Heart health: mix strength and cardio

Most people treat heart exercise like a fork in the road: walk, run, bike, or lift. A cardiologist who spoke with TODAY said the better answer is to do both, because aerobic exercise and strength training change different heart-risk numbers in different ways. (today.com) Aerobic exercise is the kind that keeps your heart rate up for minutes at a time, like brisk walking, cycling, or swimming. Dr. Nieca Goldberg told TODAY it does more for blood pressure and cholesterol, which are two of the biggest drivers of heart disease. (today.com) Strength training is the kind that makes muscles push against resistance, like dumbbells, machines, bands, or body-weight squats. The American Heart Association says resistance work can reduce body fat, improve blood pressure, and help blood sugar control, which matters because diabetes raises cardiovascular risk. (heart.org) The split is simple: cardio trains the pump, and strength work trains the engine around it. More muscle gives your body a bigger place to store and use glucose, which improves insulin sensitivity instead of leaving extra sugar circulating in the blood. (cdc.gov) Federal exercise guidelines do not tell adults to pick one lane. They recommend at least 150 minutes a week of moderate aerobic activity, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, plus muscle-strengthening exercise on at least 2 days a week. (cdc.gov) That second part is where many people miss out. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans say nearly 80% of adults are not meeting the targets for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity, even though the benefits start with small amounts of movement. (cdc.gov) Researchers tested the “do both” idea in a one-year trial funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. In 406 adults ages 35 to 70 with overweight or obesity and elevated blood pressure, the combined cardio-plus-strength group improved a four-part cardiovascular risk score more than the strength-only group and about as much as the cardio-only group. (nhlbi.nih.gov) The catch is time. In that trial, the cardio-only group spent less total time exercising than the combined group, which means adding strength work may give you broader benefits without always beating cardio alone on every single heart marker. (nhlbi.nih.gov) For someone who already walks, the practical move is not to replace walking with deadlifts. It is to keep the walking habit and add two weekly sessions of resistance work that hit the major muscle groups in the legs, hips, back, chest, abdomen, shoulders, and arms. (heart.org) That can be as ordinary as 30 minutes of brisk walking on most days and 20 to 30 minutes of squats, rows, presses, or resistance-band work twice a week. The American Heart Association also says activity should be spread across the week, and that even light movement helps offset long hours of sitting. (heart.org)