Best Exercises For Heart Health

Thursday, May 18, 2017
Kente Bates, Oregon Sports News

Heart health is important. Obviously, the heart is the muscle that keeps humans alive. Heart health is essential to life. Here is my quantitative list of heart health exercises.

CIRCUIT TRAINING

Most fitness/wellness experts agree that movement is better than sitting still when it comes to improving your heart health, but probably the best type of exercise to increase your cardiovascular fitness is circuit training. Clinical testing shows that when you work out at a very high intensity the blood starts to pump a lot harder and that challenges the elasticity of the arterial wall.  It sort of stretches the arteries and improves the elasticity for better cardiovascular fitness. Opting for minimal rest periods, and alternating between upper and lower body exercises is the ideal way to get maximum results.

SWIMMING

Hit the pool for a workout your heart (and lungs) will love. Lane swimming will give you a greater return on your exercise time investment versus leisure swimming that will only bring benefits for the extremely unfit population.   My recommendation? Progressing from eight to 12 lengths of the pool per swim technique, varying techniques on different days. This could mean doing front crawl and legs only with a flutter board one day and then back crawl and breast stroke another day. One swim technique guaranteed to bring up your fitness level is fist freestyle, which is using closed fists for any swim style. It’s fun, it will work- but you still have to put the work in.

WEIGHT TRAINING

For those with heart disease, weight training is essential.In addition to building muscle mass, which will help you burn fat, weight training is also good for bone health and your heart. When it comes to deciding what type of weight training to do, using your own body weight can be extremely effective. For example, try slowing the pace of a push up on the descent of the exercise.

RUNNING

A good run is undoubtedly the best way to strengthen your heart, get the blood flowing and get a good sweat going. Take a cue from pro athletes and try interval training. For at least ten seconds, go all out. Maximum intensity, maximum results. Use your best judgment and LISTEN TO YOUR BODY.

YOGA

This one flies in the face of all the rest, but it gets results.  At first glance, yoga may not seem like an obvious heart health activity, but it is. Pushing your heart rate up and down quickly can be hazardous to those who are out of shape (heart attacks that occur while shoveling snow is an example of this). At first glance, yoga may not seem like an obvious heart health activity, but it is. Yoga is great for strength and muscle toning. The more active styles of yoga such as Ashtanga and Bikram can offer cardiovascular benefits, as your heart rate is elevated throughout the class.

BIKING

Just like with running, this one is a no-brainer. Multiple studies have shown the benefits of incorporating biking/cycling into your fitness regimen. Notably, the British Medical Association conducted a large study. The findings revealed that cycling just 20 miles a week reduced the potential to develop heart disease by a whopping 50 percent. Biking is fun, it gets you moving. It also is a great stress reliever and a gem of a cardio workout.

No matter what you choose, have fun with it. A great rule of thumb for beginners is 30 minutes per session, 5 days a week. Build it up to 1 hour, 5 days a week. These exercises are basic exercises to get you back in shape- safely and slowly. THE BASICS ALWAYS WIN!!