When considering the benefits of exercise, heart health, weight loss, and “getting fit” may be the first things that come to mind. But one benefit is far more critical: maintaining heart health.
Your heart is the most important muscle in your body, so it deserves attention, too, right? Let’s look at some of the best exercises to keep your heart strong and reduce heart disease and stroke risk.
Aerobic heart health
Aerobic exercise, or cardio, increases your heart rate and makes you sweat. Aerobic exercises help improve blood flow and lower blood weight. If you have diabetes, they can also help you switch your blood sugar level heart health.
The Middle for Disease Control and Deterrence (CDC) recommends that all adults get at least two hours and 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic workout per week in 10-minute or more intervals heart health. Here are some examples of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise:
- brisk walking
- cycling on flat ground
- easy swimming
- gardening
- dancing
If you get a lot of exercise but are short on time, you can meet the CDC recommendations by doing one hour and 15 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise health. These strenuous workouts are designed to make you breathe hard and significantly increase your heart rate. Examples of high-intensity aerobic exercise include:
- running
- biking at 10 mph or faster
- swimming in circles
- playing soccer
- walking uphill
You can also do moderate- and high-intensity aerobic exercise throughout the week. As a general rule, one minute of high-intensity training is about equal to two minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise.
Please don’t feel pressured to overdo it, though. If you want to meet your weekly aerobic needs by walking alone, that’s completely fine. Walking is a great, low-impact workout that will give you all the health benefits of a more intense workout without pushing yourself too hard heart health.
Strength Training heart health
Strength training (sometimes called confrontation training) is another excellent way to improve your heart health. Strength training can help increase good cholesterol and inferior lousy cholesterol when combined with aerobic workouts health. They can also reduce your risk of consuming a heart attack or stroke.
The CDC and the American Heart Association recommend doing strength training at least twice weekly (on non-consecutive days heart health).
Ideally, these strength training sessions should target all major muscle groups: arms, legs, hips, chest, shoulder joints, abs, and back. Although it may seem intimidating, it’s far from the same weightlifting and bodybuilding you see on TV. Here are some examples of strength exercises:
- Lifting free weights
- Using expanders
- Push-ups
- Squats
Strength exercises must be done in sets. Each set should contain 8 to 12 repetitions until you find it challenging to complete another repetition without assistance.
Flexibility heart health
While they may not directly affect your health, flexibility, and stretching exercises can make a big difference in your workout. Activities like yoga, tai chi, and pilates will improve your suppleness and balance and reduce the likelihood of cramping, joint pain, and muscle aches during exercise health.
Flexibility exercises make doing other types of physical activity necessary for heart health easier. The great thing about flexibility training is that you can do it anytime, anywhere. Whether it’s warming up before you work out, taking a hot yoga class, or just stretching in the living room, improving your flexibility is always a good idea if you’re serious about heart health.