There are steps you can take to improve your heart’s health. The following are three heart strengthening exercises to tackle heart disease.
Every year, around 805,000 people in the U.S. have a heart attack; this means someone has a heart attack every 40 seconds. It doesn’t matter if your heart disease is due to lifestyle choices or genetics – being physically active helps strengthen your heart.
Exercise is one of the most effective ways to do this, and it helps with other related health conditions. It helps with weight management, lowers high cholesterol, high blood sugar, and high blood pressure, and maintains healthy arteries.
Heart Strengthening Exercises
To improve your heart health, you need to practice a variety of exercises. “Aerobic exercise and resistance training are the most important for heart health,” says Johns Hopkins exercise physiologist Dr. Kerry J. Stewart.
Additionally, he says that flexibility training can help. Though not a direct contributor to heart health, it provides a good foundation for people to perform cardio and strength training.
Cardiovascular, or aerobic, exercise is a continuous physical activity that uses large muscle groups. Cardio strengthens the heart, lungs, and improves circulation.
This helps lower blood pressure, heart rate, and risk of type 2 diabetes. It also improves breathing because your heart doesn’t have to work as hard when being physically active. Aim for at least 30 minutes of cardio per day, five days a week. Cardio exercises include walking, running, swimming, cycling, tennis, and jumping rope.
Strength, or resistance, training consists of repeated muscle contractions. People who have a lot of body fat, especially in the belly, are at higher risk for heart disease. Strength exercises can reduce fat and create leaner muscle mass. It can also help lower LDL (“bad”) cholesterol when paired with cardio.
Try doing strength training for at least two days a week. Examples of strength exercises include working with free weights, weight machines, or doing push-ups, squats, and chin-ups.
Flexibility workouts improve your musculoskeletal health, which increases flexibility and helps with joint pain and other muscular issues. Being flexible helps you perform aerobic exercise and strength training.
In addition, being flexible helps with balance and stability, preventing falls and injuries caused by exercise. Try stretching daily, before and after exercise sessions; Tai chi, yoga, and pilates are great stretching exercises.
Improving Heart Health
Due to busy schedules, a lot of Americans buy fast food and pre-packaged processed meals. These carry lots of sodium and unhealthy fats.
They can cause problems like high cholesterol and high blood pressure. If you want a healthier heart, start with your diet.
Remove sodium and add whole grains while reducing saturated fats and adding fish. Also, cook at home to enable you to be in control of what you eat.
A well-balanced diet and an active lifestyle will both strengthen your heart health. Another way to support your heart is through supplements like L-arginine Plus.
It helps dilate blood vessels to increase blood flow and helps keep your arteries running smoothly. Try L-arginine Plus for healthy cholesterol, blood pressure, circulation, and stamina.