Working out isn't just for those who want to be buff or beautiful. Some of the main benefits of exercise are improving and maintaining cardiovascular health. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends aerobic exercise three to five times a week to maintain heart health. Adding the right exercise to your weekly routine can keep your heart healthy and strong.
Warm-up Exercises
Taking a cold car out of a garage and putting the pedal to the floor isn't great for the engine, and neither is exercising without first warming up. That way, your body's systems can get prepared to do the coordinated work you'll be asking of them. Immediately jumping into an intense exercise routine can lead to unnecessary stress.
Begin your warm up with low-intensity, non-impact movements, such as arm swings, skipping, arm circles or light jogging. Arm swings can start slowly, with arms straight, progressing to quicker, bent-elbow movements. For arm circles, progress from small circles to larger circles, moving the arms backward and forward. If you need to skip in place, start with knees lower, then begin raising your knees higher as you get looser. Light jumping jacks are a good warm-up exercise, provided that you are not overweight and that your knees are in good condition.
Aerobic Exercise
Once you've worked a variety of muscles and elevated your heart rate (about three to four minutes), you can begin an aerobic workout. As far as intensity, exercise at a pace you can sustain for at least 20 minutes. The AHA recommends 20 minutes at a vigorously intense level, three times a week, or 30 minutes of moderate intensity, five times a week. Generally, you should be able to talk during your activity at maximum intensity. If you are working so hard you can't talk, you may have slipped into anaerobic activity.
The following exercises can be performed at various intensity levels to produce a heart-healthy, aerobic workout: jumping jacks, skipping rope, cycling, rowing, skating, swimming, dancing, power walking, jogging and going up and down stairs. Exercise machines, such as treadmills, stationary bikes and elliptical machines, can provide an aerobic workout. If you'd like to build muscles while doing aerobic exercise, use weights, resistance bands and weight machines with the weights or resistance at very low levels to allow you to work continuously.
Cool-down Exercises
Just as its not a good idea to quickly take your heart from 65 beats per minutes to 165 beats, it's not a good idea to stop exercise with no gradual deceleration in your heart rate. Jumping off a treadmill and getting down on the floor to stretch does not provide an adequate slowdown of your heart rate. If you need to finish your workout by 8 p.m., start cooling down at 7:55. Repeat the exercises in your warm up to reverse your heart rate level, and continue to cool down until your heart rate is below 100 beats per minute.
Simple walking is a good a way to begin a cool down. Use all your muscles, repeating arms swings and high-knee steps. Standing stretches one or two minutes into your cool down will keep your heart rate up but gradually descending.
