Cardiovascular Disease: A Silent Threat—and What You Can Do About It
Heart disease remains the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. Personally, some of the people I love the most in my life have suffered from life-altering cardiac events, and I’m sure I’m not alone. Every 34 seconds, someone in the U.S. dies from cardiovascular disease (CVD), and in 2023, CVD accounted for 919,032 deaths—about 1 in every 3 deaths.¹ These are harrowing numbers. While these numbers are stark, there are many things we can do to reduce our risk of developing CVD and reduce its severity with the things we do every day.
Cardiovascular Exercise: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How We Train It at EVOLVE Flagstaff
February is Heart Health Month—so let’s talk about the kind of exercise that trains your heart, lungs, and the systems that keep you energetic and capable outside the gym.
At EVOLVE Flagstaff, we’re known for strength training—and we’re proud of that. Strength training builds the foundation: muscles, bones, tendons, power, coordination, and the ability to move well for decades.
But if strength training is the foundation, cardiovascular exercise is the engine. It’s what helps you climb stairs without getting winded, recover faster between efforts, feel more resilient under stress, and generally have more “gas in the tank” for life in Flagstaff—at 7,000 feet, where everything counts a little more.
A Strong Start: An Orientation to Strength Training & the Gym
Have you ever walked into a gym and thought, I have no idea what I’m doing?
Or maybe you know strength training is beneficial, but you’re not sure where to start. Maybe you’ve tried it before and it didn’t feel effective—or you were worried about getting hurt.
If any of that resonates, you aren’t alone. And we’re here to help.
January 2026: Build Your Base
It probably won’t surprise you that we’re not big fans of New Year’s resolutions at EVOLVE. We’re all for intentional self-improvement—and for using the winter season and turning of the year as a time to pause, reflect, and chart a course for what’s ahead. Interestingly, some historians trace versions of this practice back thousands of years.
What we’re not for is the way that modern diet and fitness culture has co-opted a positive reflective practice and injected it with shame, guilt, and negativity.
So what do we do instead?
This January, our theme in the gym is Build Your Base—and we’re applying it not just to training, but also to how we think about a healthier, more life-giving New Year reflection.
EVOLVE Strong is EVOLVING
This winter, EVOLVE Strong is evolving—without throwing out the Flagstaff fitness classes you already love. We’re rolling out monthly themes, starting with Winter Readiness, to put a little extra focus on quads, hinging, rotation, and agility so you can power through the powder and everyday life with confidence.
You’ll also see our new training load calculator and weight-selection charts in action, helping you choose smart weights and track progress without guesswork. And on Wednesdays and Saturdays, we’re shifting to one full-body strength block and one longer endurance block to better blend strength and conditioning in a single Flagstaff workout.
Under-fueling and Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport: Why Your Hemoglobin A1c Might Be High, Even If You’re an Endurance Athlete
Even the healthiest-looking endurance athletes can show lab results that tell a different story. Underfueling and low energy availability (REDs) can quietly raise cholesterol, disrupt hormones, and alter blood glucose and raise hemoglobin A1c — even in athletes who train hard and eat well. Learn how to recognize the signs of REDs, what your labs might be telling you, and how smarter fueling can protect long-term performance and health.