Muscle, Essential Amino Acids, and eXercise in Heart Failure

Exclusion Criteria

• •Unstable angina, myocardial infarction in the past 4 weeks
• •Uncompensated heart failure
• •New York Heart Association class IV symptoms, complex ventricular arrhythmias, symptomatic severe aortic stenosis, acute pulmonary embolus, acute myocarditis, untreated high-risk proliferative retinopathy, recent retinal hemorrhage, uncontrolled hypertension, baseline blood screening abnormalities
• •Medication non-compliance
• •Medical / orthopedic conditions precluding exercise
• •Exercise training (\>2 weekly sessions of moderate to high intensity aerobic or resistance exercise)
• •Subjects on anti-coagulation medication will not be eligible for the muscle biopsy procedure, but are deemed eligible for study participation if INR \< 3.