Aerobic activity uses your heart and lungs for a long period of time. It also helps your heart use oxygen better and improves blood flow. You want to make your heart work a little harder every time, but not too hard. Start slowly. Choose an aerobic activity such as walking, swimming, light jogging, or biking. Do this at least 3 to 4 times a week. Always do 5 minutes of stretching or moving around to warm up your muscles and heart before exercising. Allow time to cool down after you exercise. Do the same activity but at a slower pace.

This exercise is for your push-muscle groups. It involves the muscles across your chest, the front of your shoulder, the back of your arm. It involves a pushing motion, and it’s excellent if you’ve had a cardiovascular event, but you have to be a little bit careful - particularly if you’ve had open heart surgery - that you proceed with these exercises at the appropriate time after recovery. And the only way to really find that out is to consult with your cardiac exercise specialist, physician or cardiologist.

So what you want to do with the push exercise is find a surface about countertop height, and then do a push-up motion - just like a standard push-up. But having it up higher makes it a little bit easier. Remember to keep your back in a neutral position so that you’re on like a rigid plank. Also may help to go up on your toes a tiny bit. And again you just want to do enough repetitions that you’re creating fatigue through your front of your shoulders, back of your arms and through your chest.

If you find that you can do 20 repetitions without difficulty, you can make it a little bit more challenging by doing a traditional push-up on the floor. On the other hand, if you find it too difficult, or you’re not even able to finish eight repetitions, you can make it a little bit easier by doing the push-up against the wall. So this is a great example of a push-muscle exercise, but if you have more questions or want to find an exercise that’s more specific to your needs, please consult your local trainer, kinesiologist, physiotherapist. Often seeing a local family physician or a physiotherapist in conjunction with a registered dietitian and athletic therapist is a great option to take control of this condition. Smart Food Now and exercise is also optimal for overall health. Presenter: Mr. Min Naruki-van Velzen, Athletic Therapist, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Athletic Therapist

This next exercise is a tricep exercise. Your tricep is located on the backside of your arm. It’s a great one to do if you’re trying to get rid of metabolic syndrome because it’s simple, you can do it at home, with just a set of dumbbells. The tricep kickback involves muscles in the back of your arm. The key thing here is to keep your elbow tight against your body, and not swing about your shoulder. All the motion should be about your elbow. Remember to keep your back close to parallel and horizontal with the ground.

So there you have a very simple tricep exercise to get you started. If you’re looking for a program that’s more customized to your needs, please contact your local kinesiologist, exercise specialist or physiotherapist.  Presenter: Mr. Min Naruki-van Velzen, Athletic Therapist, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Athletic Therapist

Strength training is really helpful after you've had a heart event, but there are some safety things that you have to be a little bit cautious of. But rest assured eventually you will be able to get back to a strengthening program and to be able to be lifting heavier things. Perhaps initially it's best to wait until you consult with an exercise specialist about what would be an approropieate program for you to follow. 
But it really does help out with the recovery process in terms of gaining back functional strength and improving many health outcomes.  And people are often surprised to know that lifting weights and doing strengthening activities is completely safe and it might involve all kinds of activities in your community. Things like kayaking, or perhaps Pilates, yoga, joining a group fitness class.

And believe it or not, for some people even something like a boot camp might be helpful for them. But really the important thing to do is first get some direction in terms of what is safe and suitable for you from your cardiac exercise specialist or at least your general practitioner. One way that strength training helps you that doesn't get talked about as much is it really improves metabolism and particularly your sensitivity to insulin. And if you're diabetic or pre-diabetic it really helps to control blood sugar. 
Strength training can also help with osteoarthritis if done properly, it helps out with osteoporosis, and in general it raises your metabolic rate which may assist again with some weight management. If you're interested in strength training you'll get further information in a cardiac rehab program, if you're interested in cardiac rehab, talk to your family doctor or cardiologist about being referred.   Presenter: Mr. Min Naruki-van Velzen, Athletic Therapist, Vancouver, BC

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If exercise puts too much strain on your heart, you may have pain and other symptoms, such as:

• Dizziness or lightheadedness
• Chest pain
• Irregular heartbeat or pulse
• Shortness of breath
• Nausea

It is important that you pay attention to these warning signs. Stop what you are doing. Rest.

If you have symptoms, write down what you were doing and the time of day. Share this with your provider. If these symptoms are very bad or do not go away when you stop the activity, let your provider know right away. Your provider can give you advice about exercise at your regular medical appointments.

Know your resting pulse rate. Also know a safe exercising pulse rate. Try taking your pulse during exercise. This way, you can see if your heart is beating at a safe exercise rate. If it is too high, slow down. Then, take it again after exercise to see if it comes back to normal within about 10 minutes. 

You can take your pulse in the wrist area below the base of your thumb. Use your index and third fingers of the opposite hand to locate your pulse and count the number of beats per minute.     Drink plenty of water. Take frequent breaks during exercise or other strenuous activities. Local Cardiologist