Looking After the Heart You Can’t See: Why I Did a Cardiovascular Health Check

I talk a lot about longevity with my clients. Not simply living for longer, but being able to move well, feel strong and enjoy life for as many of those years as possible.

We train our muscles. We work on our mobility. We think about nutrition, sleep, stress and maintaining strength as we age. But there is another part of our health that we can’t see in the mirror — and arguably one of the most important of all. Our cardiovascular health.

I coach and teach fitness for a living but I still recently booked in at  Tomorrow Wellness for an in-depth cardiovascular health screening.

I went into it feeling fit and well. I exercise regularly, eat well and, after a lifetime as a professional dancer followed by years working in fitness, movement is very much part of my everyday life. But feeling healthy and knowing a little more about what is happening inside your body are two different things. And that was really the reason I wanted to go.

Prevention rather than cure

One of the things I’ve become increasingly interested in as I approach health and fitness in my forties is the idea of preventative health. We are good at seeking medical help when something feels wrong. But what if we could understand more about our health before symptoms appear?

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death globally. Importantly, many of its major risk factors — including high blood pressure, raised blood glucose, abnormal blood lipids, smoking, physical inactivity and excess weight — are potentially modifiable.

For me, having had 2 family members die of aneurysm that could have be detected and operated on, that makes this knowledge incredibly valuable.

A health screening cannot guarantee that we will never develop disease or heart related issues. But understanding our current health, identifying risk factors and having informed conversations about what we can do next can give us something much more useful: an opportunity to act.

So, what actually happens?

I visited Tomorrow Wellness for their cardiovascular screening and found the whole experience incredibly interesting — and reassuring. Rather than looking at one isolated number, the assessment builds a much broader picture of cardiovascular and metabolic health.

Depending on the screening package you choose, this can include:

• an individual health assessment and specialist consultation
• medical-grade body composition analysis
• comprehensive blood analysis
• cholesterol and blood lipid profiling
• blood glucose/HbA1c testing
• blood pressure analysis
• functional strength testing
• cardiovascular and respiratory fitness testing, including VO2 max
• resting and exercise ECG
• cardiopulmonary exercise testing
• vascular ultrasound imaging and blood-flow analysis
• and a personalised health and wellness report and action plan.

My own report was incredibly comprehensive. It didn't simply give me a collection of test results; it brought them together into sections covering consultation findings, body composition, blood analysis, functional muscle strength, vascular imaging and exercise testing, followed by personalised recommendations.

Looking at your arteries

One of the most fascinating parts for me was the vascular imaging.

Using ultrasound, the team can examine important arteries around the body. My report included assessment of the carotid arteries in the neck, abdominal aorta, femoral arteries, popliteal arteries behind the knees and arteries supplying the feet, alongside an ankle-brachial pressure index (ABPI), which compares blood pressure in the arm and lower leg to help assess circulation.
There is something quite extraordinary about being able to see what is happening inside your own blood vessels in real time. And importantly, the ultrasound element is non-invasive and does not involve ionising radiation.

Your blood tells another part of the story

The blood analysis adds another layer.

Rather than simply being told your “cholesterol is fine”, the report can look much more closely at the way fats are transported in the blood.

The report I received included total cholesterol, HDL and LDL cholesterol, non-HDL cholesterol and triglycerides, alongside Apo A1 and Apo B. It also included HbA1c, which provides an indication of longer-term blood glucose control, kidney markers, liver function and a detailed iron profile. I really liked this level of detail because cardiovascular health is not one number. It is a picture made up of many different pieces.

And then they put you on a bike…

This was probably the part that appealed most to the fitness professional in me!

The cardiopulmonary exercise test — or CPET — looks at what happens to your cardiovascular and respiratory systems when they actually have to work. You cycle on an exercise bike while your heart and breathing are monitored, with the resistance gradually increasing.

This can provide information about cardiovascular fitness including VO2 max, heart-rate response, breathing efficiency, anaerobic threshold, oxygen pulse and how your heart responds to increasing exertion.

For those of us who exercise regularly, I think this is particularly interesting. Being “fit” is a very broad description. Having objective information about how efficiently your body takes in, transports and uses oxygen gives you a completely different window into your fitness.

My report ultimately brought the exercise data together into an overall exertion-test assessment, looking at cardiovascular fitness alongside heart and lung responses under stress.

The surprisingly simple test I loved

There was also something much simpler: grip strength.

It might seem slightly strange to include squeezing a hand dynamometer in a cardiovascular health assessment, but grip strength is increasingly used as a useful marker of functional strength and healthy ageing.

The Tomorrow report compares grip strength with age- and sex-specific ranges and uses it as part of the wider assessment of functional muscle health. It is also a lovely reminder of something I say constantly to my clients - strength matters as we age Not just aesthetically. Not because we want to lift heavier weights in the gym. But because maintaining muscle and functional strength is part of maintaining our independence and resilience.

What I found most valuable

Perhaps the biggest thing I took away from the experience wasn't a particular number. It was reassurance. There is something empowering about having a clearer picture of what is going on inside your body. And screening isn't necessarily about being told that everything is perfect. In fact, one of its greatest values may be identifying something small that is worth monitoring or discussing further before it becomes something bigger.

My report didn't just categorise the results. It finished with a personalised action plan looking at areas such as physical activity, diet, lifestyle, sleep and stress. The exercise recommendations themselves consider a combination of aerobic work, higher-intensity exercise, strength and functional mobility rather than treating cardiovascular fitness in isolation.
And that holistic approach really resonated with me.

Longevity isn't one thing

If you've followed me for a while, you'll know that my philosophy around fitness has evolved.

Of course I still love a beautiful and challenging barre workout and that wonderful feeling of muscles working.

But increasingly, I think about exercise in terms of what it is giving us for the next 10, 20, 30 or 40 years.

Are we maintaining muscle?

Are we challenging our heart and lungs?

Are we protecting our mobility?

Are we sleeping and recovering?

Are we managing stress?

Are we eating in a way that supports the body we're asking so much from?

And, occasionally, are we actually checking what is happening underneath it all?

The World Health Organisation describes cardiovascular disease as the world's leading cause of death, but also emphasises that many cardiovascular diseases can be prevented by addressing modifiable risk factors.

That is an incredibly positive message. Because prevention isn't about being frightened of getting older.

It's about being proactive about how well we want to live as we do.

For me, visiting Tomorrow Wellness was part of that. It was interesting, reassuring and genuinely motivating. I came away not with a sense that I needed to completely change what I was doing, but with greater knowledge about my body and a clearer understanding of why so many of the things we already champion — movement, cardiovascular fitness, strength, nutrition, sleep and stress management — matter so much.

We spend so much time looking after the parts of ourselves we can see. Perhaps it's worth occasionally checking in on the parts we can't.

Here's to strong bodies, healthy hearts and plenty more years of moving.

Victoria x

Tomorrow Cardiovascular Wellness currently offers cardiovascular health screening from its clinics in Knowle, Warwickshire and Knutsford. Screening packages vary, so check directly with the clinic for the tests included in the particular assessment you are considering.

This article shares my personal experience and is for general information only.