Let's talk briefly about your heart... that tireless muscle contracting and releasing in perfect sequence throughout every minute of every day for your entire life. It's at the very core of your being, pumping blood throughout your body to keep all those organs and the cells that comprise them alive. I think it's obvious if you can read this that your heart takes care of you, and in turn you should take care of your heart. One cruicial piece of the puzzle is to eat a healthy, natural diet, avoiding trans fats and reducing saturated fats, refined sugars, and salt. Quitting smoking is another huge step in the right direction.
Exercise is another key. First, you should understand that exercise is not just a workout to make your heart stronger. This is certainly part of the equation (your heart is a muscle afterall), but what may well be more important are the metabolic and physiological changes that occur in your body as you exercise regularly. You begin to process the foods you eat more readily and change hormone levels.
Exercise also helps the heart, lungs, and blood vessels develop efficiency that you may not need sitting on the couch, but you will need when you try to run a few miles. It's also important to note that in the event of a heart condition, such as a mild heart attack, this efficiency (your reserve cardiac capacity for example) can save your life even if you're already just sitting on the couch.
I recommend a balanced program of proper nutrition, resistance exercise, and cardiovascular exercise to keep in optimal shape. Specifically for heart health I would recommend a balance of aerobic and anaerobic exercise, if you're in good enough physical condition to allow for this type of training. As always, consult with your doctor before starting a new exercise program, especially if you have a history of heart disease.
Interval training, as you see throughout the FitDaily exercise program, is one of the keys to heart health. It not only boosts the long-term blood flow through aerobic (with oxygen) exercise, but it takes you beyond the point where you can sustain that level of effort into your anaerobic zone. This is where you cannot sustain the flow of oxygen and must rely on other means of energy production. To simplify the explanation, this is where the sugars are burned as high test fuels when your heart and lungs can't keep up with the flow of oxygen to the muscle cells.
So if you're in relatively good health and cleared by your doctor, try interval training. The idea is mix in high intensity "sprint" periods into your base cardio exercise to vary your heart rate and bring you beyond your "cardio" zone.
Start with the two minute intervals with working rest periods between one and two minutes long. During each interval, you should be working near your maximum effort, keeping your heart rate in your anaerobic zone.
If you're not able to perform 12-15 minutes of straight cardio without a break, then you should work on this before starting interval training. You can still vary your pace during that time, but focus mostly on not letting your heart rate slip below 60-65% of your maximum heart rate for 10-30 minutes, depending on your current condition.
For those looking for more information on heart health, check out Cardiac Matters.
