 41 to 45 bpm and I do not run long distance bu maybe 1 a week or 2.

So do you do HIIT? If you do, how often do you do it? And if you don't, what do you do?

Thanks

 

[No Limit Athlete]

I compete in jiu jitsu, in fact I leave for nationals in mexico city next week. So it all depends where I am in my trianing. I am a huge fan of tabata sprints on 15 degree incline on the treadmill. There is many ways to play around with sprints by playing with the work/rest ratio. You have to be careful with sprints because they work the heart hard. Just like any training you need to deload from it and work other aspects like long distance. In fact I had left ventricular hypertrophy of the heart from doing to much sprint work. So I had to move to low intensity long bout for a while.