High cholesterol leads to poor heart health over time, and if you want to keep your heart pumping at its best for years to come, then you should start some healthy exercise routines. We want to cover a few types of exercise that you can do that are specifically designed to improve heart health and regulate your cholesterol levels.
Aerobic Exercises
The best kind of exercises for your cholesterol are ones that get your heart pumping and increase your body’s overall activity levels. Some of the more common ones, such as running, jumping rope, calisthenics, swimming, and intense sports, are superb for your overall health and cholesterol control.
If you play basketball, tennis, badminton, football or any sport that gets your blood pumping and your body moving around a lot, then you are going to really help out your cholesterol levels. Your body needs that kind of exercise regularly if the heart is going to be as strong as it needs to be.
Just a short jog each day or some aerobic exercise a couple of times a week is enough to clear up your circulatory system and get rid of some the cholesterol that can clog your arteries. You’ll be cutting back the fatty deposits and making it easier for blood to get where it needs to go.
Aerobics can be high intensity or low-intensity workouts. Examples of high-intensity aerobics include boxing or sparring, racing, bicycling and hiking uphill. For low-intensity exercises, simply walking can be enough. Many people find a large indoor area like a shopping mall to do some walking every day. Even gardening, where you are constantly getting up, squatting down and bending over can be good aerobic exercise. Other low-intensity exercises include bicycling at a slow speed (such as through a city), playing doubles tennis and using an elliptical machine on a low setting.
Aerobic workouts are easy enough to find. Most workout videos you will see online will be aerobic ones, but you should specifically look for aerobic exercise programs if you want to fight cholesterol effectively.
Any workout program that has you doing jumping jacks, running in place, or going from standing to squatting or down on your hands is going to be great for your cholesterol levels. These move your body enough that your heart has to work hard and get enough power to your limbs to make that movement possible. The longer you work out, the more effective you will be at fighting cholesterol but don’t push yourself too hard at first. You have to get used to these exercises; otherwise, you will wear yourself out too much and be overly tired and unable to work out later.
Resistance Exercises
Another kind of exercise that is great for your cholesterol levels is resistance exercise. This is any exercise that requires you to push back against some force. So, push-ups count as you are pushing yourself off the floor again and again. These build muscles and force the body to pump blood faster and clear out cholesterol from your body to make it all happen. Any exercise where you use your body weight as a resistance force is great for your cholesterol and counts as a resistance exercise.
Pull-ups can be done practically anywhere- on overhanging bars at the playground, on the underside of staircases or anywhere else there is something to hang your body weight and some free space underneath. You can also install your own pull-up bar in your home in any small space, such as in a closet or a hallway.
Exercises, like lifting weights or using a weight machine, are excellent resistance exercises as well. Any exercise like this forces the lungs to suck in air quickly, which fills your bloodstream with oxygen and boosts your circulatory system.
What all these exercises do is make your body operate at an elevated level. They are a healthy way of getting your body into an excited state where it has to get rid of cholesterol to perform the tasks you require of it. The more often you do these exercises, the healthier you will be.
It’s recommended that you start off with about two or three sessions a week. You can begin with about 15-30 minutes or whatever you feel comfortable. You want to get up to at least 30-minutes a day, five times a day. However, no matter how few times you workout and perform aerobics or resistance exercises, it will be beneficial to you.
It’s a good idea to talk to your doctor and find out how much exercise you should start with and what would be ideal for you, once you get used to working out. You should also look for ways to get motivated and keep exercising regularly.
