How To Improve Fitness at Home

October is here, welcoming sunshine, blustery rain, a fuel crisis and the première of ‘No Time To Die’, Daniel Craig – Wikipedia’s final outing as James Bond. You may decide to work out at home to save fuel or you might just prefer to exercise at home. Regardless, we can’t guarantee a Bond-like transformation, but we can help get you started with some tips and guidance on how to improve overall fitness and wellbeing in the comfort of your home living or workspace.

General guidelines vary in terms of how frequently (and for how long) you should exercise every day – see NHS’ 10-minute home cardio workout – NHS (www.nhs.uk). For Roger and #TeamRBF, the message is simple: start to move and keep on moving every day and remain as physically and mentally active as you can.

How to Improve Your Cardiovascular Fitness at Home?

Before we get into more detail, it is important to differentiate between the various types of physical activity you can do. In this blog, we are focusing specifically on cardiovascular health (literally translated as ‘blood vessel health’. Other types of slightly lower impact exercise include strength training, tone and shape as well as muscle lengthening and stretching such as Yoga and Pilates.

What is Cardiovascular Fitness?

According to the www.nhs.uk website, “Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a general term for conditions affecting the heart or blood vessels… CVD is one of the main causes of death and disability in the UK, but it can often largely be prevented by leading a healthy lifestyle”.

The purpose of improving your cardiovascular fitness, ie an improved functionality of blood flow and efficiency of your heart and lungs, is to support life longevity and to enable the prevention of some life-limiting diseases. Based on the information medical experts have accrued about Covid-19 and the devastating impact it has had around the world since the start of 2020, those who are or were overweight, with Diabetes or heart or lung conditions were and still considered to be vulnerable in relation to the pandemic. So, it is never too late to start getting in better ‘cardiovascular shape’ as a preventative measure.

How to build your cardiovascular fitness?

We would recommend that you start at the beginning! Don’t try to run on a treadmill for 10 miles if you have never run before. Start slowly, with five, 10 or 15 minute walks or jogs and build up. Don’t worry if you can only walk to begin with but feel impatient. Some of the highest ranking www.BlueZone.com countries attribute their old age to good food, the occasional drink and walking everywhere! Salute!

How to measure your cardiovascular fitness?

Before you start exercising, take your resting pulse and ask yourself a few questions around when you last exercised, your lifestyle, weight, diet etc. If you know you have a history of high blood pressure or a chronic health condition, make sure you check with your GP first before you embark on your cardio journey. Write down notes around your fitness journey – measurements, pulse, blood pressure etc.

As a rule of thumb, as your cardiovascular fitness increases, your blood pressure should go down, as should your weight (or inches if not weight) and your pulse should decrease. Clearly, there are exceptions to every rule (and certain medications can impact upon your blood pressure and pulse) but you should notice a difference in how you feel. Exercise generates nature’s feelgood factor in the form of endorphin release.

What Exercises Improve Your Cardiovascular Fitness

In additional to walking and running, cardiovascular fitness can be improved through any form of activity that gets your heart pumping and brings on a bit of a sweat. So if you like dancing, bring the disco into your home; consider skipping or jumping jacks if you don’t want to get on a machine; invest in a cross trainer or exercise bike or simply run or walk up and down the stairs. There is no one size fits all approach to improving cardiovascular health – the most important thing to consider though is that you enjoy what you are doing.

Essential Home Gym Equipment

If you are saving up for a piece of home fitness equipment or if you are ready to buy, the Roger Black Fitness range is perfect for those starting out on their journey and for ongoing health maintenance, 365 days a year. However, as with any home fitness equipment purchase, consider a few things before you press ‘buy’:

• How much space do I have at home?
• What is my budget?
• What form(s) of exercise do I currently enjoy?

These three questions will help you filter out equipment that might be suitable for you and your home. The entire Roger Black Fitness range is priced under £500, with lead-in prices starting at just £159.00 for a folding exercise bike.

If you currently enjoy going to exercise classes such as spinning and want to get a bike to spin at home, check whether the bike you are buying has clips. In the case of Roger Black Fitness bikes, they are not suitable for spin enthusiasts but perfect for getting a hearty cardio and leg workout.

If you have less space at home, a Folding Exercise Bike or the Easy Fold Treadmill are brilliant choices. If you are feeling competitive, you can also use a Zwift Run Pod on your folding treadmill!

If you enjoy rowing, you can purchase from a wide variety of rowers for a more substantial upper body cardio workout or a cross trainer, if you can manage the arm-leg coordination.

In short, Roger and his team simply wants to get the nation moving and their hearts pumping to increase cardio health and mental wellbeing. We can’t guarantee you’ll be eligible for the Bond role any time soon but a Roger Black Fitness ‘Cardio Crusader’, one hundred per cent.