It’s no secret that exercise can help to protect you from heart disease and other chronic illnesses.
Protecting yourself from heart disease is one of the most important things you can do: it still claims a person every 36 seconds and accounts for 1 in every 4 deaths. Given the threat heart disease continues to pose, doing things to improve heart health might be the best investment you can make.
With that said, it’s important to do the right things and not waste time on activities that we think are helping but aren’t.
Common mistakes for heart health training
Before we get to the best exercises for improving heart health, let’s look at the most common mistakes people make so you can avoid them.
1. Thinking you need to spend all your time in the gym
When people hear that they should exercise, the first thought is often “but I don’t have time to exercise!” This comes back to doing the right things: the wrong things will have you spending a lot of time on ineffective activities, while the right things take hardly any time at all.
In fact, it’s possible to do some of them without devoting particular time to them!
2. Believing you’ll look like a bodybuilder
Resistance training – or strength training – is important, but there’s a common belief that it’ll make you look like a bodybuilder. This is a particular concern for women. The truth is that looking like a bodybuilder requires years of focused dedication – it isn’t possible to develop such a physique without unwavering commitment to both physical training and diet.
In other words, if you don’t want to look like a bodybuilder, you won’t.
3. Devoting hours to cardiovascular training
Cardio training, like spending time jogging, on the treadmill, or cycling, is fine, but there’s a myth that it’s the only way to protect your heart or lose fat. Neither is true. Sensible cardio can help in improving heart health, but for the most part it’s something you only need to do if you want to. You certainly don’t need to be fit enough to run marathons.
These mistakes are not only wrong, they can even stop people from getting started in the first place. Thoughts of developing a body you don’t want or spending hours exercising can have you giving up before you start – so put these myths out of your head, and let’s look at what you should be doing instead.
How to exercise for maximum health
The first principle is to start incorporating constant movement. Instead of relying solely on visits to the gym, which are easy to skip, make movement a normal part of your day. This means making simple decisions like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, walking instead of driving when possible, using a standing desk instead of sitting all day.
Encourage your body to use its own power and if in doubt, ask yourself this question: “Am I already so fit that I won’t benefit from this?” If the answer is yes, that you are already as fit as you want to be, then you’ve earned a trip in the elevator. If the answer is no, it’s time to take the stairs.
The second thing you want to do is incorporate resistance training. If you want to join a gym and lift weights then by all means do so. If you don’t want to, there’s plenty you can do at home. The actions mentioned above will all help your body maintain muscle mass and not let it waste away through inactivity, which is a start. Take it even further by adding in basic bodyweight movements like push-ups, squats, pull-ups, lunges, and other similar movements.
If you find them too challenging to begin with, resistance bands can be used to make the movements easier. They can also be used to make the movements harder as you progress. Once the basics become too easy you can make them more difficult by doing them slowly, incorporating weight, or finding more advanced variations.
And in the spirit of constant movement, you can build these into existing routines. For example, you can perform squats while you’re brushing your teeth, stand on one leg while washing dishes or watching TV, and perform a set of push-ups during a commercial break or waiting for your coffee to brew – this is how you can exercise without devoting specific time to it. Mix it up and keep it fun – the important thing to remember is that you don’t need to carve out a specific time for exercise, instead just build it into your day.
The third way to incorporate exercise for heart health is sensible cardio. Regular walks are very healthy, and aside from the cardiovascular health benefits, walks are also a great way to keep your lower body feeling flexible instead of tightening up from sitting down all the time.
I’m also a big fan of high intensity interval training, often referred to as HIIT. These are short and intense workouts that build strength, burn fat, and improve your cardiovascular health all in one sweaty session. Just be mindful of the risk of overtraining – HIIT is very demanding so only needs to be performed once a twice a week.
Summary
The overarching goal is to build and maintain muscle as you age because it helps to protect us as we get older. If you suffer a fall, the muscle will help to prevent injuries and heal recovery time. Resistance training helps to increase bone density, making it less likely you’ll break a bone in a fall. And a strong grip helps with avoiding a fall in the first place by giving you confidence and security with holding onto railings and stair bannisters.
By focusing on constant movement, you’ll develop strength inside and out. You’ll improve your heart health and buy yourself some additional tolerance to the shocks and falls we’re more likely to face as we get older.
To learn even more about how exercise can keep you safe, as well as the best way to approach what you eat and the impact of sleep and stress on your heart health, pick up a copy of my book Stay Off My Operating Table. In it, you’ll learn my complete system for being strong fit, and healthy.