When it comes to exercising and staying active, you can’t go wrong with options that not only provide cardio but strength-training, too. Combined with a healthy diet, workouts that make your body move will burn calories and make you stronger are essential for shedding extra weight and getting healthier.
Read on to learn more about how strength-training and cardio exercises can help you reach your fitness and athletic goals.
What are cardio workouts?
Aerobic activities considered cardio, or cardiovascular, workouts involve exercises that make your heart beat faster.
To achieve or maintain good health, the experts at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services recommends that each week adults get about 2.5 hours (or 150 minutes) of moderate aerobic activity or 1.25 hours (or 75 minutes) of vigorous aerobic exercise.
Hitting these recommended targets can provide the best results, but if you are just starting out and this amount of exercise seems unachievable right now, don’t give up. Start slowly and build up your endurance and strength with shorter periods of exercise. You can even split up your exercising into brief heart-pumping workouts to progressively benefit your health.
Here are some examples of cardio workouts and other activities that you can do to raise your heart rate without going to the gym:
- Walking up and down your staircase over and over
- Taking a brisk walk with your dog
- Shoveling snow from your driveway and sidewalk
- Riding your bike around your neighborhood
- Mowing your lawn with a walk-behind push mower
Discover which exercises keep your joints healthy
What are strength-training workouts?
Push and pull exercises are considered strength-training activities. These workouts use your body weight, external weights, or significant enough resistance to stretch and fatigue your major muscle groups once you’ve completed sets of 12 to 15 repetitions.
When you’re just beginning, focus on proper form and do fewer reps to avoid the risk of injury while you build your strength.
Taking the time twice a week to build your muscles with multi-joint compound movements doesn’t just improve your health. As you age, regular strength training also makes it easier to perform everyday, simple movements (like getting up after sitting on the floor) and can help improve your muscular balance and prevent some injuries, too.
Here are some examples of effective strength-training workouts that you can do without leaving your home:
- Push-ups
- Jumping jacks
- Bodyweight squats
- Inverted rows
- Single-leg moves
- Glute bridges
- Bent-over rows
- Hollow-body holds
- Lunges
- Planks
Find out more about other easy ways to improve your health
Boost your fitness with help with Logansport Memorial Hospital
If you have an injury or chronic health condition (such as diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure) or if you have other questions about whether you’re medically-able to take on a new exercise regime or ramp up your current workouts, it’s always a good idea to get a screening of your current health status.
Your primary care provider can advise what’s safe. They will also help you determine which options might work best for you and make recommendations to tailor a program that will help you burn calories, drop pounds, and create a stronger fitness foundation.
Make an appointment with one of our providers to start building better health with workouts that burn calories and make you stronger.
Schedule online or by calling (574) 753-7541.
