Heart Health and Exercise ❤️
Improving your heart health can be done with intentional steps each day. The biggest “muscle” we often need to overcome is our brain. To overcome resistance ask yourself what you would need to do or have to make the steps below feel more doable for you? You CAN see change when you commit to your health!
Consider adding:
Grip strengthening with putty
Including Mobility and Stretching as part of your daily routine.
Make your heart strong with cardio for 150-300 minutes per week of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity.
Strength train your major muscle groups twice a week.
Embrace your balance with progressive challenges for double and single leg traning.
Mobility: Active Assisted Stretching
This video will walk you through four major muscle group stretches using PNF techniques. PNF stands for “Prioprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation” which means this technique activates not only the muscle fibers but also the sensory receptors within the agonist and antagonist muscle as well. It is possible it is superior to static (held) stretches, although listen to your body and whichever method feels better to you is likely the best choice!
Body Weight Resistance Training Routine
When you commit to resistance training you improve every system of your body.
One seminal study included ten frail, institutionalized 86–96 year olds who did a high-intensity progressive resistance training program. After just eight weeks, the average mid-thigh muscle area had increased by almost 10% (which is equivalent to the amount of muscle typically lost over a decade) and leg strength increased by about 180%. In other words, these older people were almost three times stronger at the end of the short training program than before.
Consider this progression and repeat sequence quarterly:
1-2 sets of 12-15 reps lighter weights with less rest.
2-4 sets of 8-10 reps moderate weights with rest of about 30s
3-5 sets of 4-6 reps heavy weights with rest as much as needed for recovery.
*Other option is to simply increase time under tension: move slowly or hold longer!
Get your 5 STeps to Better Heart Health with Exercise Guide
In this downloadable document, you will get the details for how to evaluate your heart rate for exercise, how you can improve your heart health with grip strength, and examples of balance training progressions. Plus a lot more details on the steps listed above!