DETROIT – February is American Heart Month, which encourages people to focus on their cardiovascular health.
To kick it off, we want to have a practical discussion about working strengthening exercises into your heart-healthy routine.
A recently published paper from the American Heart Association (AHA) said these types of exercises can provide similar benefits to aerobic exercises.
Let’s start with some definitions. Strength-type exercises are known as resistance exercises. These basically only work single muscle groups -- think of push-ups or bicep curls. Aerobic exercises on the other hand use more of the body and will increase your heart rate and breathing more -- think brisk walking or cyclin.
AHA now emphasizes that both exercises are important.
Dr. Abbi Lane is an exercise physiologist at the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology. She’s also a senior author on the AHA’s scientific statement on resistance exercise.
“There are great benefits to resistance training that are really similar at times to what you get from aerobic,” Lane said. “Or at times where aerobic is a little bit better for certain risk factors, resistance can add a little something to that as well.”
According to Lane, getting started with resistance training is pretty simple.
“You don’t need fancy equipment, you can go to any sporting goods store and get dome dumbbells for cheap,” Lane said. “I like to use milk jugs, if you save them you can fill them with sand or water and progressively increase or decrease your weight.”
But how do you know how much weight to start with?
“It’s absolutely fine to start with very light weights and get used to the motion of it,” Lane said. “And then you can kind of play around with the weights.”
The goal is to do between 1-3 sets of 8-10 different exercises that include all your muscle groups. You should pick a weight that allows you to do between 8-12 repetitions of each exercise.
“Maybe by the time you’re doing 10 bicep curls, 11 is going to be a struggle and you couldn’t get 12, so then you’ve got a good weight,” Lane said. “I think the overall message is that your workout really isn’t complete without resistance training.”
It does not require any expense. These exercises are as simple as picking up some cans, and when that becomes too easy, just get heavier cans or a gallon of water or sand.
You can find more information on fitness-basics from the AHA or CDC here.
More: Heart Month