Bigger Biceps May Benefit Your Heart

Biceps, we’d all like a good pair, not just for how they look, but also because of how they feel and how useful they are. Given their importance it’s no wonder that they are one of the main muscles we focus on in our gym-going endeavors. Now it turns out we might have another good reason to focus on our biceps.

New research suggests that bulging biceps might be great for our heart. The essential organ in our chest is something we should be taking better care of?especially in an age of fast processed foods. Knowing that gaining muscles mass on our arms can also improve the functioning of the heart could mean we can kill two birds with one stone. Mens Health has more:

In new research from UCLA, male heart patients with the most arm and leg muscle and the least belly fat were 68 percent less likely to die of cardiovascular disease over seven years than thin guys with less arm and leg muscle.

The reason: Muscles promote better insulin function, which might play a role in slowing the development of heart trouble, according to the researchers.

Muscle increases your resting metabolic rate, burning a higher amount of calories?and belly fat?around the clock.

And a healthy weight leads to a healthy heart. A 10-year Mayo Clinic study found that overweight people had heart attacks 3.6 years earlier than normal-weight people did. And obese heart-attack patients tended to be 8.2 years younger than normal-weight victims.

Want a healthier heart? Get some ripped arms and legs. Check out the full post for more info.