Physical activity such as walking can improve heart health by limiting the following disease states:
- high blood pressure
- blood lipid (cholesterol and triglyceride) abnormalities
- stroke
- obesity
- type 2 diabetes
- metabolic syndrome
Before beginning a walking program, discuss safety and goals with your doctor. If you have a history of heart disease, your doctor may want you to have a stress test prior to starting physical activity. A stress test monitors and records your heart’s electrical activity during exercise to determine the effects of exercise on the rate and rhythm of your heart.
Walking is not only good for your heart; instead it will be great for your heart! Walking will increase your heart rate which is a good thing. Your heart is a very strong muscle and in order to keep our muscles strong, they need to be put to work. When you heart is pumping, it will pump blood to your muscles and oxygen will also be pumped to your muscles. This result will help keep your heart strong and healthy so be sure to stay active!
It would not be specifically the walking which strenghtens the heart. It is increase in heart rate which comes from the walking that does it. I often tell me clients that the heart could care less what the form of cardio is, (i.e. bike, treadmill, eliptical, etc.) as long as it gets the heart rate up!
The other part of this is that in order for to indeed strengthen the heart, it needs to be performed at a certain level. To begin with, check with you Doctor to be sure a cardio program is right for you. The heart rate we would like to begin to maintain is about 65% of your estimated maximum heart rate. This would be 220- your age. Multiply this number by .65 and then you have your first number. I initially recommend maintaining this for atleast 20-30 minutes for the first 3 to maybe 4 weeks.
You can figure a range between the 65% as we mentioned above and 85%. After the first 3 to 4 weeks, try to switch the program to where you are increasing your heart rate to the 85% mark for 30 seconds to 1 minute and then slow your pace down to allow the heart rate to drop back down for about a minute. This would allow a good switch in the program, and possibly better results.
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Important: This content reflects information from various individuals and organizations and may offer alternative or opposing points of view. It should not be used for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. As always, you should consult with your healthcare provider about your specific health needs.