Chair Exercises For Your Heart

Chair exercises can be a fun and effective way to improve the function of your heart. Not only can you get a good aerobic workout in a chair, you can also strengthen your muscles. Aerobic exercise is the kind of exercise that increases your heart rate and breathing and burns calories. Regular aerobic exercise, like chair aerobics or using an upper body ergometer can lead to adaptations like a decreased resting heart rate, reduced blood pressure, increased cardiac output and decreased cholesterol. Resistance exercises, added as a complement to aerobic exercise can also improve your cardiac functioning and also increase strength making activities of daily living easier on you and your heart.

Chair Aerobics

Chair aerobics is a seated exercise routine involving movements of your arms and legs in a dance-like manner. The objective is to increase your heart rate by moving your body. Movements can include arm raises above head and out to the side, elbow bends, shoulder extensions and arm swings. Leg movements include leg kicking and knee extensions, heel slides and toe taps. There are also variations of jumping jacks and dance moves that can be included in your routine. Dance moves include a variation of the Charleston step. Start with your feet together and alternating touches with the balls of your feet backward and forward while swinging your arms from side to side. You can also try a twist by keeping your feet together and alternating them on each side while swinging your arms to the opposing side.

Upper Body Ergometer

The upper body ergometer is a piece of exercise equipment that uses only the movement of your arms to increase your heart rate. This exercise simulates a pedaling action with your arms and hands. It works the muscles of the shoulders, arms, chest, back and abdomen. It is a very effective means of increasing your heart rate and obtaining an effective workout for your heart.

Resistance Training

Resistance training involves progressive resistance to challenge your skeletal muscles. From the comfort of a chair, you can work your arms, shoulders, chest, legs and back. Exercises include a biceps curl, triceps extension, chest fly, overhead press, front and side arm raises, rows and leg extensions. To perform a curl, extension, fly, press, raises and rows you will need a set of hand weights. To do the curl, simply curl the hand weight up toward your shoulder by bending your elbow. To do a triceps extension, extend the weights above your head from a bent elbow to a straightened elbow position. For the press, start with the weights at each side of your head and press them up over your head by straightening your arms. To perform the raises, start with your arms at your sides and raise your arms up in front of you for the front raise and at your sides for the side raises. The raises should involve a height no more than at your shoulders. To perform a leg extension, kick your foot up by straightening your knee, then slowly return to start and do the other side.

Considerations

You should try to obtain 30 minutes of exercise on most days of the week for optimal heart health. Try to exercise at a moderate intensity and increase as you can tolerate it. Stay healthy by keeping hydrated and listening to your body. Before starting any new exercise program, always obtain clearance from your doctor first.