The easiest way to get your heart rate up?

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frankp
frankp Posts: 83
in Fitness and Exercise
Bike or running... lots of effort to get my heart rate up.

Nordic track... not that much effort to get my heart rate up.

Do you have a low effort way to get your heart rate up?

I'd like to try a rowing machine, but I don't have one.

Replies

  • frankp
    frankp Posts: 83
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    Bike or running... lots of effort to get my heart rate up.

    Nordic track... not that much effort to get my heart rate up.

    Do you have a low effort way to get your heart rate up?

    I'd like to try a rowing machine, but I don't have one.
  • pmkelly409
    pmkelly409 Posts: 1,653 Member
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    Bike or running... lots of effort to get my heart rate up.

    Nordic track... not that much effort to get my heart rate up.

    Do you have a low effort way to get your heart rate up?

    I'd like to try a rowing machine, but I don't have one.

    I think the elliptical is an all around great machine for low impact, low effort while keeping your heart rate up. Works for me everytime!
  • ohthatbambi
    ohthatbambi Posts: 1,098 Member
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    Jumping jacks will do it. Try about 50 and it will jump up. They are great to do b/t circuits.

    Also, running stairs. run up and down a flight of stairs and you get your HR up plus a good leg workout
  • damselfly25
    damselfly25 Posts: 59
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    Jumping rope always works for me...if you can do it for a minute straight sounds short but it will get you breathing heavy...:wink:

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  • PrincessLaundry
    PrincessLaundry Posts: 2,758 Member
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    {{snicker}}

    Hokay, it's official...I have GOT to drink less coffee...

    :tongue:
  • cwilson715
    cwilson715 Posts: 130
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    Punching bag! Or pretending like you have one, great low impact and it gets your heart rate going for sure.

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  • frankp
    frankp Posts: 83
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    Jumping rope sure gets the heart rate up, but for me it seems like a really high effort. Perhaps because I'm not that good at it. But that sure is a great inexpensive piece of excercise apparatus.

    Punching bag, hmmm that may be a good one, full body workout.

    I think the reason that Nordic track seems to be a low perceived effort while getting the heart rate up is because it uses so many muscles at the same time. I think Kelly's suggestion - the eliptical trainer would work the same as it looks like it works the same muscles as a Nordic track or maybe better as I think it would work the quads more.

    As a contrast, try to get your heart rate up doing dumbell curls, that would be lots of perceived effort with little impact on the heart rate. You're only working small muscles with curls.

    I think the key is to get as many muscles going at the same time as possible.

    What about swiming? (I don't have a pool thought, but the ocean is near by... lions and tigers and bears and sharks too :noway: )
  • PrincessLaundry
    PrincessLaundry Posts: 2,758 Member
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    What about swiming? (I don't have a pool thought, but the ocean is near by... lions and tigers and bears and sharks too :noway: )


    Hey there!
    We took a class on "How to not swim like food." I learned the following:

    Do not swim during feeding time - dawn or dusk.
    Swim with others who look/smell tastier. (This lessens the risk of being the first munched.)
    Swim with slower swimmers. (In order to escape faster.)
    And never surf near dolphins.
  • msarro
    msarro Posts: 2,748 Member
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    The best thing for getting your heart rate up is moving numerous muscle groups at once. For instance if running/biking won't work, its because you're not moving your upper body that much. Flex your abs, and move your arms.

    Jumping jacks, jump rope, swimming, even hoola hooping are all great for moving a number of muscle groups all at once for long periods of time.
  • frankp
    frankp Posts: 83
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    Hey there!
    We took a class on "How to not swim like food." I learned the following:

    Do not swim during feeding time - dawn or dusk.
    Swim with others who look/smell tastier. (This lessens the risk of being the first munched.)
    Swim with slower swimmers. (In order to escape faster.)
    And never surf near dolphins.

    Years ago I did ocean swiming a couple times a week, I'm in San Diego and it's a 10 minute drive to a popular ocean swiming area (the La Jolla Cove). There is bouys marking a swiming lane and 1/4 mile and 1/2 mile distances, I use to do the round trip to the 1/2 mile bouy which was 1 mile. Btw, it's highly recommended to do round trips :laugh: .

    You would get in deep deep water and I did see sharks. Leopard sharks, no worries. A blue shark (it's called a blue shark and it is blue - go figure), worried. A grey colored shark that I didn't know the type, worried. Haven't swam there for years now.

    And, a month or two ago a swimmer was killed by a great white about 5 miles up the coast.

    However, the number of shark attacks compared to the number of swimmers is a really low percentage. So the odds are in my favor. Still it's scary.

    Dolphins? The word around these parts is it's good when you see dolphins as it is less likely that the sharks will be around.

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