The Best Exercises for Improving Your Heart Health

Hello everyone! We are pleased to announce that February is American Heart Month. This is such an important awareness event, because heart disease is currently the leading cause of death in the United States. Luckily there are many things that we can do to reverse this rising trend and that is what American Heart Month is really all about.

Here’s the bitter truth, living a healthy lifestyle isn’t going to be easy. Human beings as a whole tend to take the path of least resistance and what we are about to share is going to require some effort on your part. In the end though, it’ll lead to a much improved quality of life for you and your family.

In honor of American Heart Month, we are going to be focusing on one of the most important aspects of the American Heart Association’s “Simple 7.” These are seven important lifestyle habits that will help you support a much stronger and happier heart. As their title says, these are all simple habits in theory, but it takes the personal discipline to see them through.

Now, we’re going to be focusing on the types of exercises that researchers and cardiologists have found to be the best for your heart.

Getting Started on the Right Foot

Whether you’re working with a personal trainer or on your own, it is very important to take the time to assess your current fitness level and how best you’d prefer to stay active. Getting enough regular exercise can become really difficult if you’re not able to find any enjoyment in what you are doing. Luckily, there are more options available to you now than ever.

It’s alright to set yourself some lofty exercise goals, but you need to take care when starting out. The truth is that getting yourself to the gym those first few times is the easy part. Unfortunately, this is point where many people start to taper off and give up entirely. The key is to start out at a manageable pace. If your goal is to go for regular runs throughout the week, you might want to start out with a light jog and walking.

(If you’re trying to become more active, you should consider going in for a physical with your doctor. He or she will let you know if there are any forms of exercise that you might want to avoid.)

The Heart Healthy Exercise Plan

The best cardiovascular exercise plan should include:

Aerobic Exercises

Also commonly referred to as “cardio” exercises, these keep you moving in order to get your heart rate up and blood pumping. One point to remember is that you should be able to talk freely while exercising, otherwise you are pushing it a little too hard. Some of the best cardio workouts to get started with include:

• Running
• Biking
• Jogging

(If you have been diagnosed with something like osteoarthritis, then we recommend you check out our earlier post for some better exercise tips.)

Stretching

If you are going to be staying active on a regular basis, than stretching is going to be incredibly important. Unfortunately, this is something that people tend to neglect, especially when starting out. You’ll still want to take it easy while stretching too, because there is a chance that you can hurt yourself if you overdo it.

Strength Training

Whether it’s with weights in the gym or using your body weight at home, strength training has been shown to provide plenty of cardiovascular benefits. We recommend lifting or doing yoga at least two to three times a week so that your muscles can have a day in between sessions.

So now that you have an idea of the types of exercises that are the best for your heart, there are a couple other things that you’ll want to consider for American Heart Month. Taking steps to be more active is great, but you’ll also want to re-evaluate your overall diet. Having a large burger or pizza after a workout could essentially negate many of the benefits you’re getting from it.

There many great foods that are renowned for their heart healthy benefits. If you’d like to learn more about some of these foods, check out this great post.