If you've recently been diagnosed with heart disease or have had heart surgery, you've likely been told by your doctor that physical activity is an essential part of maintaining good health. Surely you are tormented by doubts: is it really safe to play sports in such a state? What exercises, then, are ideal?

How does exercise help with heart disease?

• reduce blood pressure and stress on the heart;
• increase the level of “good” cholesterol, which transports fats from the arteries and back to the liver for processing;
• lower the level of “bad” cholesterol, which contributes to the formation of fatty deposits in the arteries and the occurrence of heart disease;
• significantly improve blood circulation, prevent the formation of blood clots, which are quite capable of causing a stroke and heart attack;
• increase fat loss and promote weight loss;
• exercise helps build muscle mass;
• physical activity also reduces stress by releasing endorphins. After a heart attack, stress and anxiety can slow recovery.

How much exercise is considered sufficient?

Aim to be physically active five days out of seven for thirty minutes. If it’s difficult for you, first break the recommended half hour into several classes throughout the day.

The best activities for the heart

Aerobic activity is considered the best activity for the heart, as it works large muscle groups. Brisk walking, running, dancing, cycling and even gardening are forms of aerobic activity. Swimming is considered one of the most popular types of aerobic exercise. It is worth noting that it is better to master this sport by being trained by professionals who will tell you how to learn to swim in a pool without risking poor health. It is also necessary to combine exercise with a balanced diet. You will benefit from unsaturated fats, carbohydrates, fiber, fruits and vegetables.

You should discuss the following questions with your doctor:

• certain medications may affect your exercise routine;
• Only a doctor can tell whether the chosen exercises are safe for you;
• after surgery, you should not do heavy work, much less carry heavy objects in the gym and around the house;
• Before using exercise machines, lifting weights, swimming or running, get your doctor's approval.

Once cleared by your doctor, find an experienced exercise therapist. If you know a synchronized swimming or race walking coach, you can take a few lessons from him or at least consult.

Don't overdo isometric exercises like squats and push-ups. You should not exercise outdoors when it is cold, hot or damp. High humidity can cause shortness of breath, extreme temperatures can affect circulation, severely impair breathing and cause chest pain. The best exercises for the heart in this case are indoors.

Drink more water. It is important to drink water before you feel thirsty, especially on hot days. Do not take a shower or hot or cold bath immediately after exercising, as temperature changes seriously increase the load on the heart. Do not exercise on hilly areas. If you need to go through steep slopes when going uphill, it is better to slow down. Monitor your pulse.

If your exercise program has been interrupted for several days, you should return to your usual rhythm as soon as possible. But don't rush, just start at a lower level and gradually work your way back to your previous level of training.

Take care of your heart, what to do for this until it makes itself felt. Problems usually accumulate unnoticed, without appearing until a certain moment. Mortality due to heart disease is high on the list, with heart attacks and strokes becoming younger. That is why it is important to pay timely attention to the heart and blood vessels and strengthen them, first of all, through physical activity. Training the heart and developing endurance, stress on blood vessels - all these are important elements in the life of a healthy person.

Why is it necessary to stress the heart and blood vessels?

1. A decrease in the amount of C-reactive protein, which favors the appearance of inflammatory processes in the body.
2. Reducing blood pressure and triglycerides.
3. Raising good cholesterol levels.
4. Regulating blood sugar and insulin.
5. Weight loss.

Inactivity provokes problems with the heart and blood vessels. Cardiac training occurs when the strength of contractions increases and the heart rate increases during periods of exercise. At the same time, the blood vessels are also trained.

Exercises to train your heart

In fact, the range of such exercises is quite wide. Heart training is carried out through cardio and aerobic exercise. You can go jogging, ride a bike for at least half an hour a day, jump rope, swim in the pool, do aerobics and step, dance, or just go for walks for 20 minutes in the evening, and give up the elevator. It is recommended to adhere to the following rules:

1. The optimal heart rate is one hundred twenty to one hundred thirty beats (not higher than 130 and lower than 110).
2. You cannot arrange training sessions lasting more than an hour (for weak blood vessels - 30 minutes).
3. Conduct these classes two or three times during the week.

Heart training by running is also beneficial. Don't turn it into a routine. Jogging three or four times a week for 20 minutes, monitor your condition. If you feel any discomfort, go for a walk.

Other factors

Stress, environment and nutrition gradually bring blood vessels into increased tone, which affects blood pressure. In such a situation, do not rely only on the help of pharmaceutical drugs; you need to restore full blood circulation, and above all in the capillaries. Training your heart and blood vessels will help you with this. Vibration exercises will be effective: in the morning in bed, raise your arms and legs, shake them for about two minutes. This is how the capillaries are vibrated and the lymph is redistributed, through which the body is cleansed of toxins and waste. It is advisable to repeat the exercise in the evening before bed.

1. Stop smoking.
2. Lose weight if you are overweight.
3. Follow your doctor's recommendations for taking medications.
4. Eat less salt.
5. Sleep 8-9 hours.
6. Eat a varied, wholesome, healthy diet.

“Panangin” nourishes and strengthens well, influencing metabolic processes in the heart, improving its functioning, preventing early aging of the myocardium, and preventing the appearance of atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, and arrhythmia. It is recommended for healthy people as a means to strengthen the heart muscle and for the prevention of vascular diseases. Panangin contains potassium and magnesium, which can also be obtained daily from food. Eat spinach, seaweed, lentils, oatmeal, sunflower seeds, wheat bran, flax oil, fish oil to cleanse blood vessels.

Heart training: pulse and its indicators

How to determine the intensity of training to achieve results? We determine the maximum heart rate, it is individual. You need to subtract the number of your age from 220. The result obtained is your maximum heart rate. The heart improves at 50-60% of the maximum heart rate. At the same time, the condition of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems improves. A rise in heart rate to 80% of the maximum covers a larger number of blood vessels, pulmonary ventilation increases, and the size and strength of the heart increases. Training in the red line zone (80-90% of the maximum) is carried out in good physical shape, under medical supervision.

We are developing further

Don't forget that training your heart and developing your endurance should receive equal attention. All stages of increasing the intensity of exercises must be completed gradually, slowly, so as not to harm the heart and blood vessels and develop their endurance. The key to success is regularity. If you go to the pool or ride a bike several times a week, then morning exercises should be done daily. In addition to the previously recommended shaking and turning, we recommend a number of exercises for the heart and blood vessels:

1. Walking on your toes, raising your knees high.
2. Hands above your head in a lock, legs apart. Deep
3. Hands to the sides, bring them together, slap your shoulders.
4. Rotation of the arms forward - up - back and vice versa.
5. Simulation of cycling in a lying position.
6. Cross-shaped movements of the legs at a height of 30-40 centimeters from the floor in a lying position.

We remember: it is not the number of exercises and the intensity of the load that is important, but the regularity. The load should increase gradually. After it, relaxation is necessary so that the muscle fibers increase, and the heart muscle and blood vessels are strengthened and their endurance increases.

Strengthening the heart and folk recipes

It is very important that the heart muscle receives the necessary vitamins; training alone cannot do this. Here are some tips from healers:

1. Mix chopped dried apricots, walnuts, figs, lemon with peel, raisins, honey. Take 250 grams of everything. Keep refrigerated. Take a tablespoon three times a day.
2. Take a tablespoon of hawthorn for one and a half glasses of water and boil for thirty minutes. Drink a quarter glass three times before meals.
3. Take 10 grams of lemon balm, St. John's wort, birch leaves, 30 grams of fireweed. Steam a tablespoon per 300 ml of water. Take a glass three times a day.
4. Place a tablespoon of buckwheat in 500 ml of water and leave for 2 hours. Drink one glass three times.
5. Pour five tablespoons of rosemary herb into 100 ml of vodka and leave for 7 days. Take twenty-five drops three times half an hour before meals.

Under the influence of regular physical exercise, the overall endurance of the body increases, the heart goes into an economical operating mode - the frequency of contractions decreases and at the same time their strength increases. Dosed activity leads to improved blood supply to the myocardium and an increase in the rate of metabolic processes in it. Correct dosing of the load in the presence of cardiac diseases is carried out after ECG diagnostics with functional tests.

Read in this article

Why you should do exercises for your heart

The core layer of the heart is a muscle that contracts continuously throughout life. It is adversely affected by both physical activity and excessive physical activity, for which a person is not ready. Therefore, in order to maintain the heart and blood vessels in optimal shape, daily exercise in the form of special exercises is required. With adequate duration and intensity of exercise, the following changes occur in the body:

• the intensity of metabolic processes increases;
• body weight is normalized;
• lung volume increases;
• blood pressure and heart rate stabilize;
• normal rhythm is restored;
• the content of cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood decreases;
• Central and peripheral blood circulation improves.

Is everyone allowed to exercise?

Cardiology patients require an individual approach to training. In order to determine changes in the heart muscle under the influence of stress, an electrocardiological study is performed at rest and after walking on a treadmill or riding a bicycle ergometer. The data obtained can help in choosing the degree of intensity of exercise that is not manifested by ischemic processes in the myocardium.

Basic rules for training

In order not to cause an exacerbation of heart and vascular diseases, and also to benefit from exercise, you need to adhere to some rules:

• before class, measure blood pressure and pulse rate;
• determine the optimal physiological range of heart rate;
• exercise no earlier than 1.5 - 2 hours after eating;
• If you experience heart pain, dizziness or severe shortness of breath, stop training;
• Cardio exercises (walking, running, swimming, cycling) are most suitable for strengthening the heart;

• the pace of classes is preferably slow or medium, and the duration is at least half an hour a day;
• sudden movements and increasing the level of intensity without prior preparation are prohibited.

To determine the intensity of an activity, focus on your heart rate. First of all, you need to determine its maximum. To do this, age is subtracted from 220. You absolutely cannot go beyond this limit. To obtain a good training effect in satisfactory condition, it is recommended to stick to 50 to 75% of the maximum number of contractions.

Useful exercises for the heart muscle

A correctly composed gymnastics complex consists of a 5-10 minute introductory part - warm-up. At this time, simple exercises are performed on all major muscle groups. This is done in order to prepare the joints and muscle tissue for training.

This is followed by the main stage lasting from 15 to 25 minutes. After it is done, you need to walk at a calm pace and stretch until your heart rate returns to its previous limits.

To strengthen the heart

First, you need to carry out 5 - 8 breathing cycles, the duration of inhalation and exhalation is equal to the maximum comfortable duration. This is followed by a cycle of exhalations, which are 2 times longer than the inhalation. For example, inhale for 3 counts, exhale for 6. The total duration is approximately 5 - 7 minutes. After such loads are easily tolerated, exercises begin with holding the breath - first after inhalation, and then after exhalation.

Each stage should gradually increase in time. The main thing is to carry out such exercises every day and without excessive stress.

For information on breathing exercises that are aimed at preventing the development of cardiovascular diseases, watch this video:

For a healthier heart

Particular attention in the initial stages of coronary blood flow disturbance is given to exercises on the shoulder girdle. It should be taken into account that if there is pain in the heart, then you can start exercising only after an ECG examination.

Physical therapy to improve blood circulation in the myocardium may consist of the following exercises:

1. Rotate your arms in a large circle while standing.
2. Dumbbells weighing from 500 g (an alternative is plastic bottles with water) are lifted by bending the arms at the elbows in the direction from bottom to top to the shoulders.
3. The lowered arms with dumbbells are raised from below to shoulder level, and after mastering, they are brought above the head.
4. Push-ups, starting with 5 reps from the wall. Hands rest at shoulder level. As you practice, the height of the support should gradually decrease. Do not hold your breath.
5. Squats at a comfortable level.

Initially, the number of repetitions can be 10 or even less, but then, with regular exercise, it should be increased to 50.

For heart disease

To restore normal functioning of the heart muscle in the presence of pathology of the heart and blood vessels, one of the options is the following complex:

• The preparatory stage is circular movements of the ankle joints in a sitting position, lifting on the toes and moving the knees while standing, rotating the pelvis in a circle and bending the torso to the side. Each exercise is repeated 8 times in both directions.
• Walking on the inside, outside of the foot. Then walk in place or walk in nature for 15 minutes. Gradually, you can add high knee raises or a half-squat movement.
• The final stage is 10 minutes of restorative breathing.

Therapeutic exercise for ischemic heart disease

During movement, the pulse should not increase more than 100 - 120 beats per minute. You can increase the intensity and duration of training only after 2.5 months. After six months of regular exercise, walking is replaced by light running.

Physical activity for diseases of the heart and blood vessels must be strictly dosed; before starting it, you need to consult with your doctor and undergo an ECG. To strengthen the heart, therapeutic complexes with gradually increasing duration and intensity are recommended. Breathing exercises can be used even in old age and in the presence of moderate circulatory failure.

Useful video

Watch this video about exercises for heart disease:

Read also

Simple breathing exercises for the heart can work wonders. It will help with tachycardia, arrhythmia, aneurysm, to restore and strengthen the walls of blood vessels after surgery. What to do?

In some cases, exercises for arrhythmias can help control rhythm disturbances. This can be physical exercise, breathing, Nordic walking and running. Complete treatment of arrhythmia without a set of exercises is extremely rarely carried out. What complex should be done?

Options for how to strengthen the heart depend mainly on its condition. They also affect blood vessels and nerves. For example, in old age, exercise will support the heart muscle. After a heart attack, folk remedies can be prescribed for arrhythmia.

For most patients, cardio training for the heart is simply necessary. Any cardiologist will confirm their benefits, and most strengthening exercises can be done at home. If your heart hurts after exercise, it means something is not being done correctly. Caution is required after surgery.

You need to train your heart. However, not all physical activity for arrhythmia is permissible. What are the permissible loads for sinus and atrial fibrillation? Is it possible to play sports at all? If arrhythmia is detected in children, is sport taboo? Why does arrhythmia occur after exercise?

Heart fitness can lower blood pressure, improve circulation and increase fat loss. People with heart problems are not prohibited from leading an active lifestyle. The main thing is not to overdo it.

We asked Yulia Skrimskaya, champion of Europe and Ukraine in the “Model Fitness” category, about what exercises are good for the core and how to perform them correctly.

What exercises can be performed by people with cardiovascular diseases to maintain health and tone of the whole body?

For any cardiovascular diseases in the acute stage, physical therapy exercises are carried out in a hospital setting; in a subacute state - in a sanatorium and clinic. If the disease is chronic, you can practice at home, under the supervision of your doctor. Individually dosed physical exercises for diseases of the heart and blood vessels not only improve blood circulation in the heart muscle and blood vessels of the whole body, but also stimulate the functioning of the respiratory system and gastrointestinal tract, and regulate metabolism.

People with disorders of the cardiovascular system should do morning hygienic exercises every day (an individually selected complex), perform special exercises, be sure to walk every day before going to bed in any weather (from 30 minutes to 2 hours), actively rest on weekends, and if possible, after work (walk in the forest, ride a bike at a slow pace, etc.), eat rationally (in small portions, 4-5 times a day).

Heart patients should avoid performing isometric exercises such as push-ups and squats.

However, there are a number of issues that need to be discussed with your doctor: - Medications. New medications can significantly affect your exercise routine. Only a doctor can tell if it is still safe to exercise. - Weightlifting. If you have recently had surgery, you should not do heavy housework, use a shovel or carry heavy objects - both in the gym and in everyday life. - Safe exercises. Get your doctor's approval before lifting weights, lifting weights, running or swimming.

What should be the severity of core exercises?

Gymnastic exercises should be simple, they should not place increased demands on the nervous and cardiovascular system, especially in the first half of treatment.

How should core exercises be done correctly?

1. Exercises should be done slowly, rhythmically, at a calm pace, without effort or tension.

2. It is necessary to widely use breathing exercises, combining and alternating them with gymnastic ones.

3. You should not use physical exercises that require significant effort or bending! To feel good, it is enough to spend 20-30 minutes on exercise. a day 5 times a week. The intervals between exercises should be from 1-1.5 minutes. Classes must be carried out under the supervision of a doctor or instructor.

4. Heart rate monitors for patients with cardiovascular diseases, as well as for athletes, allow you to set the maximum and minimum heart rate values. During a workout or walk, the device not only constantly measures your heart rate, but also makes sure that it does not go beyond the designated zone. If this happens, the device lets you know with a sound signal.

In addition, heart rate monitors make it possible to monitor the number of steps you take during a walk. They can also calculate the speed of your movement and the distance traveled.

Modern models measure atmospheric pressure, temperature and humidity, as well as the altitude of the area above sea level. These indicators are important for all people. But for those who suffer from cardiovascular diseases, they are vital. Because in this case, if measures are not taken in advance, a sudden change in the meteorological situation can lead to fatal consequences.

Use the advice of Yulia Skrimskaya and always be healthy!