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Exercising has always been a necessity for maintaining a healthy weight and lifestyle. There are specific exercises to improve your heart health that will get your heart pumping in the best way possible.

Exercises to Improve Your Heart Health

1. Swimming Laps

Swimming laps is a great, non-impact way to exercise and enjoy a nice pool. It helps to not only strengthen your heart but lungs too.

For those who are new to swimming exercises, start with 6-8 lengths of the pool with basic strokes. Gradually build up to more lengths of the pool and try different strokes each day.

For example, one day you can use a flutter board and focus on your legs and the next day you can do breast stroke only. Make sure to push yourself when you swim so you get the full benefits.

2. High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

Within the last few years, HIIT workouts have gained some popularity, and for good reason. A HIIT workout means that you work hard for about a minute, take a 15-30 second rest, and go again hard.

This way of training triggers your muscles better and burns fat faster because you’re alternating speeds.

Studies have also shown that because this type if exercise elevates your heart rate so well, the blood flow can stretch the arteries, allowing for better blood flow even after your workout ends.

If you’re new to this type of exercise, start slwoer and only go for 15-30 seconds at a time and work your way up.

3. Yoga

Compared to HIIT, yoga is quite tame and more relaxing. Yet, yoga has been proved time and again to be one of the best exercises to improve your heart health.

Yoga not only helps to relax your mind and body but it helps to control and improve your breathing. Breathing from your diaphragm and regulating your air flow can increase blood flow and reduce stress.

Additionally, yoga helps to increase balance, muscle strength, and flexibility. Your posture will be better as well, promoting a healthier blood flow.

4. Bicycling

Bicylcing is another low-impact way to improve your heart health. Even if you don’t have knee or hip problems, biking is a fun and effective way to exercise.

The British Medical Association conducted a study regarding the effects of cycling on people’s health. They found that by cycling 20 miles a week, a person decreased their risk of heart disease by 50%.

That’s a significant finding showing how truly effective biking can be. If you bike only 5 days a week, that’s only 4 miles per day!

5. Weight Training

More trainers and health enthusiasts are focusing more on weight training because of the large array of benefitsit has on the body.

Weight training helps your body to tone up and get stronger by building muscle and replacing fat. The more muslce your body has, the more calories and fat you burn, even in a stationary position.

Becoming stronger also helps your heart to become stronger because you now have more muscle for your blood supply to feed.

No need to be intimidated to start lifting weights, you don’t have to look like the hulk. Start with your body weight and increase from there.

Resources

http://www.golocalpdx.com/health/best-exercises-for-heart-health