The heart is a vital organ that works tirelessly day in and day out. That’s the reason why you should take measures to take good care of it. Looking for ways on how to properly take care of your heart? Here are important things to take note:
A Proper Diet
Diet is one of the two main components that help in promoting your heart’s health. Following a proper diet is important if you want to keep your heart healthy. If you’re thinking about getting more meat in your diet, that’s not going to be enough if you want both muscle and nutrition at the same time. There are a lot of diets that promote muscle growth while still helping you keep your heart healthy by focusing less on the fatty protein sources and more on fruits and vegetables.
Less Fat, More Protein
A common dieting blunder for most people is that they end up eating more fat rather than eating protein. Meat is a good source of protein, but that’s not the only source. You can get protein from vegetables like legumes and beans, as well as protein bars that can help rebuild the muscles and tissues after an intense workout session. Pair up these protein sources with veggies and fruits since these can help provide vitamins and minerals that increase your intake of protein.
Cardio Workout
While strength exercise promotes muscle growth, cardio exercise help in improving your stamina and making your heart grow stronger. The longer one type of exercise is sustained, the longer the heart exerts the effort to pump more blood to the body to supply it with oxygen.
What is Cardio Fitness?
Cardio fitness involves a series of exercises that targets the respiratory system to help improve your lung function and keeps your heart rate up, thereby increasing the regulation of oxygen in your body. If you do cardio every time you work out, then not only does it help you lose or maintain weight but also build up endurance so that you will remain physically active for a longer period of time.
Factors of Cardiovascular Fitness
If you do regular aerobic exercises, you get fitter, and as a result, your body adapts to a result of improved cardiovascular fitness. The muscle group that is involved in your respiration becomes stronger and can work efficiently. In your alveoli, the capillaries are increasing in numbers. As a result, you have a better lung power to inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide.
In addition to the benefits that cardiovascular fitness can provide your lungs, it can also make your heart become more efficient, improving its ability to pump more blood in a single beat. The muscles in your body can also benefit from this wherein it becomes fitter. Additionally, the size and number of capillaries that are responsible for delivering oxygen and taking carbon dioxide from your muscle is enhanced. Also, the energy-producing cells called the mitochondria increases. With all the benefits listed, you can guarantee that cardiovascular fitness is one killer exercise that will help improve your body’s overall function.
Cardiovascular Fitness Benefits
Research studies showed that enhancing your cardiovascular fitness can help you through a reduction in blood pressure, lowered incidence of diabetes, reduced risk of developing coronary heart disease, lower fat mass, lower resting heart rate, improved energy levels, increased bone mass, and improved resistance against fatigue and illnesses. These benefits are mostly linked to cardiovascular exercise rather than cardiovascular fitness. However, if the exercises are not being done consistently and regularly then surely it will decline the benefits.
How to Develop Cardiovascular Fitness
In order to make the most out of your cardiovascular workouts, you need to perform the exercises at least 3 to 5 times each week and work about 60% to 90% of your maximum heart rate. The ideal sessions should last between 20 and 30 minutes plus the exercises you should choose are those that incorporate large muscle groups in a rhythmical fashion such as swimming, running, cycling or rowing.
Even though cardiovascular fitness is healthy and can come with lots of benefits, there’s no saying that it doesn’t come with any risks as well. Prior to following this exercise program, you need to seek medical advice before doing so. You need to have your current health assessed to ensure that you won’t be developing or adding more problems, especially when your body is not accustomed to these types of exercises. It can be risky if you proceed without professional advice so make sure that you are physically up and ready for it.