8 Exercises for Improving Heart Health: Reduce Heart Issues for Seniors

Hey there, April Vieston, next here with my mom, Aiko. Hi. Now, heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. and worldwide. And while there are risk factors that we can't control, such as family history and your age, there are lifestyle behaviors that you can adopt to reduce your risk, such as incorporating a healthy diet, managing your stress, getting enough sleep, and exercise, all right? Okay, and so that's what we're gonna focus on today is that exercise portion. We often talk about, you know, what's the best combination of exercise, right? Well, it's cardio, aerobic exercises, strength training, and also, you know, flexibility training to make sure that your muscles are nice and limber, you can move right. Okay, so we're gonna incorporate all of those things in our workout today. Wow, all right. Okay, yeah, yeah, in a HIIT format, okay? So high-intensity interval training format. There are gonna be eight exercises, okay, that we're going to do twice, 25-second exercise rounds with 20 seconds of rest. Good. All right, okay, now, my mom is gonna be doing this one seated. I will be doing it standing to give you options, and, you know, if you wanna challenge yourself, you know, pick up some weights for the weight training portion. I've got five-pound weights here. My mom's got two- and three-pounders over there. Okay, all right, make sure that you have water handy, clear the area, and anything else I'm missing, Mom? No, I think you covered everything. Okay, all right. The heart is a muscle, so we gotta keep it strong. That's right. We're so excited to do this heart-healthy workout that has other health benefits as well. All right, so we'll take a pause here and get started. Hey, Mom, you wanna have a seat? Sure, thank you. All right, let's warm this thing up, okay? Let's just march it out. Get those muscles and joints moving. Your heart pumping. Ready to do this heart-healthy HIIT workout, okay? Very nice. Okay, give me some step-outs, Mom. Step it out, good, yeah. Wake up those hips, right? Okay, give me four more. Three, good, two, and one, good. March it out again. Take a breather, whew, breathe, everybody. Don't forget to breathe, okay? Don't stop breathing. And posture, just reminding you. Your shoulders, hips, knees, ankles, all in alignment, right, Mom? What? You're right, did you hear me? Hello, hello. My ears are out of alignment. All right, step it back now, step it back. Okay, either you're in chair or standing with me. Engage that posterior chain. Rub the glutes down to your feet, okay? Good work. Very nice. Okay, march that out. Nice work. All right, stop the feet. Give me a head tilt. Oh, yes. Okay, ear to shoulder here. Okay, center, ear to shoulder. That's always a nice stretch, right? Okay, and then look to your right and center. Look to your left and center. Just give me one more time. All right, center and left, center. Feel that in your neck? Yeah, it feels good. Good, okay, give me some nice little gentle shoulder rolls. Got shoulder issues, just take it easy, okay? Yeah, I mean, don't do it. Right, okay? I know a lot of people have shoulder issues. Don't need to do this move if you cannot do it, okay? And give me a nice little reach across the chest here. Reach across the chest, ah. This is nice for the, oh, just the back and the core. Really nice. Okay, and very nice. Okay, nice work on this gentle warmup. We'll take a pause here and get started with our workout. Okay, so have a seat, mom. I am sitting. Relax, okay? Our first move is going to be double steps with the arm up. Okay, just like this. Double steps, arm up. Opposite arm? Opposite arm. I want you to challenge your brain here, right? Okay, challenge the brain. We're on for 25 seconds, everyone. Okay, here we go. Now, in terms of tempo, you go at your own pace, but you know, for a HIIT workout, you want to elevate your heart rate. So at the end of the interval, you want to be able to feel like you're talking, but maybe you can't sing, okay? All right, so keep it going. Got another five seconds here. Breathe. Looking good. And now bring it down, okay? Gentle, gentle walking here, okay? Breathe, breathe, breathe. Okay, next move. I'm going to pick up weights here. You can do that if you want or not, okay? It's a hamstring. So kicking your heel back with a row, okay? Involving this strength training and cardio. Get all these joints moving, okay? Good, nice. Yeah, so if you're in a chair with my mom, you're just stepping it back, okay? All right. With me here? Yep. You're doing a single leg move. I'm not using any weights, though. That's okay. Work on your balance. You add weights when you feel like you want to challenge yourself and you're ready, okay? So if you're just starting out, don't use any equipment at all. That's right. Okay? Okay, good. Now, march it out. This is where you're going to bring it down, breathe it out. Ooh, I'm feeling dewy already. How about you? Not yet. Getting there, though. Okay, next one. Out, out, in, in, right? So you can go up here with the arms or you can keep them down here, okay? So out, out, in, in. Here we are. We're on. Breathe it out. Give me some arms, mom. Out, out, in, in with the arms, too. Out, out, in, in. Right, good. Out, out, in, in. Just don't hit me, okay? Nope. I'm going to keep my distance with these long arms. But you can fan me. Ooh, okay. There you go. Keep it going. Breathe. Okay. Breathe it out. Keep it going. You can come up here or down. See how nice, those nice intervals are fun. Yeah. Okay, good job. All right, so now. Ooh, breathe it out, everybody. Mom, we're just going to step it out, okay? Yeah. Now, if you want to pick up a weight on this one, you can. We're stepping it out and we're going to press forward. Okay. Okay, both arms. Breathe it out. We're on for 25. Okay. All right. Feeling that heart rate go up. That's what we want. We want to get that heart pumping, okay? Get that blood circulating throughout your entire body and your brain, everybody. Absolutely. Okay, keep it going. You're looking good. Oh yeah, I'm feeling this in my arms. We've got the whole upper and lower body moving at the same time. Excellent. And rest. Big rest, everybody. 50 seconds. Take a sip of water. Okay. We're in the desert here and it is hot. So drink your water, okay? Drink, drink, drink. Okay. Really nice, everybody. So you notice in those intervals, exercise intervals, yeah, the goal is to get your heart rate up at your own pace, okay? You want to just feel like you're really working, okay? Yeah. Now, but if you're, again, if you're just starting out, you just, it's just most important just to move. Yeah, whatever's comfortable. All right. Okay, good. All right, so we're going on to our next set of exercises and we're going to walk forward and walk it back. Okay. Okay, that's all we're doing. And you're going to step it forward and step it back. Okay, I'm not going to share. So walk it forward, walk it back. We did a recent walking backwards video. It was fun. And you know what? Something different. And also it's really easy on the knees and it really challenges your coordination, right? Okay, so forward, forward, and back, back. Keep going. Looking good. Nice work. You're doing forward, forward, back. Okay, good. March it out. I don't know what I'm doing. You're moving. Long as you're moving, long as you're moving. I'm moving. Doesn't matter, okay? All right. I'm going to pick up weights on the next one. Show you this one, okay? Now, we know the knee ups. Knee ups, okay? Right, we're engaging our core here and I'm pulling it back. My arms are 90 degrees. I've got these weights. Pulling it back. That's it. Good job, mom. With every knee up, pull it back. Breathe it out. Looking good. Breathe. Don't forget to breathe. Okay, keep going. Just a few more seconds. Yeah, you gotta lift your knees. You know, when you're walking, you can't be shuffling. That's right. You gotta lift up your feet. That's right. Rest. Okay, bring it down. Good work. That is exactly right. We want to pick those knees up, right? No shuffling. Okay, next one we're going to kind of in boxing mode, okay? Oh, boy. You can keep your feet moving or you can stop. Okay. All right, double arms. Punchy, punchy. Punchy, punchy, okay? Like a side move? Yep. If you want to stay in the middle, you can, but it's double arms. Double punches, right? With each arm, right? Circle, circle, circle, circle, right? Yeah. Getting his arms moving. I don't know about you, but I'm feeling this. Okay, marching out, everyone. Looking good. Okay. You're getting your steps in. Yep. You're challenging your heart. And believe it or not, this kind of exercise is great for all kinds of things, you know? Lower your blood sugar, helps to lower your blood pressure. That's important. Fantastic, okay? Okay, we're stepping it out and I want you to now push it to the side, right? Both arms. Push to the side, push to the side. Opposite, right? There you go, mom. That's good. Breathe it out. Looking great, everyone. Hang with it, okay? And again, wherever level you are, just keep moving, okay? Keep it moving. And you build up your strength gradually. Okay, big rest, everyone. Okay, big rest. Take a sip of water, please. Okay, nice work. Ooh. Very important to stay hydrated. Prevent cramping, all that. Okay, so hey, we did all eight. Yay! We're gonna go back to the top. All right. Okay? And just breathe. Okay, nice work. I'm just marching it out here, bringing that heart rate down. You feel your, how's your body feel? My body feels pretty good. Oh, good. How's your body feel? Let us know in the comments, okay? All right, we're going back to that. Double steps with the opposite arm up. Double and double. Now that you know the move, you can add some flair to it. Okay? All right, now, again, if you have shoulder issues, just bring your arms down here, okay? Or do whatever you can here, okay? It's just an opposite arm, opposite leg move is what I want you to do so that you can engage both sides of your brain. Okay? Coordination. That's right. Believe it or not, it's also working on your balance, too. That's true. Your entire body. Okay, march it out. That's important. March it out, march it out, march it out. Good work. Okay. Breathe, everyone. Just checking in. Check in with your body. And breathe. Going into that hamstring curl with the rope. Right? Hamstring curl with the rope. We're on, go. 25 seconds. Breathe. Good job. Yeah, good. Now, you're working on your balance here. It's a single leg move here. Yeah. And you got it. Yeah, even if I'm sitting, but you still have to worry about your balance. Right? And I want you to sit up tall, okay? Yeah, sit tall. I wouldn't look good if I fell off a chair. Yeah, that wouldn't be good. Okay, march it out. Okay, good job. Breathe, breathe, breathe. The sound going into those out, out, in, ins. And I want you to get those arms going, okay? Breathe it out. Rest here. You're looking good. Stay with it. Okay? And we're on. We're gonna go out, out, in, in. Just follow the out, out with the arms, right? Legs and arms go out at the same time. And breathe. And if you're feeling it, you know what? Increase the tempo or, you know, if you're a little tired, just slow down. That's right. You know, listen to your body here. Listen to your body. Yeah. Okay, keep it going. My body's saying that couch looks good. Well, you're gonna get the reward shortly. Okay, march it out. Nice job. Okay, breathe everybody. Okay, nice work. I'm gonna pick up one weight here. The next one. What are we doing next? Okay, we're doing that little step out, right? I'm pressing it forward, right? Okay. Just like that, right? Okay, breathe. We're still walking, but we're on. Now, 25 seconds. Breathe. You feel your heart rate up? Yep. Getting dewy now. Are you feeling your heart rate up? Yeah. Good. You're feeling a little dewy. That means you're really working it. So good job. That's good. Okay, breathe. Working on your cardiovascular health and building muscle at the same time. So great job, everybody. Big rest. Okay, nice work. See how fast these go? Ooh. Okay. Again, check in with your body. See how you're feeling. Take a sip of water. Strong muscles build muscle too, right? I'm sorry? Strong muscles build muscle. You're building more muscle. Well, strong muscles means you're definitely burning more. Strong muscles means, more muscle means you're burning more calories and you're stronger, everyone, right? So we wanna build that lean muscle mass, right? Having more muscle just burns more calories. That's good, yeah. To help you be leaner, okay? Which is another factor to think about with heart health, right? We wanna stay lean, right? Not have too much fat. Some fat's okay, but not too much belly fat, all right? Okay, we're going into that forward and backwards walking. Okay. Next, we're on. Let go. And back. And go one, two, three, four. One, three, four. I was really surprised, like a lot of you enjoyed the walking backwards workout. Yeah, it's true. So glad to hear it, because it really is a really nice little workout. You challenge your muscles in different ways. So different kind of workouts are great for the body to challenge your body to do different things. Okay? Okay, march it out. Breathe. How are you feeling? Feeling good. Good, okay. Going into that knee ups with the pulls, right? Okay. Just breathe it out here. So yeah, so we're on knee ups, right? Pulling it back. Okay, good. Pull it back. I like this one. Works the entire body on this one. You're working your core big time. You're working your upper body, your lower body, your balance. Everything. Pulse your body. That's right. Good job. Keep it going. All right. Working your back muscles. Helping with posture. Oh my God. All in one move. Walk it out. Breathe. Take a sip of water if you need it. We're going in the boxing ring next. Okay. Okay? Breathe it out. This is going so fast. It is. It's kind of like I want to do it more. It's like going really fast. Oh, sure. All right. Again, doubles, doubles, right? Double circle, double circle. You can do it to the side. You can do it front. Just watch out for your partner. Don't hit your partner in the face. Give me circle and circle. Circle, circle. Good. Yes. And I like if you can keep your feet moving because it even burns more calories. Plus you're getting in more steps. Nice work. March it out. Okay. Last move, everybody. Yeah. Great. Can you believe this? Okay. I'm going to pick up one weight. All right. Oh, you're doing little heel touches there. Very nice. Okay. Stepping it out and we're pushing it to the side. Right? Stepping it out, pushing to the side. Last 25 second round, everyone. Okay? Yay. We can do it. Remember that in Cinderella? Anyone remember Cinderella, the movie? That was one of my favorites. Still is. Okay. That little mouse saying, we can do it, we can do it. Anyone in Chicago, I saw that at the Colony Theater. Remember that? Okay. All right. Breathe it out, everyone. Nice work. Good job. Excellent work on completing this heart healthy HIIT workout. Good for your heart. Good for your blood pressure. Good for your lowering blood sugar too. Okay. All right. Let's just cool it down. All right. Breathe. Give me that nice little hamstring stretch. Leg straight out, toe up to the ceiling and reach. Again, flexibility, the stretching is very important so that your muscles remain limber and are able to move correctly, right? Absolutely. Right. So you want your muscles to be able to be limber so that you can get around, do your daily activities. And the older you get, the muscles really need to move. That's right. And so like stretching doesn't help your cardiovascular system but by stretching your muscles, it makes it easier to move. That's right. You feel better. Okay. Okay, good. Now one leg straight out to the side. Okay. One leg back. If you're standing with me, knee over ankle. Okay. Slight hinge. Watching the hinge, right? Okay. Stretch that leg out. Okay. Let's switch it to the other side. Ooh, that feels good. Toes facing forward. Good job. All right. I want you to give me some point and flex with the feet here. Okay. I'm gonna hold on here. Point and flex. Did a lot of footwork here. Nice work. In circles. Good. And reverse the circles. Good job. All right. And down. And give me that other foot. Now, you want to do more balance work here with me? You can stand on one leg and do it. Oh, that's pretty impressive. Yeah. Okay, good. Circles with the toes. Yep. And other side. Okay, good job. Are you feeling dewy? Reach. Yeah, yeah. Good. And reach. Give me three. Inhale, exhales up. Inhale up. Exhale down. And again, range of motion. Do whatever you can here. And down. Nice work. And one more. Clap that top. Good. Sit on hands. Reach. Oh, yes. And up. And reach the other side. And up. Great. Now, if you need more cool down, please check out our cool down videos. Really important to get those muscles relaxed and get back to a resting state. Get your heart rate down. Good job. Okay, nice work. Now, this workout can be done, if you're doing it at a higher intensity, two or three times a week, with at least a day of rest in between. Or if you're just doing it at a leisurely pace, this can be done every day. Okay, so that's your call. Listen to your body. Thank you so much for joining us. If you like this video, please give it a like, share, comment, let us know what you think, and subscribe to our channel. It's a joy to help you stay strong and get healthier, and we appreciate your support. So, look forward to seeing you in a future workout. And in the meantime, keep moving and keeping your heart healthy. See you soon.