5 Best Exercises to Strengthen Your Heart: How Walking, Cycling and More Help Cardiovascular Health

Experts recommend these five exercises to strengthen your heart. Don’t miss a beat on ways to improve your well-being.

Walk of Life

“Walking is one of the simplest and most effective exercises you can do for your heart,” point out the folks from Family First Urgent Care in Texas. “If you are just starting out, start with shorter walks and gradually increase the length and intensity as you get used to it. The faster your walking speed, the faster your heart rate, which makes walking an excellent cardiovascular activity.”

Weight and See

“Building the other muscles in your body will help your heart,” say doctors at Utah’s Intermountain Health. “[And] weight training will help you build muscle mass.” You can hit the weights at the gym, but “things like push-ups, squats or pull-ups all help you build muscle and contribute to heart health.”

Jump to It

According to the experts from GoodRx: “Jumping rope isn’t just good for your muscles and bones. It strengthens your heart and lungs, too. The compound exercise (i.e., one requiring multi-joint movements that work several muscles at once) raises your heart rate quickly by working multiple muscles.”

Cycle Through

Whether it be a stationary or road bike, “when you cycle, your heart rate is elevated, causing your heart to work more efficiently by pumping oxygen to your muscles,” says trainer John Gardner, cofounder of the training platform Kickoff. “This helps reduce cardiovascular diseases and also reduces your resting heart rate as the heart muscle strengthens.”

Get in the Swim

Per the folks at the Swim Strong Foundation: “Swimming is an aerobic exercise, [which] strengthens the heart by helping. it to become larger, making it more efficient in pumping — which leads to better blood flow throughout your body.” Increased blood flow reduces the risk of both heart disease and stroke.