Aerobics and Heart Health

home :: aerobics and heart health

If you've been diagnosed with heart disease or are at risk of developing heart disease regular exercise is essential for the health of your heart. In fact, aerobics and heart health really do go hand in hand.

Regular use of indoor equipment, such as a treadmill, an elliptical trainer, a stationary cycle, a stair-climber, etc. is becoming increasingly popular. These items are now precision health giving apparatus that really can help get you in shape. Working out at home may be the answer for you …

However, before jumping into your gym shoes talk to your doctor about your desires and objectives. If your doctor gives you the OK, try to work some exercise into your daily routine. The American Heart Association (AHA) suggests, for example, that patients start by walking five minutes a day, then increasing gradually to 30 minutes over several weeks. Swimming may be another good choice. This type of exercise is called aerobic training that involves large muscle groups, such as the legs, and keeps your heart rate pumping for a set amount of time. Unless there are deformities of the heart muscle, aerobics and heart health are often found together and not only does the heart benefit, there are other advantages too.

Aerobics and Heart Health

As you can see, take it slow initially; it’s really not necessary to sign up at the local gym or aerobic class. Although, after some time you might want to do just that.

Depending on where you live walking or swimming may not be an option. In such cases, you may like to consider a piece of home aerobic equipment such as a treadmill, stationary cycle or elliptical trainer. However, before purchasing a home trainer consider whether you will really use it. If the answer is yes, best get the best home aerobic equipment you can afford. Your heart will thank you.

Lack of exercise and heart disease

The American Heart Association has now added "lack of exercise" to the list of major risk factors for heart disease. The other risk factors are smoking, high blood pressure, and high blood cholesterol.

Exercise not only helps fight heart disease, but for sedentary people, just adding a little exercise to your daily routine can also:

reduce the risk of high blood pressure,
help prevent osteoporosis,
protect you from breast and colon cancer,
improve your wellbeing and help depression, anxiety and stress,
together with a healthy diet, greatly help to lose weight

Ideally, you should exercise three to five times a week for 20-50 minutes within your target heart rate. However, your health can benefit simply by accumulating 30 minutes of moderate activity per day, such as stair climbing, walking to work, or gardening. You can do many things to increase physical activity during the day; just try thinking about what you can do. The benefits are well worth the effort.

Another thing that has proven to be effective is cross training. In cross training you participate in 2 or more different types of exercise during the week, for instance: Monday walking, Tuesday treadmill, Wednesday swimming, Thursday elliptical training, etc. You may also like to insert some strengthening exercises too, such as weight lifting.

To go to the top of this page, hit the link: aerobics and heart health