Heart Tip 10: Exercise

Treadmill
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This is a creative way to make your treadmill
experience more interesting.

This one is a no-brainer. When you lift weights, your muscles get stronger and healthier. Your heart is a muscle, so the same thing holds true for it. Doctors recommend 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise three times a week at the bare minimum. If you want to really get yourself into shape, you should try and get that 30-minute workout in five to seven days a week. Not everyone loves to jog or go to the gym. This is why the key to any exercise plan is to make it something that you enjoy.

If you hate to jog, try a team sport or play some tennis. If tennis is too hard on your joints, try swimming. If you can't swim, take your dog for a brisk daily walk. Throw the Frisbee with friends in the park. Go rollerblading. If you love golf, ditch the cart and walk the 18 holes. Exercise doesn't have to mean plodding away on a treadmill. Find something you enjoy doing and do it with regularity to establish a routine. After about a month, that routine is ingrained as a habit. Before you know it, that habit has you on your way to avoiding a heart attack.