Today, many people seeking a well-rounded workout include some form of resistance training. The AHA has come a long way in its position on resistance training. While doctors and exercise physiologists for years have routinely supported the notion of heart benefits from aerobic exercise, they pretty much have dismissed the notion of benefits from weightlifting. In fact, the consensus among cardiologists a decade ago was that hefting free weight was downright dangerous for people with cardiovascular problems because it stressed the heart and depleted it of oxygen. The fact that studies searching for other evidence of weightlifting's advantages often were contradictory did not help resolve the issue.
Doctors now recognize that weight training contains an aerobic component.
But the real merits of resistance training may not be found in that aspect or in blood levels, but rather in overall changes in the body. This year, the AHA issued a position paper that credited strength training for reducing resting blood pressure. Fletcher still cautions people with high blood pressure to be careful when doing arm exercises, but endorses weightlifting as a part of most fitness plans. For healthy people it is something they need, because it is beneficial as well as aerobic. Wayne Westcott, fitness research director at the South Shore YMCA in Boston, Mass., couldn't agree more.