# If I exercise, how does that NOT let fat clog my arteries?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-exercise-how-does-that-not-let-fat-clog-my-arteries/258951
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 8, 2004, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-exercise-how-does-that-not-let-fat-clog-my-arteries/258951 "2004-08-08T23:47:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Silocke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silocke)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2004, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-exercise-how-does-that-not-let-fat-clog-my-arteries/258951/1 "2004-08-08T23:47:58Z")
I was wondering how bodybuilders do it. I mean (at least off-season anyway) they have pretty bad diets - high in carbs and pretty high in fats (compared with the average person).
But now I haven’t really ever heard about any of these guys suffering from adverse heart conditions _due_ to thier eating or lifestyle.
What exactly does the exercise do in terms of preventing thier arteries from getting clogged with (if I’m correct) low-density lipoproteins? I mean I know that if you exercise you will burn fat off, but how does that prevent the LDL from chugging up your arteries whilst you are consuming such a high quantity (or level) of fat (particularly saturated fats)?
I know they can balance this by eating more (poly)unsaturated fatty foods and thus increasing thier proportion of HDL in thier bloodstream (which evidence indicates lowers the risk of heart disease). But off-season, many of them consume large quantities of atrocious foods.
–My interest in this OP was inspired after seeing the WWE wrestler The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) say in an interview that although normally he likes to eat a healthy balanced diet, he also like to “treat” himself. This involves him consuming (for example) around 24 cream doughnuts. I remember thinking, “how the heck doesn’t he drop dead of a heart attack”?–
So what does exercise do for the heart? (specifically, if you could point out the differences that aerobic and anaerobic exercise play in keeping the heart healthy - I mean I have trouble thinking that these bodybuilders do lots of anaerobic exercise off-season).
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### Author:  [@Silocke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silocke)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2004, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-exercise-how-does-that-not-let-fat-clog-my-arteries/258951/2 "2004-08-16T23:35:29Z")
Anybody?
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### Author:  [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2004, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-exercise-how-does-that-not-let-fat-clog-my-arteries/258951/3 "2004-08-16T23:52:25Z")
Carbs, _per se_, do not increase your LDL cholesterold and are not bad for you. Saturated fats and trans fats will. Exercise, in and of itself, will also increase your HDL. As will alcohol. 🙂
There is no food that is “bad.” But all things in moderation. Two dozen doughnuts is a bit much, but one episode of that will not kill you.
Aerobic exercise will build up your heart muscles slowly and dilate your coronary arteries, supplying shunts if necessary. Anerobic exercise is quicker if done on a regular basis. During interval work is the fastest way to improve your cardiovascular status.
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### Author:  [@Kama45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kama45)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2004, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-exercise-how-does-that-not-let-fat-clog-my-arteries/258951/4 "2004-08-16T23:53:11Z")
What makes you think bodybuilders don’t lift weights during the “off-season”? They lift just as hard but concentrate more on building muscle mass.
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### Author:  [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2004, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-exercise-how-does-that-not-let-fat-clog-my-arteries/258951/5 "2004-08-17T03:51:45Z")
Someone help me out if I’m wrong, but it’s always been explained to me that a healthier person will be pumping a higher volume of blood through their arteries than a less-healthy one. Essentially, your blood is moving “faster.” This will cause some of the LDLs that would otherwise stick to your arteries and harden them to dislodge and…go wherever it is that they go (to the lymph system for excretion?). With slower heart rates, you’re allowing that LDL a greater opportunity to stick and eventually collect, narrowing the diameter of your arteries, etc.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2004, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-exercise-how-does-that-not-let-fat-clog-my-arteries/258951/6 "2004-08-17T04:05:01Z")
A couple of pages on exercise and fat:
[Fat Burning During Exercise: Can Ergogenics Change the Balance?](http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/1998/09sep/hawley.htm)
> [@](#):
>
> the rate of fat oxidation is highest during moderate activity such as easy jogging (65% of VO2 max). At such an intensity, plasma free fatty acids and intramuscular triglyceride contribute equally to the overall rate of fat oxidation. During high-intensity exercise (85% of VO2 max), the rate of total fat oxidation falls, mainly because the appearance of fatty acids into the plasma is suppressed. At the same time, lipolysis of intramuscular triglycerides does not rise substantially when exercise intensity increases from 65% to 85% of VO2 max. This would not affect recreational athletes because most cannot sustain high-intensity exercise for more than 10 to 15 minutes without accumulating high (greater than 10 mM) concentrations of lactic acid in the working muscles and blood, which would cause discomfort and stop activity.
>
> When low-intensity exercise continues more than 90 minutes, the pattern of substrate metabolism changes little relative to the first 20 to 30 minutes of exercise. The same is true of moderate-intensity exercise (65% of VO2 max): the rate of total fat or carbohydrate oxidation changes little after 2 hours of jogging or cycling at this intensity compared with the first 30 minutes. However, this level of exercise induces a progressive increase in the mobilization of fatty acids from peripheral adipocytes into the plasma (1). Therefore, the contribution of intramuscular substrates (triglyceride and glycogen) to total energy expenditure probably decreases when the duration of moderate-intensity exercise increases beyond 90 minutes.
[FAT METABOLISM DURING EXERCISE](http://www.gssiweb.com/reflib/refs/32/d000000020000006d.cfm?pid=96&CFID=664608&CFTOKEN=23989676)
> [@](#):
>
> Fat oxidation during exercise is very sensitive to the interval between eating carbohydrate and the onset of exercise and to the duration of the exercise. This is due in part to the elevation in plasma insulin in response to the carbohydrate meal and the resultant inhibition of lipolysis in adipose tissues, thus reducing the mobilization of FFA into the plasma. This effect is evident for at least 4 h after eating 140 g of carbohydrate that has a high glycemic index (Montain et al., 1991). Under these conditions, the carbohydrate meal reduces both total fat oxidation and plasma FFA concentration during the first 50 min of moderate-intensity exercise. However, this suppression of fat oxidation is reversed as the duration of exercise is increased; after 100 min of exercise, the rate of fat oxidation is similar, whether or not carbohydrate was eaten before exercise. It appears that the body relies heavily on carbohydrate and less on fat when people have eaten carbohydrate during the previous few hours, and therefore carbohydrate is preferred when it is available. It is likely that insulin plays a role in regulating the mixture of carbohydrate and fat oxidized during exercise.
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### Author:  [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2004, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-exercise-how-does-that-not-let-fat-clog-my-arteries/258951/7 "2004-08-17T04:13:27Z")
> [@Silocke](#):
>
> I was wondering how bodybuilders do it. I mean (at least off-season anyway) they have pretty bad diets - high in carbs and pretty high in fats (compared with the average person).
> This involves him consuming (for example) around 24 cream doughnuts. I remember thinking, “how the heck doesn’t he drop dead of a heart attack”?–
I think you
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### Author:  [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2004, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-exercise-how-does-that-not-let-fat-clog-my-arteries/258951/8 "2004-08-17T04:13:36Z")
I’m not a professional bodybuilder but I’ve been in the bodybuilding thing for 10+ years.
And I know MANY professional bodybuilders and personal trainers et cetra. I talk out of my ass on a lot of things, but when it comes to this I’m pretty knowledgable.
Firstly, the standard suggested diet for bodybuilding is a 40-40-20 diet. That means 40% of your calories come from carbs, 40% from protein, and 20% from fats.
As an addendum to the fats category, saturated fat is reduced as much as possible, to 0g a day in some cases if at ALL possible.
There is no “off season” for most bodybuilders. There is a time when professional bodybuilders aren’t in competition, and some of them do “let themselves go.” But the vast majority of bodybuilders (hobbyists to professionals) typically follow a nutrition plan every day of their life year round.
For example I personally eat an 2100 calorie diet every day (except one, explained later). And in general most bodybuilders consume roughly the same amount of macronutrients and calories every day.
[I consume the 2100 based on the fact that I weigh around 215-220 with a body fat % of around 9, so its a good caloric level to maintain muscle growth while not generating fat stores]
The one day of exception is a weekly “cheat period.” Now, this has nothing to do with wanting to eat bad foods or anything like that. There’s a theory (that I’ve seen in action so I tend to believe) that if you eat exactly the same amount each day your metabolism will reach sort of a stable point where you cannot lose any more fat or gain anymore muscle. A cheat day seems to keep your metabolism from plateauing and stopping muscle gain or fat loss (depending on what your goal is at the time.)
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### Author:  [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2004, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-exercise-how-does-that-not-let-fat-clog-my-arteries/258951/9 "2004-08-17T04:18:02Z")
Whoops.
I think you’ve got a false premise. Athletic people eat far more calories than sedentary folk, but their ratios of protein: carbs: fat are probably within the normal range.
So yeah, the Rock can eat 2 dozen donuts on any given Sunday, but if he’s burning 3000 calories during his workout, it’s not that bad.
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### Author:  [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2004, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-exercise-how-does-that-not-let-fat-clog-my-arteries/258951/10 "2004-08-17T04:45:26Z")
> [@barbitu8](#):
>
> Carbs, _per se_, do not increase your LDL cholesterold and are not bad for you. Saturated fats and trans fats will. Exercise, in and of itself, will also increase your HDL. As will alcohol. 🙂
>
> .
I read in a National Geographic a couple of years ago about alcoholism in Russia, and how the medical examiner remarked how utterly plaque-free were the arteries of hard-core alcoholics.
Does the abundance of ethanol somehow dissolve the plaques?
No…its mainly a case of starvation; the alcoholic is consuming more booze than food.
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### Author:  [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2004, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-exercise-how-does-that-not-let-fat-clog-my-arteries/258951/11 "2004-08-17T04:49:36Z")
> [@Barbarian](#):
>
> Whoops.
>
> I think you’ve got a false premise. Athletic people eat far more calories than sedentary folk, but their ratios of protein: carbs: fat are probably within the normal range.
>
> So yeah, the Rock can eat 2 dozen donuts on any given Sunday, but if he’s burning 3000 calories during his workout, it’s not that bad.
Most bodybuilders don’t burn 3,000 calories in a workout. And most only do lifting three times a week (or every day, but typically using a different muscle as most people let each muscle group rest one whole week before working it out again.)
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### Author:  [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2004, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-exercise-how-does-that-not-let-fat-clog-my-arteries/258951/12 "2004-08-17T21:14:06Z")
> [@Chairman Pow](#):
>
> Someone help me out if I’m wrong, but it’s always been explained to me that a healthier person will be pumping a higher volume of blood through their arteries than a less-healthy one. Essentially, your blood is moving “faster.” This will cause some of the LDLs that would otherwise stick to your arteries and harden them to dislodge and…go wherever it is that they go (to the lymph system for excretion?). With slower heart rates, you’re allowing that LDL a greater opportunity to stick and eventually collect, narrowing the diameter of your arteries, etc.
Be glad to help you out. A higher volume of blood flowing through the arteries does not mean that the blood is moving faster. It means that your heart is pumping a higher volumer per stroke. In fact, trained athletes have a very low HR, not a high one. (I’ve heard that Lance Armstrong has a resting pulse of 32.) What helps to remove plaques in your blood vessels are HDL cholesterol. LDL tends to stick to the blood vessels, and if their are irregularities in the vessels, such as scarring, it will stick more. Correspondingly, a slow HR means wider arteries in trained individuals. A fast HR means that your heart is not pumping a high volume of blood per stroke and the heart has to beat faster, unless you are exercising. During exercise, of course, the demands of your body for oxygen are increased and the heart beats faster to provide that demand.
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### Author:  [@MikeCollins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeCollins)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2004, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-exercise-how-does-that-not-let-fat-clog-my-arteries/258951/13 "2004-08-27T00:36:10Z")
Yeah a lower resting pulse is definately an indicator of a healthier heart. It tends to mean that the heart muscle does not have to contract so many times in order to pump (force) blood around the system, because each time it dilates (fills up) it can hold a greater volume of blood.
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### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2004, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-exercise-how-does-that-not-let-fat-clog-my-arteries/258951/14 "2004-08-27T02:36:42Z")
> [@Barbarian](#):
>
> So yeah, the Rock can eat 2 dozen donuts on any given Sunday, but if he’s burning 3000 calories during his workout, it’s not that bad.
Nobody does that. The Rock would have a pretty high active metabolic rate, but nowhere near that.
btw, a certain amount of saturated fat is important for your heart, so cutting it to 0g/day is not a good idea.