The effect of exercise on HR

Stroke Volume refers to the volume of blood that is pumped out of the (left) ventricle with every beat of the heart. In a normal 70Kg man, this is equal to approximately 70ml. This means that each time the heart beats, it pushes 70ml of oxygenated blood out of the heart and back into circulation. Athletes and physically active individuals generally have lower resting heart rates than their sedentary (couch potato) counterparts. The question is, Why? Exactly how does exercise decrease resting heart rate?

For this, we need to consider what exercise actually does to the heart itself. Consider this: The heart is comprised mainly of a specialized type of muscle fiber, called cardiac muscle. When you engage in physical activity, you are actually giving your heart a workout as well.
When you exercise your heart, it gets stronger too. The cardiac muscles grow in size and number, just like your biceps or pectoral muscles do from lifting weights. When your heart gets stronger, each beat not only becomes easier, but more efficient. Heres how: Normally, there is a residual volume (or end-systolic volume) of blood left in the ventricle following each beat of the heart. This value is around 50ml in the average person. However, in a physically fit person, this value can fall to 20ml or less. What this means is that with the same beat, the heart is able to pump 30ml MORE than it does in the average person. Following this train of thought allows us to understand that each beat of the heart carries more blood (and therefore more nutrients and oxygen) to the rest of the body. Since the body needs roughly the same amount of oxygen and nutrients at rest, the heart rate in athletes is lower. 1

Eg. 1. Normal person HR=70bpm. If you multiply this value by the volume (70ml) per beat, you can discover the volume of blood pumped by the heart per minute. Do this calculation. Normal Individual (Volume per minute calculation)

A physically fit person still needs to pump roughly the same volume of blood per minute (at rest), but as we discovered, each beat carries a larger volume. If stroke volume in an athlete is 100ml, how many times would this persons heart need to beat in a minute to reach the same number? *Divide the Volume/minute value (calculated above) by the volume/beat to find out. Physically fit individual (Heart rate calculation)

Add to this the fact that athletes (especially endurance athletes) have a higher number of circulating RBCs. What this means is that in these athletes, the heart is extremely efficient, and the blood is packed with oxygen carriers. The combination of these factors accounts for an impressive drop in the resting heart rate of the physically active individual. What are you going to do to exercise your heart?

Measure view talk edit end-diastolic volume (EDV) end-systolic volume (ESV) stroke volume (SV) ejection fraction (Ef) heart rate (HR) cardiac output (CO)

Typical value 120 ml[1] 50 ml[1] 70 ml 58% 70 bpm 4.9 L/minute

Normal range 65 - 240 ml[1] 16 - 143 ml[1] 55 - 100 ml 55 to 70%[2] 60 to 100 bpm[3] 4.0 - 8.0 L/min[4]