Endurance athletes have hearts that are large, compliant, relax fast, and pump a lot of blood. Indeed, a large maximal stroke volume is the key defining feature of the athlete`s heart. Much of the phenotypic elements of the athlete`s heart can be induced by a year of training in previously sedentary young individuals, though changing compliance may require much longer periods of training or starting at a young age during growth and development. Interestingly, the elaboration of the athlete`s heart begins with right ventricular eccentric hypertrophy, and left ventricular concentric hypertrophy; only with very prolonged and intense training does truly eccentric LV hypertrophy appear to develop in a longitudinal fashion. Females also develop physiologic cardiac hypertrophy, but despite virtually identical training, their hypertrophic response is blunted, presumably due to a reduced amount of physiologic anabolic steroids. A life-long pattern of competitive exercise seems to be highly protective against the cardiac atrophy of age, with preservation of youthful cardiac compliance. However even life-long training is not sufficient to prevent the slowing of relaxation which seems to be an inevitable consequence of senescence. Finally, some reports have suggested that extraordinary training can be injurious to the heart, and chronic left atrial dilation may increase the risk of atrial fibrillation. It is also possible that training in the presence of coronary artery disease, especially for older, utra-endurance athletes may be deleterious; in fact, the term "athletes heart" was originally coined to reflect pathology. Nevertheless, long term follow of Olympic athletes suggest that this level of training does not have adverse consequences on the heart, and it is likely that adverse cardiac effects of training are the exception rather than the rule.
© Copyright 2012 The biomedical basis of elite performance. 19-21 March 2012, London, UK. Abstracts & Manuscripts. Veröffentlicht von The Physiological Society. Alle Rechte vorbehalten. / Übersetzt mit https://www.DeepL.com/Translator