Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip, written by the Health Promotion and Education Team at Heart Research UK
Healthy Heart Tip: Working out your heart
Did you know that your heart is a muscular organ and beats about 100,000 times a day? This varies depending on your level of fitness, but the bottom line is it has a BIG job to do.
Although the cardiac muscle isn’t under voluntary control like the skeletal muscles in your body (you don’t have to tell your heart to beat!), it still requires working out.
Here we share some tips on how to get started working out your heart.
What exercise?
A great way to work out your heart is to partake in some heart-pumping aerobic exercise, which is basically anything that gets your heart pumping faster.
Lots of different activities fall into this type of workout such as brisk walking, running, cycling, swimming, playing tennis and many fitness classes such as boxercise or Zumba.
Resistance training also contributes to a healthy heart, including working out with free weights or on weight machines. You can even do hand weight exercises while sat at your desk.
How much?
Doctors recommend a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate intensity, aerobic exercise per week. This could look like 30 minutes a day, five days a week, or maybe some longer sessions on fewer days.
In addition to aerobic exercise, aim for two sessions of resistance training per week.
If you don’t already take part in exercise, start small, as any exercise is better than none. You can gradually work up to the recommended amount.
The benefits
Regular exercise has the potential to lower our blood pressure and heart rate which reduces the risk of heart diseases. It can also reduce the risk of developing other conditions such as type 2 diabetes.
A combination of aerobic exercise and resistance training can contribute to healthy cholesterol levels. Moving more is one of the best things you can do for your heart health.
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