High Blood Pressure

mufc21 · Post by **mufc21** » 06 Apr 2010, 16:54

Does having high blood pressure decrease your fitness. I realise that I am not very fit on the field even though I train over 20 hours week in week out. Could it also be that my blood pressure is high because of too much exercise. Any thoughts???

Met · Post by **Met** » 06 Apr 2010, 18:54

Q's: What is your bp? What is your age? How and where you found you bp out?

In my knowledge, the two are opposites. The fitter you are, the lower your blood pressure. The only other reason is because of your genes. But still if you are exercising 20 hours a week, it should have decreased significantly by now. Too much exercise can only be an indrect cause of bp being high is if you have clogged arteries and heart is increase beats to counter the narrowing or blocking of arteries so thereby increasing stress by exercise increases bp. I stress that this is highly unlikely so don't get worked up.

Go get checked out by a doctor if you are so concerned.

Rome_Leader · Post by **Rome_Leader** » 07 Apr 2010, 01:28

Yes, Met is right. Unless you are naturally of an overweight body-type, I can't see any reason why excess exercise would make you wholly 'less fit'. Are you doing appropriate cool-downs after your workouts? Just stopping immediately could be dangerous and damning to your overall fitness.

Your diet, your family history and your stress level are all major players in your blood pressure; I don't think too much exercise really plays in. However, it is true that exercise puts stress on your body, so if you're not doing proper cool-downs like I suggested, or not giving your body time to heal between intense workouts, than you could be doing yourself more harm than good.

Like Met says, though, I would like to know a little more about your situation. What is your blood pressure, and how old are you? Did a medical professional test it for you?