Exercising for your heart and doing workouts for weight loss are important. However, you have to exert care when performing these exercises. If you strain your body and train intensely too soon, you can damage your heart.
Why is Exercising for Your Heart Important?
Exercising for the heart is important for many reasons. Most of us know that exercise strengthens our muscles and that the heart is a muscle. It makes sense that physical activity promotes better cardiovascular wellness. However, many people don’t realize that there are many other benefits beyond general cardio wellness.
Additional Benefits of Exercising for Your Heart Include:
- Reduced blood pressure – Regular physical activity strengthens the heart, meaning that each beat is able to push more blood through your circulatory system. As a result, it functions more efficiently and reduces stress on both the heart and the surrounding arteries. Frequently, the result is reduced blood pressure – or preventing it from rising as you age.
- Improved blood flow – Since the heart is pushing blood through arteries and veins more efficiently, it means that there is less of an opportunity for fatty deposits to accumulate over time, risking a blockage. The better the circulation right though even the smallest vessels, the lower the chance of a blockage.
- Better efficiency while exercising – As you exercise, you get fitter, including your heart. The more efficiently your heart works while you exercise, the easier it is to keep doing your workouts or even to boost your challenge levels. After all, the better your blood circulates, the faster your whole body gets the oxygen it needs to keep going.
- Cholesterol control – Exercising is one of several factors over which you have control in making sure your good and bad cholesterol levels stay where they should be. There is evidence indicating that it can help to raise HDL cholesterol (good) while lowering (bad) LDL cholesterol by up to 10 percent.
- Shrinking the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and stroke – Exercising for your heart will not only help you to reduce your risk of diseases related to that organ but can also lower your risk of diabetes. Research shows that the difference is a substantial one. Regular cardio workouts reduce coronary heart disease risk by up to 21 percent for men and 29 percent for women. Active men and women are 20 percent less likely to suffer a stroke. It also keeps blood sugar levels within a healthier range, reducing prediabetes and diabetes risk.
Let’s look at how you should be exercising for your heart without overworking it:
Increasing Workout Intensity
The best method of exercising for your heart is to perform a cardio workout. But you have to keep in mind that it is easy to overwork your heart. If you manage to do so, it could cause many difficulties for you. Moreover, overworking the heart can result in cardiac diseases. The best method to adopt is to increase the workout intensity gradually. For instance, if you are planning to use the treadmill for your cardio routine, you should work your way up. Do not walk for long distances and keep the intensity low.
Moreover, you should not walk for more than 15 minutes at a stretch. Gradually, you can increase the intensity and run greater distances. Once you find this easy, you can run for longer distances. If you run for a greater distance and longer period of time every day, you are likely to damage your heart.
Workouts for Obese Individuals
Obese individuals should use extreme caution when performing a cardio workout. Since an obese person’s body is under immense stress because of his or her weight, the heart is already being overworked. If an obese person indulges in intense exercise, the heart could get damaged. This is why overweight or obese individuals should begin with brisk walks. Moreover, the walks should not be carried on for too long. Exercising for your heart if you are obese requires immense care. A slight misstep in your regimen could prove dangerous.
Correct Method of Losing Weight
Obese individuals cannot lose weight through exercise alone. If they do attempt this, they could end up having serious health issues. For such individuals, the best method is to devise a hybrid routine. This routine will include light exercises and a moderate diet regimen. They will not cut down on their eating but will instead try to eat healthily. Moreover, an obese person should perform minor exercises to get his or her body in the habit. The process will move slowly but is sure to deliver results in a safe manner.
Maintaining a Proper Diet Is Necessary
Exercising for your heart is important, but so is dieting. Without a proper diet routine, you will keep working your body without any results. The main aim is to burn your body’s fat. This cannot be achieved unless you limit your calorie intake. The calorie intake can only be limited by following a diet routine.
Use these tips to provide healthy and responsible exercise to your heart and avoid overworking it.
