But by the age of 40 almost 50 percent of men and more than 30 per cent of women will have heart disease and the sad part is they will not even know it. That is until it is too late when they end up in the emergency room with a brain or heart disaster.

Coronary heart disease is a massive global health threat with more than 2,500 people in the US dying each day from it and 7 million worldwide each year. It is no surprise that 'lack of exercise' is a major risk factor for heart disease. Currently 60 percent of the world's population does not get enough proper physical activity to benefit their health with women and older adults being at the very top of the list.

Our keenness not to move much has given us the label of the most inactive population that ever lived. We spend most of our day sitting, in the car, at our work, back into the car then parked in front of the television or some other small screen for the evening.

Is it any real surprise that we are so out of shape we develop pot bellies in our 20's?

Our poor hearts struggle with our clogged arteries causing our blood pressure to zoom and leaving us gasping for air when we have to climb a flight of stairs. We continue to poke things that resemble food but contain no nutritional value whatsoever into our mouths causing our waistlines to bulge putting further strain on our long suffering hearts.

The heart being a muscle responds to exercise like any other muscle. You can beef it up and keep it strong and healthy or you can let it get scrawny, weak and prone to disease. To help your heart you need to strengthen your whole body. Strong muscles help push blood around the body taking strain off the heart.

When muscles are firm and toned they squeeze or 'milk' the blood back to the heart every time you move. Flabby, weak muscles cannot do this so the heart has to work much harder every minute of the day and night to keep you alive.

The only type of exercise to strengthen your heart and every other muscle in your body is strength training exercise. No other type of activity can even come close to the life giving benefits that this type of exercise performed properly can provide.

Long, slow, steady state, high repetition, low intensity activity has now been proven to make the heart/lung system smaller and weaker than what was previously believed.

Downsizing the heart and lungs is not a healthy thing to do as it increases the risk of disease which is why strength training is the best type of exercise for a strong heart.

With added strength the heart can deliver life giving oxygen and nutrients to all cells and tissues with less beats. It does not need to pump as often so it becomes more efficient with less wasted effort. If you reduce your resting heart rate just 10 beats per minute you will save your heart from beating 14,000 times per day. This can extend its longevity and give you more active and productive years.

Take action today and start a proper strength training program. This will be your protective measure to steel your defenses against this silent killer. If you leave things up to chance you will be doubling your risk of heart disease which is a little like playing Russian roulette with your life at stake. But you are lucky you now have the knowledge that can change these odds in your favor so you can live a long, healthy and active life.