Strengthening the Most Important Muscle
Like all muscles, your heart has to be trained in order to maintain its strength and conditioning. Whether it’s a quick run in the morning, half an hour on the stationary bike, or a leisurely walk around the neighborhood with the family dog, a few minutes of cardio each day can be a huge help to your hearts overall health.
Having a strong heart boosts your cardiovascular system, helps your body utilize oxygen more efficiently, lowers the risk for heart disease, and even allows the heart to better repair itself when damaged. There are four basic components to fitness: cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and flexibility. Cardiovascular endurance is vital because it directly coincides with how effectively you can increase the other fitness elements.
Follow these tips to effectively train your heart to become stronger:
Engage Your Muscles
The American Heart Association recommends 30 minutes of moderate/vigorous aerobic exercise on 4-5 days per week. To get the most out of aerobics, focus on engaging the largest muscle groups (chest, legs, back, and abs) in a continuous, rhythmic manner. By doing this, your heart has to work harder to deliver oxygen-rich blood to muscle tissue, which results in a mini workout that supports and promotes your heart’s cardiovascular strength.
Cardio Intervals
If you’re looking to increase your heart health quickly, interval training is the way to go. Intervals work by incorporating high-intensity cardio with periods of lower, relaxed cardio. This results in an extremely effective and efficient workout. Studies have shown that doing 15 minutes of interval training has been linked to preventing heart disease as well as improving your overall fitness.
Bonus: Interval training burns more calories per minute than simply jogging on a treadmill.
Weight Training
Similar to interval training, weight training is an effective way to strengthen all the muscles in your body, especially your heart. The key to having a productive weight training session is limiting the rest period between sets. Most gym goers will rest for approximately 30-90 seconds between sets. However, if your goal is greater endurance (and a stronger heart) you’ll have to surrender some break time. But trust us, your heart will thank you.
Know When to Slow Down
Just as important as an performing an intense cardio session, is knowing when to slow down. Too much adrenaline in the system can be harmful to your heart’s health. If your heart rate is jumping up too high or you feel pain, lower the intensity of your workout to let your heart slow down, then once your heart has relaxed, up the intensity to a moderate pace, but don’t overexert yourself. Be sure to drink water during “cool down” periods since the heart tends to beat faster when the cells in your body are dehydrated.
Get Enough Sleep
According to studies, young and middle-aged adults who sleep for approximately 7 hours per night have less calcium build-up in their arteries than those who sleep less than 6 hours or more than 9 hours. Similarly, those who sleep more soundly during the night tend to have healthier arteries than those who don’t. Remember that the quality of your sleep is directly reflected in the quality of your training and ultimately influences how strong your heart is, or how strong it can become.
In observance of Presidents’ Day on Monday, February 15, Synergy Customer Service, the Synergy store, and Synergy Headquarters will be closed.
In the first month of the SLMsmart 90-day Challenge we are already seeing the beginnings of incredible transformations taking shape. Perhaps even more important than the physical transformations underway are the mental transformations that need to take place first. The first few weeks of the Challenge require a substantial yet attainable shift in the way the Challenger thinks and acts. Many of our Challengers are already getting the hang of altering their thought processes and increasing their mental toughness in order to make healthy decisions. We can learn a lot from these individuals!
January 2016
Now that you’ve begun setting yourself up for success by attending Kickoff events, considering where you want to take yourself in 2016, and performing the necessary steps to contact new customers and Team Members, how do you bring all these new pieces of information and ideas into one cohesive whole to reach your goals? Action planning and goal setting are some of the most productive ways to reach your potential as a business owner.
February is Heart Health Month here in the United States, and we are celebrating at Synergy by sharing our heart health knowledge with you. We encourage you to pay special attention to your heart this month. After all, it is a hard working muscle in your body. At times, we get caught up in daily routines and neglect the heart’s needs. However, by making heart healthy choices every day, you have the power to strengthen not only your heart, but your overall wellness.
Our bodies speak to us in many ways, and they are particularly good at letting us know when they are unhappy. It’s all too easy in today’s world to fall into unhealthy habits involving lack of exercise, lack of sleep, heightened stress levels, and of course, our diets. It’s true, no one is perfect, and on occasion we indulge in foods that are deemed unhealthy. We may even go weeks, months, or years at a time without setting foot into a gym.
ProArgi-9+ has once again claimed its place in the Physicians’ Desk Reference (PDR). The 70th edition of the 2016 PDR contains approved drug and supplement label information in addition to hundreds of full-color product images, including a photo of ProArgi-9+. Each product description includes dosages, side effects, and more.
We look forward to seeing all those who registered for the 2016 Kickoff on Friday, February 5! This event will build an incredible amount of excitement as attendees learn where Synergy is headed in 2016 and beyond. Synergy’s future is bright and the potential is limitless.
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