A Guide to Strengthening Your Most Important Muscle — The Heart

By: Courtney Niland, Director of Fitness, Orangetheory Fitness

One person dies every 34 seconds in the United States from cardiovascular disease. Now’s the time to take action to make sure you don’t become a statistic.

World Heart Day is celebrated yearly on September 29, it’s all about making healthy living fun and spreading awareness about heart health. This guide will explain the importance of strengthening your heart as well as provide a few easy ways to get started!

Your heart is one of the most essential muscles in your body. It’s so important that it works all day, every day, to keep you alive.

Our heart, like all muscles in the body, gets stronger with exercise. So, when you work out, your heart gets a workout too! That’s good news because as your heart strengthens, so do the other muscles in your body. This is important as we age: our hearts tend to weaken, but regular exercise can help slow this decline.

Here are a few ways you can prioritize your heart health:

1) Keep track of how many steps you take each day. If possible, aim for 10,000 steps or more.

2) Eat healthy foods like fruits and vegetables every day. These foods provide many vitamins and minerals essential.

3) Give up smoking. Smoking is a major risk factor for developing atherosclerosis (furring of the arteries). It also causes the majority of cases of coronary thrombosis in people under the age of 50.

4) Physical activity is key to keeping the heart muscle strong.

The best heart work outs are high intensity interval training or otherwise known as HIIT. The premise behind HIIT is repeated, extremely hard bouts of work interspersed with periods of recovery. During the work intervals, you’re challenging yourself nearly to your max. In addition to improving your performance and speed, HIIT workouts can improve your oxygen usage, blood pressure, cardiovascular function and can help with weight loss.

Most are familiar with HIIT as a cardio workout focusing on sprints whether you’re running, on a bike or on a rower, but you can use HIIT in strength-based workouts too. HIIT routines that involve bodyweight work or added weight, such as kettlebells, medicine balls, or dumbbells, will work your muscles while spiking your heart rate.

It can be difficult to come up with HIIT exercises on your own at the gym which is why places like Orangetheory Fitness have certified coaches with you every step of the way.

Some specific HIIT workouts that can be done at the gym or at home with little or no equipment include:

1) Burpee — Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Squat down and place your hands on the floor, and jump your feet back so that you’re in a plank. Do one push-up. Jump your feet back to your hands, and from this crouched position jump up as high as you can.

2) Jump Squat — Start standing with your feet slightly wider than hip-width distance, with toes turned out. Lower down into a squat position until your butt is just below your knees. Jump up quickly, landing as softly as possible back into a squat, without letting your knees fall in toward each other.

3) Plank & Hollow-Hole Combo — Get in a high plank position with shoulders over wrists, creating a straight line from shoulders to heels. Engage the core. After 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds, then go into a hollow hold. Begin lying face up, with legs fully extended and arms overhead, one palm stacked on top of the other. Engage your abs and round your spine, lifting your head, neck, shoulders, and legs off the floor to make a C shape with your body. Your arms should stay extended by your ears.

4) Dumbbell Deadlift — Stand with your feet slightly wider than hip-width distance, holding dumbbells in front of your thighs with your palms facing in. With a slight bend in your knees, push your hips back and slowly slide the weights down your legs toward the floor. Keeping your spine straight, push through your heels to return to start for one rep.

5) Dumbbell Press — Stand with feet hip-width part, holding dumbbells at shoulder height with palms facing in. Exhale as you extend both arms overhead, pressing the weights upward. Return to start for one rep.

A little bit of love and attention to your heart health can go a long way. Use World Heart Day as a kick-off to the start of strengthening your heart!