Interval Cardio
If you really want your heart health to benefit from your time spent exercising, you have to get in some cardio. With cardio workouts, you need to exercise at 80% of your maximum heart rate for at least 30 minutes, 3 to 4 times a week. (On a scale of one to 10, with 10 being as hard as you can push yourself, you should be around an 8.)
How to Do It:
Whether you choose jogging, rowing, cycling, walking, or using an elliptical or stair climber machine, try the following interval-training strategy:
-Begin with a low-intensity, 5-minute warm-up
-Push yourself at a high intensity for 30 – 60 seconds
-Reduce your intensity for 1 – 2 minutes
-Alternate between low and high-intensity bouts for about 20 to 30 minutes
-Cool down for 5 minutes
Good, Old-Fashioned Swimming
That’s right, go ahead and get that hair wet (or at least get wear your swim cap, lol)! The great thing about swimming is that you work your entire body with each stroke you take. You build muscle and your cardiovascular system at the same time. When you age, you’ll often find that you experience pain in different parts of your body. That’s because our joints wear down due to repeated impact. Any time you can engage in low-impact exercise, do so.
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How to Do It:
Depending on the size of your pool, try to do a number of laps without stopping.
Rest for 60 seconds, the do laps again.
Do this for 5 Minutes.
Take a 2-minute break then repeat exercise 3 more times, this time changing up your stroke (breast stroke, back stroke, freestyle, etc) each time.
