A diagnosis of high cholesterol can be a frightening experience once your doctor explains the possible complications that can occur. High cholesterol can significantly increase your risk of stroke and heart attack, heart disease and other cardiovascular problems. High cholesterol is also often accompanied by other risk factors for these health problems, including high blood pressure and obesity. If you're new to the exercise game, start slow to help improve health and lower cholesterol.
Before You Start
One of the first steps is to figure out how often you'll need to exercise, how long your workouts should be and how intensely you should exercise for the biggest cholesterol-lowering benefits. Set a goal of 30 to 60 total minutes of exercise per day and gradually work up to that amount of exercise.
The American Council on Exercise, or ACE, suggests that beginners schedule a 20-minute workout four days each week. Within six or eight weeks, that should be increased to about an hour-long workout six or seven days per week. You'll also need to change your diet to reduce high-cholesterol foods like meat and dairy for an even more significant impact on your cholesterol.
Your First Workouts
If you have heart disease, diabetes or other health problems in addition to high cholesterol, talk with your doctor about exercise safety before you dive into your workouts. Talk to your doctor about the safest exercises for you to do -- whether you should stick to low-impact exercises, for example -- and what your target heart rate should be.
Walking and Swimming
Since you're a beginner, start out with lighter exercise and work your way up, especially if you're overweight or obese. Instead of trying to start out running, walk first. Try walking for just 10 minutes at a time, several times throughout your day. Gradually walk faster, longer and more throughout your day.
You can also hit the pool and swim. Swimming is a total body workout that is easy on the joints. Work your way up to swimming more laps and pushing yourself harder in the water.
Yoga
Performing yoga regularly can help to lower cholesterol, according to WomenFitness.net. Yoga burns calories and builds and tones muscles, which also helps to burn off fat. Yoga also helps reduce stress, which can also help lower cholesterol levels and high blood pressure. It also helps boost your energy levels, helping you become even more physically active. Try to schedule 20 to 30 minutes of yoga each day, focusing on deep breathing, meditation and specifically the pose Kapalbhati Pranayama.
