Let's be honest: the term "cardio training" is actually quite vague. In fact, this is any endurance training - after all, it depends, first of all, on the state of cardio-vascular system. In this case, cardio training can be considered any more or less uniform movement, lasting more than 20 minutes ( optimal time- 40-60 minutes).

And this is where the differences begin. For fitness fans, cardio training is aerobics, running, cycling, nordic walking and other load. And for people with diseases of the heart and blood vessels, cardio training will be a light exercise: raising arms and legs, tilting, marching in place. It all depends on the state of the heart and is determined by the pulse at which the load occurs. But even this circumstance requires the observance of important principles during classes.

The first rule of cardio for heart disease: heart rate control

Be sure to get yourself a heart rate monitor or a fitness bracelet that monitors your heart rate. The smart gadget itself calculates the heart rate zones for your cardio workouts. Just in case, here is a simplified calculation formula. Maximum heart rate = 220 - age. Then we multiply by:

* 1 zone - 0,5-0,6 - Wellness training, low intensity.

* 2 zone — 0,6-0,7 - training for fat burning, endurance, medium intensity.

* 3 zone - 0,7-0,8 - training for speed endurance, increasing speed over a distance, high intensity.

However, often doctors give more understandable recommendations - they name specific pulse values ​​for each zone. Then it will turn out:

* 1 zone - average heart rate up to 110 beats per minute , the maximum is not higher than 120.

* 2 zone — average heart rate 120-135 beats per minute , the maximum is not higher than 150.

* 3 zone - average heart rate of 140 beats per minute or more , maximum - unlimited.

These numbers are important in terms of training intensity planning and will depend on your health status.

The second rule of cardio training: consult a doctor

The doctor should determine the intensity of the training of the cores, since it directly depends on the diagnosis. For example, most people who have had a myocardial infarction are recommended to exercise only in zone 1, but in some cases zone 2 is also allowed. Someone is prescribed vigorous walking, and someone is prescribed only physiotherapy exercises in the clinic.

In general, people who have heart problems that are not in the acute stage, but chronic sluggish ones, of course, zone 1 is useful. Zone 2 is often available, but in it maximum heart rate it is better to limit to 135-140 strokes. Only healthy people have access to all three zones (and even higher, which are no longer related to cardio training). And now in more detail.

The third rule of cardio training: good knowledge of your diagnosis

In other words, information about the disease will allow you to train with knowledge of the matter. Let's talk briefly about the most common heart diseases.

Arterial hypertension- simply put, high blood pressure, or the outdated name "hypertension". With it, undoubtedly, it is useful and even helps to normalize the pressure of classes in 1 zone, and for people in a good physical form- and in zone 2. Preferred types of training are walking, standing, sitting and lying (but not in a position where the legs are higher than the head!), Stretching, cycling. Important: you can not train if the pressure has jumped.

Atherosclerosis- deposition of cholesterol on the walls of arteries, including those supplying the heart. You definitely need to move in the 1st and, if possible, in the 2nd zone, since it is these activities that burn fat. Suitable workouts - walking, including poles, swimming, roller skating, cycling, weight training own body. Important: do not overdo it, enter the mode gradually.

Cardiac ischemia- in fact, a whole range of diseases. This includes both chronic (angina pectoris, chronic heart failure, arrhythmias, etc.) and acute (coronary cardiac arrest, myocardial infarction) diseases. Let us briefly say that the reason is in certain changes in the vessels of the heart. Here you can not do without a consultation with a cardiologist!

In general, in acute conditions such as a stroke or an angina attack, of course, it’s not only impossible to train, but in general you need to lie down and call an ambulance. But with a more or less stable state or when recovering from a heart attack, classes in zone 1 and even lighter ones will come in handy. Suitable Species training - physiotherapy exercises, walking on the spot, leisurely walks, horseback riding. Important: exercise regularly. Long breaks and sudden regime changes are bad for the heart!

But at inflammatory diseases of the heart- inflammation of the heart muscle, tissues around the myocardium, rheumatism - any activity, even light ones, is prohibited.

Lastly, how much do you do? Depending on the condition, it is recommended to start with 20-30 minutes at least 3 times a week. In the future, 150-160 minutes per week are needed, divided into the same 3-4 days. This is the rule of cardio for everyone, except for those days when heart disease only allows you to lie down.

If you have recently been diagnosed with heart disease or have had heart surgery, your doctor may have told you that physical activity is an essential part of maintaining good health. Surely you are tormented by doubts: is it really safe to play sports in such a state? What exercises, in this case, are ideal?

How does exercise help with heart disease?

• reduce blood pressure and stress on the heart;
• increase the level of "good" cholesterol, which transports fats from the arteries and back to the liver for processing;
• lower the level of "bad" cholesterol, which contributes to the formation of fatty deposits in the arteries and the occurrence of heart disease;
• significantly improve blood circulation, prevent the formation of blood clots, which are quite capable of causing a stroke and heart attack;
• increase fat loss and promote weight loss;
• exercises help build muscle mass;
• physical activity also reduces stress by releasing endorphins. After a heart attack, stress and anxiety can slow recovery.

How much exercise is considered sufficient?

Aim to be physically active five days out of seven for thirty minutes. If it’s difficult for you, first break the recommended half hour into several sessions throughout the day.

The best activities for the heart

For heart the best occupation aerobic activity is considered, since it works large muscle groups. Brisk walking, running, dancing, cycling and even gardening are aerobic activities. Swimming is one of the most popular types of aerobic exercise. It is worth noting that it is better to master this sport by being trained by professionals who will tell you how to learn how to swim in the pool without risking poor health. It is also necessary to combine exercise with a balanced diet. You will benefit from unsaturated fats, carbohydrates, fiber, fruits and vegetables.

The following questions should be discussed with your doctor:

• certain medications may interfere with your exercise regimen;
• whether the selected exercises are safe for you, only a doctor can say;
• after the operation, you should not do hard work, and even more so carry weights in the gym and around the house;
• Get your doctor's approval before you use machines, lift weights, swim, or run.

Once approved by your doctor, find an experienced exercise specialist. If you know a synchronized swimming coach or race walking, you can take a few lessons from him or at least consult.

Do not overdo it isometric exercises such as squats and push-ups. Should not exercise outdoors when it's cold, hot or damp. Humidity can cause shortness of breath, extreme temperatures can affect circulation, make it difficult to breathe, and cause chest pain. The best exercises for the heart in this case are indoors.

Drink more water. It is important to drink water before you feel thirsty, especially on hot days. Do not take a shower or hot or cold bath immediately after exercising, as temperature changes seriously increase the workload on the heart. Do not exercise on hilly terrain. If you have to go through steep slopes When going uphill it is better to slow down the pace. Control your pulse.

If the exercise program was interrupted for a few days, you should return to your usual rhythm as soon as possible. But do not rush, just start at a lower level and gradually return to the previous level of training.

And today there are even athletes among the cores. However, for such people, it is more useful not sports, but physical education. Moreover, it is simply necessary for many of them.

Proper classes physical and exercise useful for people with hypertension, ischemic disease heart disease, heart failure and other heart diseases. They improve the quality of life, slow down the progress of the disease, prevent the development of heart attacks, strokes, heart failure and other serious complications. If there is no exacerbation or decompensation of the disease, then moderate exercise is not only contraindicated, but also necessary. But it should be understood that the level of load depends on the state of the cardiovascular system, blood pressure, pulse rate, pain syndrome. And only a doctor can accurately determine it. Therefore, if you are planning to do physical education, it is better to consult with him.

How much and how best to do it? Here are some tips for hypertensive patients from the influential professional medical organization, the British Heart Foundation:

Try to practice every day.

Your goal is at least 2.5 hours of class per week.

One lesson should last at least 10 minutes, and physical activity should be of moderate intensity. That is, the breathing rate and pulse should be faster than usual, and you should feel warm. This happens when brisk walking, cycling, swimming.

Lifting weights and working with weights is undesirable, with them the pressure rises higher.

A set of exercises for people with heart disease

Warm up(7-10 minutes): fast walk, easy run, various sips and inclinations. You can do all this by changing positions - standing, sitting, lying down.

Main part:

• Sitting on a chair

• Standing

1. Legs shoulder width apart. Raise your arms up through the sides (inhale) and lower them in the same way, leaning down and exhaling heavily and waving your arms.
2. Initial - hands on the belt. Alternately raise one arm up and over the head, tilting the torso to the side.
3. The original is the same. Turns the torso to the sides, then - rotation of the pelvis.
4. Legs are wider. Alternately, squatting on each leg, we transfer the weight of the body to it.
5. One leg in front, the other in the back. We bend the front leg at the knee (resting on it with our hands above the knee), transfer the load of the body onto it and spring it 3-4 times. Then for the other leg.
6. Feet at body width, arms forward and horizontal. We raise legs alternately to them (straight or bending at the knee).
7. Squats with arms outstretched forward.

The ending(5-10 minutes): Slow walking with deep breathing, raising and lowering the arms. Smooth tilts and rotations. Stretching of the body and limbs. Shaking of arms and legs.

Each exercise is done 5-10 times, the pace of movements and amplitude are arbitrary, depending on your capabilities and condition.

Expert opinion

Cardiologist, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of Clinical Functional Diagnostics and Scientific Secretary of the Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry. A. I. Evdokimova Yuri Vasyuk:

Physical exercises for most patients with cardiovascular diseases are useful. Exceptions are mainly associated with the period of exacerbation of the disease or its decompensation. Physical education is important even with heart failure, which can be the outcome of any disease of the heart and blood vessels. In this condition, the contractility of the heart decreases, and it pumps blood worse, over time, a person develops shortness of breath, swelling, and other symptoms. Physical exercise is recommended for all patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) if the disease is stable and there is no need for emergency treatment.

Studies have shown that regular exercise during three months improve exercise tolerance, improve the absorption of oxygen by the body. But these positive effects disappear after three weeks if you stop exercising. Therefore, patients with chronic heart failure are recommended to engage in physical education constantly. This is recorded in the official "National guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of CHF".

To maintain normal heart function and prevent cardiovascular diseases, special and regular training is necessary. However, it is known that not all types of physical activity are good for the heart. This is especially true for the elderly. Specialists have developed whole complexes of fitness workouts that have a beneficial effect on the heart muscle. Such exercises are very effective, but at the same time they are easy to perform and, last but not least, they are safe for health. In addition to regular exercise to train the heart, one should not forget about providing the body with the necessary amount of oxygen.

Strengthening of the heart is promoted by dynamic physical exercise. Such as skating, cycling or skiing, running. It is especially good to practice outdoors. Good prevention for cores is swimming and water aerobics. Choosing the type of physical activity, you should abandon the power and static exercises. They not only exacerbate cardiovascular diseases, but if performed incorrectly, negatively affect the joints and spine. This type of exercise can be hazardous to health. At the same time, it is necessary to know the measure in everything - you cannot overload the heart muscle, which is not ready for high loads. This can lead to hypoxia and hypertrophy of the heart muscle, as well as dilation of the heart vessels.

Prevention through exercise involves following certain recommendations. When starting to perform exercises for the heart, you must follow a number of rules:

• The principle of moderation - the increase in load should occur gradually.
• It is advisable to train in the morning immediately after waking up.
• At the beginning of each workout, as well as at its end, it is necessary to measure the pulse.
• Do not make sudden movements.
• It is better to perform the exercise longer, but at a calm pace.
• Preference should be given to cardio exercises.
• You can't start with big loads.

Rotational movements of the hands and feet of the legs and arms, carried out in the morning, will help improve blood flow. Fitness exercises with elements of tilts, squats and turns of the body must be performed with continuous monitoring of the heart rate. A pulse within 100 beats / min indicates an insufficient supply of oxygen to the blood. The heart rate increases with an increase in physical activity and, accordingly, the heart receives a sufficient amount of oxygen, the blood enters in the amount necessary for the normal functioning of the body.

Cardio fitness training is considered effective if a person is actively sweating. Any cardio workout done to strengthen the heart muscle should include three stages - this is a warm-up, the main part and the final part. The warm-up part of the workout should be at least 10 minutes. You can include a few simple exercises in it to set up the body for training mode. The main part can include up to 5 exercises, which will then be repeated. The final part of each workout should include gentle exercises to relax the body.

Before starting a fitness workout, you must not forget that not intensity is the key good result and the regularity of the exercises performed. Training should be cyclic - you need to alternate load with relaxation. Such cyclicity will contribute to an increase in the fibers of the heart and, as a result, the vessels and the heart muscle will be strengthened. Prevention in the form of physical activity will be effective if you perform training at least 3 times a week.

Below are a few fitness exercises that will help strengthen the heart and blood vessels. They are simple in execution, but, at the same time, quite effective.

• Stand on your toes and walk in such a way that when walking, your knees rise to the maximum height.
• Spread your legs slightly wider than your hips, raise your arms above your head and clasp them in the lock. In this position, the body is tilted to the sides. At the same time, while tilting to the right, the right leg must also be taken to right side and vice versa. Slopes should be as deep as possible. Repeat the exercise at least 10 times in each direction.
• Initial position - arms lowered along the body, legs together. From this position, one must circular motions hands. The exercise should be repeated 10 to 30 times.
• Raise your hands to the level chest and clapping gently on opposite shoulders. During this exercise, the body should remain straight. Provided there is no discomfort during execution this exercise it can be repeated up to 30 times.
• Lie on your back and bend your knees 90 degrees. Perform leg lifts - movements should resemble cycling.
• Lying on your back, stretch your legs and lift them 25 centimeters from the floor and cross your legs in the likeness of the “scissors” exercise.

Prevention of cardiovascular diseases and recovery after a heart attack

Physical exercises serve not only as a preventive measure for cardiovascular diseases, but are often included in the rehabilitation program after a heart attack. Fitness exercises to restore the heart muscle are recommended to be performed while still in the hospital, but always under the supervision of a doctor. After undergoing treatment in the hospital, while at home, you need to continue to do special exercises aimed at restoring the myocardium. Moderate physical activity will contribute to the full supply of the myocardium with useful substances and blood, which will accelerate the process of recovery of the body.

Such a set of fitness exercises involves walking in place, bending in different directions, swinging your legs. All exercises should be done at a moderate pace. The main thing is to observe the rhythm of breathing and control the heart rate. During exercise, the heart rate should not exceed 120 beats / min. Fitness classes should not cause discomfort.

Not all physical activity is suitable for heart training, especially if your health is not very good and the years are no longer young. But there are universal exercises that combine safety, efficiency and ease of execution.

Moderation and prudence

To strengthen the heart and blood vessels, dynamic loads are very useful, especially in the fresh air - jogging, skating, skiing, cycling, swimming, water aerobics. But about static, strength exercises it is better to forget the cores, since they not only overload the spine and joints, but also contribute to an increase in blood pressure, which is dangerous in case of cardiovascular problems. That's why gym- not for all. If the heart muscle, unprepared for high loads, is overworked, then it will not be able to pump the necessary amount of blood. As a result, many problems can arise, the most dangerous of which are hypoxia (lack of oxygen), as well as compensatory expansion of the heart vessels and hypertrophy of the heart muscle.

But even when doing heart-healthy sports, the load should be moderate, at least at first. They should be built up gradually, but at the same time regularly, and each workout should begin and end with pulse control.

To each his own

Even after suffering a heart attack, you should not put an end to the movement. After all, a properly selected motor load is one of the important conditions convalescence. Not without reason, even in a hospital bed, patients, under the guidance of a doctor, begin to perform various exercises, then - walk around the ward. And after discharge, they are sent to exercise therapy rooms at polyclinics or in sanatoriums. Physiotherapy in diseases of the cardiovascular system, it strengthens the heart muscle, increases its contractility, increases blood circulation, lowers cholesterol levels, and reduces the risk of thrombosis. Good blood flow massages the walls of blood vessels, which makes them more elastic. All this is an excellent prevention of atherosclerosis of blood vessels - the main cause of heart disease.

By the way, it has been proved that if therapeutic gymnastics within a year after suffering a heart attack, then mortality in the first year is reduced by 25%!

As for sports for those who have had a heart attack, a strictly individual approach is needed here, otherwise a new attack can be provoked. The statistics are relentless: 70% of repeated heart attacks occur within 3 years after the first. Therefore, there is no need to argue with doctors: what kind of motor regimen they recommend - this should be observed. Depending on the degree of heart damage to some patients, the doctor may allow moderate exercise soon after discharge from the hospital, while others will strictly forbid even walking at a fast pace.

You should not rely on your own well-being in the matter of choosing a training regimen, because this is a biased indicator. So, according to a study by scientists from the Kyiv Institute of Medical Problems of Physical Education, 14% of joggers who never complained about their heart had serious myocardial problems that were revealed only during a medical examination.

Pumping the main muscle

When performing gymnastics for people with problems of the cardiovascular system, it is important to adhere to certain rules:

even with good health, you can not sharply increase the load. And if suddenly somewhere something hurts, stings, shortness of breath appears - you must immediately stop doing the exercises. It will not go away on its own in half an hour - take nitroglycerin and urgently see a doctor;

gymnastics can be started only one and a half to two hours after eating.

Before, during and after exercise, you need to control the pulse. Even by the end of the workout, it should not exceed 120 beats per minute. And after 5 minutes of rest, it should return to its original value.

Get on the charger!

There are several options for gymnastics that are useful for heart problems. Here is one of them.

1. Starting position- sitting. Feet together, arms down. Alternately raise your hands up as you inhale, lower them as you exhale.

Raise each hand 5 times.

2. Bend your arms as much as possible at the elbows and raise them parallel to the floor at shoulder width, legs together. Elbows make circular movements 5 times clockwise, and the same number - counterclockwise.

3. Feet together, arms outstretched to the sides. Bend at the knee while inhaling left leg and press it to the stomach and chest, helping with hands. As you exhale, lower your leg, and spread your arms to the sides.

Repeat 3-5 times. The same with the right foot.

4. Hands on the waist, feet on the floor shoulder width apart. On an inhale, lean to the side. As you exhale, return to the starting position.

Do 3-5 times in each direction.

5. Feet on the floor shoulder width apart, arms to the sides. Inhale - raise your hands up and bend down to your knees. The head should remain in line with the body. On exhalation, return to the starting position.

Run 3-5 times.

6. Starting position - standing. Feet shoulder-width apart, arms down. On inspiration, take the right leg and arm to the side, hold for 2 seconds and, on exhalation, return to the starting position.

Do in each direction in turn 3-5 times.

7. Hands down, feet together. At the same time, make wide circular movements with your hands clockwise, then counterclockwise.

Run in each direction 3-5 times.

8. Hands on the waist, feet shoulder width apart. Make circular movements with the body in different directions 5-10 times.

9. Hands down, feet together. Walking in place for 15-30 minutes.