How on earth do I ever get so much Energy??? This is so simple folks.

“Tom, how on earth do you ever get so much energy???”

Frequently in group workouts or with just a single buddy I am asked this question. It’s an easy question for me to answer. I don’t see any reason to keep it from the public domain so read and LEARN for your benefit and the benefit of others around you of whom you choose to teach.

The other day I was taking my resting heart rate (RHR) before getting out of bed. My RHR came in at 42 beats per minute! That is insanely FABULOUS for a trained individual. I took it again just to double check and it came in at 45 beats per minute (bpm). The small jump was probably the result of a small amount of adrenaline from my sympathetic nervous system from the first reading. None the less this confirmed my stellar RHR.

Just so you have some perspective consider this. The average RHR for men is 70 bpm and 75 for women. A RHR lower than 60 bpm (bradycardia) for an untrained individual or greater than 100 bpm (tachycardia) for any individual is a problem that requires medical attention or you risk dying of an abnormal heart condition. It’s common for trained athletes to bring their RHR down to below 60 bpm and for Olympic cross country skiers or P90X’ers to go as low as the lower 40’s.

Pay attention closely because this is the reason why I am able to “Bring it” to my workouts and I want YOU to be able to BRING IT to your workouts also.

My low RHR (as a result of consistent training and reasonable nutrition) is directly the cause for my HUGE capacity to bring a big ole ball of ENERGY and intensity to my workouts which ultimately leads to bigger, better and faster results. When you think about it, it is so basic. If your heart is not in great shape you get easily winded, your workouts are less and your results are less and take longer. Do you follow me? This concept can be taught just like that in easy terms that anyone can understand right away. But if you are like me and want to know WHY and HOW well here is a little bit about that.

My heart at a RHR in the lower forties is so efficient at pumping blood to my working muscles and regulating my circulatory system that with each beat, it is pumping so much oxygen rich blood systemically (stroke volume) so that fewer pumps are required from my heart per minute to adequately and continuously supply all of my working cells with nutrient rich blood. Think about that for one second… With fewer pumps needed to adequately feed all my cells there will be less and less wear and tear and fatigue on my heart muscle (myocardium) which means (among many other benefits) I will live a HIGHER quality of living vs. a lower more degenerative quality of living while being able to do so much more for myself and others that I care about without feeling winded. Add to that, I have also greatly reduced risk factors for a heart attack, a stroke, disease or illness in general etc.

A higher quality of life; WHO WOULDN’T WANT THAT? Perhaps a person whose ambitions reflect a desire for the lesser quality of living coupled with exacerbated degenerative physiological side affects of neglecting ones own heart.

One other HUGE health benefit to an efficient heart and a low RHR is the fact that the heart muscle itself has more time to pump nutrient rich blood to itself via the coronary arteries. See the heart muscle needs to be fed just like any other muscle and a surprising number of people do not think about that. The only time the heart is working to feed and take care of itself is in between systemic contractions (during diastole). If you have a higher resting heart rate then your heart is going to be worn down more quickly as you age which inevitably leads to very undesirable feelings of agony simply for lack of nutrients as well as being over worked to fuel every other cell outside of the heart muscle.

The moral here is that the most important muscle in the body to enhance is the heart! If your goal is to be a better weight lifter, well, lifting weights requires an enormous amount of oxygenated blood to fuel those HARD working muscle cells or you will do fewer reps, move lighter loads, and strength gains will be painfully slow or non existent. The healthier your heart and circulation is the greater your propensity is to be a better weight lifter. The same goes for ANY activity from running, to cycling, to yoga, to sports performances, to energy levels, to ANYTHING even cognitive thinking depends on adequate blood flow.

Always work to enhance and strengthen your heart! The workouts AND day to day living is more enjoyable and rewarding.

Learn - Teach - Do!

Tom