5 Exercise Snacks That Can Help Make Your Heart Stronger
If you don’t have time for an hour-long workout, a more practical approach is to do exercise snacks. Exercise snacks are short bursts of vigorous exercise done intermittently throughout the day. Doing brief movements throughout the day can have the same benefits as a longer workout. Because of the nature of exercise snacks, they may also have some heart-health benefits. Exercise snacks replicate the benefits of high-intensity interval training, but the rest times are generally longer. Instead of exercising for 20 or 30 minutes, you can add movement throughout the day as it fits your schedule.
TAKE THE STAIRS
If you live in an apartment building, have stairs in your home or if they’re part of your commute, take advantage of them to get your heart rate up.
Aim for vigorous stair climbing throughout the day when you have the time. One study showed improvement in patients with coronary artery disease by doing three rounds of climbing six flights of 12 stairs, with recovery periods of walking.
Researchers found that stair climbers had a higher heart rate percentage across a shorter exercise time during the first four weeks of supervised testing.
The difference was that the stair climbers continued to exercise for less time. So if climbing the stairs is the most exercise you can do during the day, you might as well do that exercise intentionally.
GO FOR A WALK Exercies
Going for a brisk walk can keep your heart healthy. The Heart Foundation recommends aiming for 30 minutes of walking a day. Another way to approach your walking goal is to break it up 10 minutes at a time, three times daily, to reap the same benefits. Just make sure it’s moderate to the vigorous effort so you’ll get your heart rate up.
BODYWEIGHT EXERCISES
If you work in an office or from home, chances are you spend a lot of time sitting. Taking the time to move, even if it’s to get in some quick bodyweight exercise, it can do wonders for your heart health. While taking breaks from your desk, set up an interval timer and play around with bodyweight squats, lunges, push-ups, jumping jacks, bear crawls, planks, and more.
DO SOME CHORES
Believe it or not, you can get a good workout by doing some chores around your home. Whether that’s gardening, vacuuming, cleaning, or organizing your home, you can get the benefits of a workout while keeping your life in order. It goes to show you that you don’t need a gym to get a workout in, especially when plenty of daily activities count and you may not realize it.
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