Q: Does weight increase due to exercise and muscle growth negatively affect BP?
A: Exercise is good for blood pressure. Muscle tissue does weigh more than fat but the weight gain associated with converting fat to muscle isn’t that great. In the long run most people lose weight with a regular exercise program unless they change their eating habits.
Further Reading:
More Muscle Means Better Regulation Of Blood Pressure, Study Finds – ScienceDaily.com
Blood Pressure And Exercise – 1muscle-building.com
with very high blood pressure. I am very concerned about fat around the waist,most of my weight is concentrated weight problrm is “BELLY FAT” WHICH IS VERY HARD TO GET RID OF. Thank you for responding.
If you have tried every diet under the sun, a supervised exercise program and still can not lose weight than it is time to check again with your doctor. Ask for a full blood test and glucose tolerance test in order to make sure you do not have insuline resistance. Weight increase in a healthy person due to more muscle lean muscle mass does not affect blood pressure. It takes quite a while to build up lean muscles mass and it becomes more difficult the older one gets. Suggest if your BP is very high and you are concerned to see a doctor immediately.
After sleeping all night (8hrs) my blood pressure is normally 178 to 187 over 98 or 88. Is it because I do not move during the night? Because when I get up and move around, have breakfast then it goes down to 134/80. Then it remains low during the day.
I do take atenol at night and one tablet in the morning.
Sincerely:
James B. Fodor III
Frankly, I can’t even understand the “good doctor’s” answer on this one. Let’s see. Exercise is good for your blood pressure, but adding muscle mass doesn’t increase your weight? Muscle is much heavier than fat, actually, so adding muscle mass may mean you don’t see much reduction in your weight, at least initially.
Also, anaerobic excercise, such as weight training, typcially elevates blood pressure – sorry doc. Aerobic exercise typically lowers blood pressure. Maintaining and improving muscle mass is very important as we age, so weight training is indeed important, as well. What many people do to ameliorate the blood pressure raising effects of weight traing, is to do at least 20 minutes of aerobic exercise after weight training. This helps bring the elevated blood pressure back into the normal range, giving people the best of both worlds!
Fat doesn’t convert directly into muscle, fat can be converted into energy, burning it off through cardio exercise, such as biking, dancing or running, etc; and muscle can be built through weightlifting.
Exercise can burn enough calories to force the body to burn fat, but it cannot turn fat into muscle.
Muscle can help in a lot of ways, but diet and daily exercise are the key elements.
BP can increase while lifting weights, it’s important to remember to breathe and not hold your breath while lifting. Talk with your doctor first to make sure your exerise routine is safe and effective for you.
Thanks for that advice because I don’t remember breathing out while lifting weights.