Cardio Exercise
Want More Stamina, Energy, and Overall Better Health?
Give Your Heart a Workout!
Every minute of every day. Year after year. Decade after decade. Your heart is always working for you—but are you working for your heart? You see, if you’re not exercising your heart, you’re putting your health and wellbeing at risk.
Fortunately, Cardio Exercise, a new Special Health Report from the experts at Harvard Medical School, makes it easier than ever to boost your heart fitness. With the heart-friendly tools and tips in this indispensable report, you can start living life with more energy, stamina, and vitality.
Simple but powerful exercises to give your heart a great workout
Your heart is a muscle, and Cardio Exercise shows you exactly how to strengthen this muscle, safely and at your pace. You get seven workout regimes—Basic Cardio Workout, Beginning Walking Workout, Pool Workout, Cardio Dance Workout, Kickboxing Workout, Interval Walking Workout, and Step Workout. Clear instructions and photos make it easy to follow each exercise. There are also tips on how to make the exercises easier or harder, depending on your fitness and health goals.
How to design your own heart-friendly exercise program
Looking for more personalized cardiac exercise options? Cardio Exercise has you covered with a Special Section on designing your own program. You’ll get helpful tips about what to keep in mind when creating your own workouts, such as your health goals, whether you want to exercise alone or with a group, and the kinds of exercises you’ll enjoy (and stick with). If you’re interested in exercising with others, you’ll appreciate the guide’s complete overview of group classes like Zumba, spinning, and kickboxing. The guide also includes information on how to monitor the intensity of your workout, determine your target heart rate, and—very important!—stay motivated.
Warm-up and cool-down routines to go along with your workouts
It’s a big mistake to start exercising without warming up your muscles and joints first. Cardio Exercise includes five easy warm-up exercises to help you prepare for and get the most out of your workout. Then, after your workout, you’ll want to try some of the guide’s nine cool-down stretches to help you avoid cramps and enhance your flexibility.
Staying safe while getting your heart into shape
Cardio Exercise tells you everything you need to know about staying safe while working out. For example, you’ll learn the importance of good posture, choosing the right clothes, shoes, and equipment, and staying hydrated. The guide also offers exercise safety tips for people with specific medical conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and arthritis.
Cardio exercise: fact vs. fiction
There’s a lot of misinformation out there about cardio exercise. With Cardio Exercise you’ll get the real answers to questions like, Does cardio help you lose weight? Is cardio worth it if you have less than half an hour to exercise? Do you have to sweat to make it count?
The many benefits of a healthy heart
As you’ll learn in the Cardio Exercise Special Health Report, strengthening your heart boosts your overall health in many ways. For example, regular cardio exercise can help people with diabetes better manage blood sugar levels. Cardio has also been shown to reduce levels of “bad” cholesterol, while reducing the risk of stroke by lowering blood pressure. And cardio can have a positive impact on conditions like arthritis, dementia, and depression, while helping with intimacy, too.
