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The “Best” Cardio Workout for Healthy Heart Rates – Everything You Should Know

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The Best Cardio Workout for Healthy Heart Rates

Are you interested in knowing the best cardio workout for healthy heart rates? Today is the right time to focus on your fitness goals. Regular exercise will help you build muscle and lose weight, but it does so much more!

Aerobic exercise (cardio exercise) requires repetitive contraction of your large muscle groups to get your heart to beat faster. It’s highly beneficial for your cardiovascular health (the heart and blood vessels).

What Can Cardio Exercise Do for Heart Health?

A regular cardio exercise routine can:

  • Improve oxygen flow throughout the body
  • Strengthen the blood vessels and heart
  • Reduce your risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, and some cancers
  • Lower your blood pressure or cholesterol

What’s the Best Workout for Heart Disease and Blood Pressure?

Most people wonder what exercise is heart-healthy, and the good news is that it doesn’t really matter the type. You simply have to do something!

There’s no cure-all for exercise or one way to do it. For example, you could be a cross-trainer, so you work out for 30 minutes but use different muscles for 10 minutes at a time to keep the routine interesting.

Some people pair strength training exercises with cardio training to lower body weight and gain muscle. You don’t have to use the same strategy as someone else to get the heart-health benefits of cardio workouts. The goal is to exercise regularly. 

Everyone has a daily routine. You might take a shower and brush your teeth before you do much else. Aerobic exercise should be included on that list. Though resistance training is crucial, you require a mixture of heart-healthy activities to stay youthful, avoid the risk of heart attack, and get help losing weight. Likewise, exercise can lower high blood pressure!

Try Heart-healthy Exercises Today

Heart-healthy Exercise

It’s best to exercise four or five times per week. One part of your schedule is to have varying types and intensities. When you change up the routine regularly, you won’t have to deal with overuse injuries and can work different muscle groups. Likewise, you’re not doing the same things over and over and get bored.

Most professionals recommend moderate exercise two to three days per week for about 30 minutes. You should be short of breath and sweat a little on those days, but you can talk normally.

Use longer aerobic exercise activities that take an hour or longer one day per week. This could include brisk walking around your neighborhood, Zumba classes, and bike rides. The movement doesn’t matter, but you should enjoy doing it and stay moving throughout.

A Note about Resistance Training and High-intensity Interval Training

If you start with the exercise program above, that’s three days of your routine. On the fourth and fifth days, you should focus on interval training. High-intensity training could be the best exercises ever because they stimulate various muscles and get different responses from the blood vessels and heart.

One type of high-intensity training includes exercising hard for a short period, resting, and then working hard again. This is excellent for heart health and is often referred to as HIIT.

Along with cardio training, you should consider weight training one to two days per week for your overall health. Strength training exercises with resistance bands or weights will make the muscles stronger, help with metabolism, and will improve bone strength. Therefore, you might avoid certain conditions like diabetes.

Strength training comes in various forms, and you don’t have to use the free weights at the gym. Instead, you can use Pilates, calisthenics, and Tai Chi or Yoga to build flexibility and balance, along with strength.

How to Work in Resistance Training and Aerobic Exercise Throughout the Week

The order in which you perform all those exercises isn’t important. However, you may want to space out strength training and HIIT to give muscles time to recover and avoid injury. Go for a brisk walk when you don’t have a lot of time, and use the weekends for longer routines.

The goal here is to boost heart health slowly. Vigorous exercise is essential, but you need a good full-body workout with weights to ensure flexibility and balance. 

Though moderate-intensity routines are great, you should push yourself periodically. When starting a new exercise program, it’s wise to go slowly and gradually raise your fitness level. You’ll start noticing more muscle mass and get the heart pumping safely.

The Overall Heart of the Matter

The National Institutes of Health published the results of a two-year study that looked at how exercise might affect heart health. About 60 middle-aged women and men (about 53 years old) who didn’t exercise regularly used a heart catheter to measure the youthfulness or flexibility of the heart after just two years of exercise. There was also a control group that used flexibility and balance exercises.

Overall, the results of the study were compelling. It indicated that it’s possible to reverse the consequences of living a sedentary lifestyle if you commit to heart health and choose a regular exercise routine that you can stick with in middle age.

What to Do Now

If you’re worried about developing heart disease or have a family history of high blood sugar, it might be wise to start an exercise routine now. Begin at a moderate intensity, such as walking at a brisk pace. Get your heart rate up, but be careful that you don’t overdo it initially.

You’ll soon notice that your heart rate is lower at rest, you’ll reduce your high cholesterol, and you will have a stronger heart muscle. In some cases, you may avoid heart failure.

Physical activity is crucial, and there are so many options available. Flexibility exercises can help you relax, while swimming laps will get the heart rate up high. You may also consider push-ups to build your upper body strength.

Regardless of what you do, varying your heart rate is crucial. If you’re constantly binge-watching shows on television, you’re leading a sedentary lifestyle that could be damaging in the long term. Make small changes now and start slowly to improve.

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