People who regularly do long, intense workouts like running or cycling tend to have less dangerous types of plaque buildup in their heart arteries than people who don't exercise much.

People who train hard and regularly for endurance sports are less likely to have dangerous, unstable plaque in their heart arteries that could suddenly cause a heart attack.

Even though athletes are super fit, their heart plaques aren’t more stable or ‘safer’ than those of healthy non-athletes—so being an elite athlete doesn’t make plaque less dangerous.

Even though elite athletes have more plaque in their hearts, the type of plaque they have is harder and less likely to rupture — which might be why they live longer than you’d expect.

Even though endurance athletes have more plaque in their heart arteries, the dangerous, rupture-prone kind is actually rarer in them than in healthy non-athletes, which might explain why they rarely have heart attacks.

Men who exercise moderately — like running a few times a week — tend to have less calcium buildup in their heart arteries than men who don’t exercise much.