If you want a strong heart, you need to be doing 1 high intensity workout every week.
The latest research shows that those who perform at least 1 vigorous workout a week (near maximal heart rate) had much healthier, younger-looking and higher functioning hearts than those that didn’t. In fact, one study looked at endurance athletes and found an increased life expectancy of 2-8 years, especially when vigorous activity was involved. It isn’t just exercise that makes the difference, it’s the effort put in.
We see that not only is light exercise throughout the day important, but scheduling time when we push ourselves hard in the gym, and really challenge ourselves, is the secret to a long and healthy life.
An example of vigorous exercise includes:
Running intervals:
5 minute warmup easy
10X 30 second sprint, 1 minute easy
5 minute recover
Any bout that includes periods of hitting maximum threshold is the secret. You can perform this type of exercise through cardio, strength sessions (that focus on higher intensity output), dancing, rock-climbing, etc. It can be truly anything! It’s just about the effort.
