American Heart Month

Alright, so February is American Heart Month and Reena wanted to talk all about cardio. I just got my cardio workout in changing. Yes. For these workout segments. You said the CDC says that Americans, not many of us are getting that recommended amount of cardio.

Yeah, you're right. Only about 24% of Americans are getting the recommended amount of exercise, which is about 150 minutes per week of moderate exercise.

That's really not a lot if you break that down over 7 days.

Right, or even 5 days, it's 30 minutes a day, right? But I think when it comes to things like cardio, it can be intimidating for a lot of people, right? It might be too intense, so they might have an injury or joint issues. So, um, in honor of American Heart Month, I wanted to make it more accessible by showing 4 simple cardio exercises that you can do without even having to jump.

Okay, I'm excited. All right, well, let's get started. These are 4 moves you can do at home with us. Get off the couch, let's hit those minutes. Okay, where are we starting?

We're starting with simple squats, right? Most of us know how to do squats, so we're going to start with our feet about shoulder width apart. You're going to pull in your core, and you're just going to come down and up. And you can come down as low as you want, but obviously the bigger the range of motion, the more your heart rate is going to go up. So let's just do 2 more, making sure your knees are staying behind your toes and then tucking in the core and the glutes. So simple squats, you can do these anywhere. Most of us know how to do them, but what you probably don't realize is that it's going to get your heart rate up.

Okay, great. All right, you feeling good? All right, what else are we gonna do, Reena?

All right, so we're gonna do some lunges backward. So we'll start with our right legs, and what we're going to do is also bring our arms up overhead, because when you get the arms above head and heart, the heart rate goes up, hence the cardio. So starting on the right leg, we're gonna lunge back and then come together. Switch legs, other leg back and together. Let's do 4 more. So deep lunges, your back leg goes down towards the floor. The front knee, I know it happens to me too. And 1 more. So is your heart rate getting up? Do you feel that?

Yeah, I do. Especially when you try to talk while you're doing it.

Exactly. Yeah, it's cardio. So the next one we can spread out a little bit. So we have, each of us have room. We're gonna do side lunges. So the arms, hand are going to start up above the head and heart, and you're going to lunge to the side and then come back to the center. Other side, come back to the center. Let's just do a couple more of these.

I'm not doing these right. What the heck?

So you're stepping from the middle and then you're lunging out, right? And then you're just— there you go. All right, so out to the sides, and then we'll do one more and then back together.

So yeah, okay, those were 3 moves. What's one more we can all do today?

Yeah, so the last one is a curtsy lunge. So you're literally going to take a little curtsy. So we'll start again with our right and you're just gonna come and step behind, keeping your front knee behind your toes. Come down again, and we'll just do a couple more like this. Nice deep curtsy lunge. Again, the greater the range of motion, the more your heart rate is going to get up. So this is great on your back. It's great on your knee joints. I'm even out of breath right now.

Well, you've been talking the whole time. I think a lot of people forget if you're talking while you do it, that is even tougher.

Even tougher.

So feel free, catch your breath. Exactly. This is so important to do. Especially as we age. I think we've been talking a lot about aging in this episode, just coincidentally. You cannot let your workout slack as you age.

Absolutely not. It almost becomes even more important to prevent things like diabetes and heart disease, cancer, obesity. So not only do you need the cardio for American Heart Month and all months, the strength training is really important as well. And the 4 exercises that we just did today are good strength training exercises for your lower body and core and glutes. So, yeah.

And I love that you always share things we can do at home because it's so easy to say like, oh, I can't afford a gym membership or I don't have time to go to the gym. Reena makes it accessible for you. So if you're not already following her or checking out her website, PassionFit, you have so many great resources. Thank you. What do you want people to keep in mind when they, I mean, should they get your book? Should they listen to your podcast so that we can all live our best life? Those power moves you encourage us to take. What should we do first, book or podcast?

That's right. I would say probably sign up for the newsletter because then you'll, it's free. Just go to passionfit.com. It's right on the homepage. Then you can learn more about the books, the podcasts, the coaching sessions, the fitness classes, and all the other things we offer for companies as well. But yeah, check it out because we love to keep people happy and healthy, especially here in San Diego.

All right, well, let's squat it out as we end our show. Let's just keep squatting.

Yeah, we're just gonna squat till the end.

Here we go, Ashley. Let's go down and up. If you want to, you can download the Fox 5 KUSI Now app and have the Localist SD 24/7. And ooh, we got more people. Look at it. Bring us back on camera for this. Today's show is sponsored by Renovation Realty and Passion Fit.