What type of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy do you have??
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HC) has multiple causes and is typically the result of behavioral lifestyle choices. If Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy is the result of a sedentary lifestyle, your heart is at greater risk, especially when under stress (Like Exercise). Sometimes however, Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy isn’t always a bad thing (if it is a result of training adaptation to particular types of exercise).
Yes, it’s still true that HC can be a predisposed inherited trait, however, It is mostly a predisposition as well as behavioral environmental lifestyle choices that result in a negative or positive HC adaptational response.
Most of the time HC will put you at higher risk for a cardiovascular “Episode” which can range in severity. Sometimes however, depending on the specific variety of training within your regimen, the HC adaptation will have an proportionate increase in ventricular diastolic blood volume allowing an increased wall thickness to operate more normally while at higher performance.
If you are sedentary, HC occurs in part due to decreased elasticity of arteries. The heart in turn has to work a lot harder to pump out a moderate amount of blood, which leads to increased thickening of the heart walls ( Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy ). The ventricle size does not proportionately adapt and the volume of blood is still the same with each beat. So essentially the heart is using more effort to contract a bigger muscle, without actually pumping out a greater volume of blood. (It’s kind of like doing bicep curls in a very small range of motion in the middle of the full range of motion, The biceps work a lot harder for not much actual work to be done. It’s not the most effective way to strengthen your biceps, they will be limited in strength ability and neuromuscular response when challenged in the full range of motion). Add strenuous exercise to the mix and the heart of the sedentary person severely struggles to keep up with demand as it is being challenged beyond its ability, hence the immediate skyrocket in heart rate.
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy can also occur in a bodybuilder type workout where there are high blood pressure spikes without sustained blood volume overload. (heavy sets with big rest breaks) it can actually be quite similar to that of a sedentary person. (depending on the variety within a training regimen).
Suppose you are an endurance athlete, or someone who performs a good volume of HIIT training or some sort of combination of both. Your adapted Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy has come in the form of varying levels of increased wall thickness as well as increased ventricle size. This adaptation is due primarily to the sustained exercise demand of higher blood volume and blood pressure. This is the healthiest form of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy because the ventricular blood volume and wall thickness adaptations are more proportionate, resulting in a normal acting, higher performance heart. With this type of training, at rest your body will have a lower resting heart rate due to an increased ability to supply optimal blood (while at rest, or at many varieties of intensities). A greater volume of blood pumping with each beat means the heart does not have to beat as fast as it used to in order to meet the same requirements.
Exercise related Increased vascular compliance also plays a role, along with increased mitochondria and a host of other adaptational factors. Combined, they create a more efficient cardiovascular system when working hard or at rest.
This should also help you understand why the Variety of a training regimen is so important in order to optimize cardiovascular performance.
