Heart disease is one of the biggest issues that baby boomers in America face. Whether you have had a heart attack, have coronary heart disease, or have had a bypass, you may be wondering what type of exercise is best for your recovery. Traditional thought has always been that you should take it easy in the weeks following a heart attack or bypass surgery. But new research is prompting such places as the Mayo Clinic to rethink this approach!
Rather than take it easy after a recovery period and only top out at 70 percent of your maximum heart rate during exercise, a new approach is being taken by many. Some doctors and hospitals are turning to interval training as a way to help heal the heart. Interval training, which is short spurts of intense exercise followed by moderate exercise, is taking center stage.
In interval training, you would walk at a moderate pace, for example, and then for a couple of minutes here and there you would speed up. Once you walked at that faster pace for a couple of minutes, then you would go back down to the moderate pace. You would keep alternating this pattern and allow your heart rate to go to 85 or 95 percent of your maximum during the fast intervals.
So what types of benefits are there for the heart when you do interval training? Quite a few, including:
Interval training increases cardiovascular health because it strengthens your heart. It will also help to increase the length of time you can exercise. Maybe you start out only being able to comfortably exercise for 15 minutes, but with the strengthening that interval training does, you will see that time lengthen.
Overuse injuries are minimized when you do interval training. This is because you are not using the same muscles or moves over and over.
When you do interval training, you will end up burning more calories in less time. Those short bursts of intense activity will give you an extra boost to burn more.
Should you start doing interval training with a heart condition? The science on it is new and still being considered. It is also seen as controversial, but it is worth considering. As a personal trainer who helps baby boomers get fit every day, I would recommend you speak with your doctor first to get their recommendation. But don’t hesitate to give them the new research that shows what it is doing for others to help heal the heart!