One of the best things you can do for your health is work on your heart. And you know that the best way to make your heart stronger is to do heart exercise. In fact, you’re more than twice as likely to get heart disease if you don’t exercise than if you do. If you have a history of heart disease or are just worried about your heart health, you should start exercising regularly. Experts say you should do moderate heart exercises for at least 150 minutes per week. Here are the best exercises you can do for your heart.
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11 Best Exercises To Strengthen Your Heart
Aerobic exercise makes your blood flow better, lowering your blood pressure and heart rate. It also improves your overall aerobic fitness, as shown by a study on treadmills, and it helps your heart pump more blood (how well your heart pumps). There are many exercises that are easy to do, even if you don’t have to go to a gym like walking, running, swimming and many more.
Let’s discuss these exercises step by step.
Important Note: If you have a family history of heart complications, it is best to get your tests done before making any lifestyle changes.
Walking
It may look easy, but it’s not. But walking, and especially speed walking, is a good exercise to strengthen your heart. Your heart rate will go up when you walk quickly, and it’s easier on your joints than other exercises. You just need a good pair of shoes. Take a walk on your lunch break or a longer walk on the weekend. You can play music, listen to a podcast, or go for a walk with a friend. Walking is easy for anyone to do and easy to keep doing because it can be done in many different ways.
Working With Weights
Strengthening different parts of your body will help your heart. Using weights to exercise will help you build muscle and burn fat. Even though you can go to the gym to work out with weights, the best way to workout with weights is by using your own body weight. Push-ups, squats, and even pull-ups are all good ways to build muscle and strengthen your bones and heart.
Swimming
Swimming isn’t just for the summer. Taking a water aerobics class or swimming laps can be a good way to work out your whole body and get your heart in shape. Swimming is different from other workouts because it’s easy on your joints and lets you move around without a lot of pain.
Yoga
Even though it might not look like it, there are many benefits of yoga. Yoga is great for the health of your heart. When you do yoga, your muscles will get stronger and more toned. Some types of yoga can really get your heart rate up while still making you feel calm enough to lower your blood pressure.
Training With Breaks
Interval training, which switches between short bursts of high-intensity exercise and longer times of active recovery, is a great way to get a full workout in a short amount of time. For example, you could run for a minute and then walk for three minutes. Then you would repeat the cycle. Raising and lowering your pulse helps you burn calories and makes your arteries and veins work better.
Cycling
Believe me, cycling is good heart exercise. When you jump on your bicycle, it can do more than just get you from one place to another. Cycling seems to lower the risk of getting heart disease. It uses the big muscles in your legs, which help to get your heart rate up.
Core Exercises
Pilates is a type of heart exercise that helps strengthen your core muscles and improves your ability to adapt and maintain balance. So, we need good core strength to be able to carry groceries upstairs or do other tasks that require a lot of energy. Having a strong core keeps not only our bodies but also our hearts in good shape.
Rock Your Body
Dancing is a good way to take care of your heart and it’s a home-based exercise. You just need a good pair of shoes, some space, and music that makes you feel good. About 120 to 135 beats per minute is a good aerobic beat. Depending on your ability and desire, dancing can be high or low intensity. You can dance with other people in a class, like Zumba, or you can work out at home by yourself.
Tai Chi
Tai Chi is an old martial arts-based form of exercise that comes from China. It combines deep breathing and focused attention with rhythmic body movements and increases your blood oxygen level. This is why it is also called a “moving meditation.” This activity is good for the mind and body, including the health of the heart.
Elliptical
One of the most popular ways to get aerobic exercise is by using an elliptical machine. You can find these machines in many gyms, and more and more people are buying them to use at home. An elliptical machine is good for your heart health because it works both your upper and lower body at the same time. The elliptical machine’s leg movement is like running, but it has less of an effect than cycling. At the same time, the rhythmic arm movements get the blood flowing to the muscles in your back and shoulders.
Make sure to do these exercises often to keep your heart in good shape.
Jogging
The thing that is different between running and jogging is how hard you are working. Running uses more calories and makes the heart, lungs, and muscles work harder than jogging. Running requires more overall fitness than jogging.
Both running and jogging are aerobic exercises. Aerobic means ‘with oxygen.’The term ‘aerobic exercise’ refers to any physical activity that gives you energy by combining oxygen with blood glucose or body fat.
Things You Should Consider
If you’ve never worked out before or haven’t been to the gym in a while, it can be hard to figure out what kind of exercises you should do. There’s no harm in trying a little bit of everything, but some exercises like heart exercises will help you reach your goals more. For example, cardio is one of the best and most popular ways to work out. But there are also a lot of people who hate any kind of cardio workout. Even if you don’t like working out, the major health benefits of cardio may give you a reason to start.
Talk to your doctor or consult with one of our top cardiologists about the best way to add cardiovascular activity to your life before you start a new exercise plan. Your doctor can not only help you come up with a plan to increase your cardiovascular fitness in a safe and gradual way, but he or she can also set baselines for your blood pressure, resting heart rate, and cholesterol so you can track your progress.
