Month: September 2023

Prioritizing your heart function is the best thing you can do for your body’s health. In fact, regular  cardio exercise is essential for maintaining heart health. Those who don’t exercise are twice as likely to develop heart disease. If you have a family history of heart disease or simply are worried for yourself, developing the right workout routine is key. 

Running Heart Rate–The Basics 

To specifically target heart health, you should gauge your heart rate during exercise. Generally, the more intensive the activity, the higher it will be. The average running heart rate for most people between ages 20 to 45 is 100 to 160 beats per minute. If you’re new to exercising, you’ll want to stay in the lower heart rate zones. Heart rate training for runners, on the other hand, can aim higher to accommodate for their experience. Most aerobic exercise, the best type for targeting heart function, falls in the second zone.

Now that you know a little more about how heart rate factors into exercise, let’s get into some heart healthy tips! We’ll cover some of the best exercises for heart health. 

Interval Training

No matter what cardio workouts you go with, using interval training doing your routine is a fantastic way to strengthen your heart. Interval training is often used for not only heart health, but also weight loss, diabetes, and endurance training. 

Here’s how the method works: combine short bursts of intense exercise with periods of lighter activity. For example, you could go back and forth between running and jogging while on the treadmill. Try walking three minutes at your normal speed, then running for about one minute to start with. By repeatedly increasing and lowering your running heart rate, this strategy improves vascular function.

 

Walking

When it comes to exercise, we all have to start somewhere, and daily walking is a great way to do it. While this may seem easy, walking is incredibly important. All you need to do this exercise is some running shoes. You can squeeze it in during a lunch break, at home, or before work in the morning. The accessibility of walking makes it a must for beginners. You can up your cardiac output by doing interval training, speed-walking, or carrying small weights along the way. 

Running

Ready to take that daily walk to the next level? Running is just as accessible and easy as walking, but it demands a bit more from your legs. Like other cardio exercises, running boosts circulation and your overall vascular health. Even running just 30 minutes daily a few times a week reduces LDL cholesterol, a contributing factor in heart disease.

If you can, avoid running on hard concrete pavement. It’s better if you can run in areas with a little more cushion for your feet, such as grass or a track. Your feet constantly pounding on the ground will eventually catch up to your body. To prevent cutting your run short from sore feet, try running in other areas. You could also invest a pair of cushioned sneakers to soften the blow. 

Strength Training

Strength training does wonders for your heart when coupled with activities like walking, running, or cycling. Also called resistance training, this type of exercise burns fat and builds muscle. Combined with aerobics, strength training helps lower LDL cholesterol and reduces the risk of  heart attack. We recommend doing strength training a couple times a week. Try using free weights and resistance bands to train for cardiovascular health.  

Yoga

What’s unique about yoga is that it engages both your body and mind. Yoga is all about embracing calm, and it’s proved time and time again to be an effective way to relax your brain. Emotional stress can be extremely harmful for heart health for several reasons. Stress releases hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which increases blood pressure and may narrow your arteries. Mindfulness exercises like yoga can help prevent this.

 

Cycling

Bike riding is another popular way to improve cardiorespiratory health. Cycling is fun, low-impact, and easy. Non-impact sports are also great for your heart, but not everyone is gifted on the field or in the pool. Cycling is a fun and inclusive exercise method most people can do. At its best, cycling shouldn’t feel like exercise. It’s fun to whirr around the neighborhood or a forest trail on your bike! And since it’s an aerobic activity, it gives your heart, lungs, and blood vessels a good workout. 

Yoga is a powerful form of stress relief and can also boost heart health in other ways. According to John Hopkins Medicine, a study found that blood measurements and waist circumference improved in people with metabolic syndrome who practiced yoga for several months. 

Remember, the key to a strong heart is building a routine. These exercises are only effective if you make a habit of practicing them regularly. Curious about more ways to improve cardiovascular health? Read about everything exercise and fitness on Ninefit’s blog. 

If you’re putting in the effort to maintain a daily workout routine, it’s only natural that you would want to get the absolute most you can out of it. To do that, it’s extremely helpful to have a way to track your vitals, see the impact your workout is having on you, and have a way to keep up with your fitness goals. Fortunately, wearable smart tech makes it possible to do all that and more, so let’s take a look at a few of its most useful functions.

Tracking Steps

Most wearable devices, smartwatches, and fitness trackers include a pedometer as one of their most basic features, so you can count on it being included no matter which one you end up buying. If you’re just trying to be more active in general rather than dedicating yourself to a full-on workout routine, a pedometer is an invaluable tool for doing so. Just set a specific target for your daily number of steps and go about your day as normal, going on walks, jogs, or runs regularly to make sure you hit that goal. Once you’ve reached the end of the day, you can see if you met, exceeded, or fell short of your goal, and adjust your plan from there until you’re living the perfect active lifestyle.

Monitoring Total Workout Time

Most experts agree that in order to see tangible results and growth from cardio workouts, you need to engage in your workout for between 15-30 minutes. Rather than carry around a separate workout timer or stopwatch, you can easily integrate it into that one convenient piece of wearable tech on your wrist. From there, all you have to do is get to your workout and let your wearable tech take care of the rest.

Using Interval Timers

When doing intense physical activities like cardio, you may prefer to do several intervals of different exercises, like alternating between running and power-walking. Keeping track of these intervals with a regular timer can be a hassle, but many smart fitness tracking devices include features that allow you to create custom intervals for each of your different exercises. When the interval on one exercise reaches its end, a sound or vibration signal will play to tell you to switch exercises, continuing until the end of your workout.

Easy Music Management

For many people, having a great playlist is an absolute essential to making it through their daily workout routine, but carrying your phone in your hand or strapping it to your arm is inconvenient and often requires you to break stride if you want to make any adjustments to your tunes. A smartwatch, in addition to all the other functions of a wearable fitness tracker, can sync up with your phone and wireless earbuds to give you a seamless experience that makes for easy and convenient changes to the volume, track, or playlist you’re listening to.

Monitoring Heart Rate

Heart rate and blood pressure are great indicators of your general health, which is why most, if not all wearable fitness trackers include a pulse monitor. If you’re unsure whether or not your heart rate is healthy, there are a few basic guidelines you can look at. Generally, people have a resting heart rate between 60 and 100 beats per minute, with a lower rate typically indicating a healthier, more efficient heart. 

As for your active heart rate, aim to keep it between 50-85% of your maximum heart rate. Your maximum heart rate can be found by subtracting your age from 220. For example, the average 30-year-old would have a maximum heart rate of 190 beats per minute. Exceeding for an extended period of time can increase your risk of heart issues, so be sure to stay safe and keep track of your pulse!

Keeping Track of Your Goals

Of course, the most important part of any great fitness routine is your ability to set and achieve goals. Fortunately, smart technology can even help you with that! If you have goals for a certain number of steps or amount of active time per day, keep those in mind, and have your smart device track them. Then, at the end of each day, write down your results, and at the end of each week, see how well you did on your goals. From there, you can tweak and adjust your daily routine to best accommodate your workouts and ultimately, reach the goal of a better, healthier you.

Looking for more great fitness tips, tricks, and products to get the most out of your daily workouts? Visit us at NineFit today!

If you’re working on figuring out a long-term exercise routine, you may be asking yourself whether it’s better to go with indoor or outdoor workouts. A workout is a workout, of course, but an indoor workout may provide benefits that an outdoor workout doesn’t, and vice versa. So, which of the two is better? Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of outdoor vs. indoor workouts.

Indoors: Weather-Proof

If you’ve done outdoor exercise sessions in the past, you probably know the pain of gearing up for a run, only to find out that it’s raining, extremely humid, or some other sort of nasty weather that’s going to make your workout session that much more difficult. With a roof over your head, though, the weather has absolutely no bearing on your workout routine or the quality thereof, so you can stay in shape come rain or shine.

Outdoors: Environmental Variety

If you’re working on figuring out a long-term exercise routine, you may be asking yourself whether it’s better to go with indoor or outdoor workouts. A workout is a workout, of course, but an indoor workout may provide benefits that an outdoor workout doesn’t, and vice versa. So, which of the two is better? Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of each.

Indoors: Weather-Proof

If you’ve done outdoor exercise sessions in the past, you probably know the pain of gearing up for a run, only to find out that it’s raining, extremely humid, or some other sort of nasty weather that’s going to make your workout session that much more difficult. With a roof over your head, though, the weather has absolutely no bearing on your workout routine or the quality thereof, so you can stay in shape come rain or shine.

Outdoors: Environmental Variety

An estimated one billion people across the globe suffer from vitamin D deficiency, which leads to cramps, aches and pains, fatigue, and an overall worse mood. With so much of our lives spent indoors, we often don’t get enough time in the sun for our vitamin D needs to be met, so an outdoor workout is the best way to compensate. Many people who exercise outdoors regularly note a boosted mood and a greater sense of alertness, so if you’ve been feeling lethargic lately, an outdoor workout regimen may be just the thing you need. 

Indoors: Specialized Workout Equipment

Many workout routines designed for strength training and muscle building involve exercises that require highly specific pieces of equipment. Most of these pieces of equipment are designed for indoor use exclusively, so if you happen to get your hands on one, it’ll have to stay in your home gym. Of course, the disadvantages of being bound indoors are far outweighed by the advantages of having this specialized workout equipment, which typically allows you to target the specific muscle groups you want to train and focus on them until you’ve achieved the results you want.

Outdoors: No Subscription Fee or Equipment Required

The downside to all of this equipment, though, is that someone has to pay for it, and usually, that someone is you. Whether you’re buying the equipment upfront, renting it for your home gym, or paying for a gym subscription, indoor workout routines have a bad habit of becoming very expensive, very quickly. 

If you can afford it, there’s not a problem, but if you’re trying to pinch a few pennies here and there, an outdoor workout is the way to go. As most outdoor exercise routines heavily lean on movement-based cardio, there’s minimal, if any, equipment involved. Do you have a comfy set of workout clothes and a body that can move? If so, you most likely have everything you need for a great outdoor workout.

The Verdict?

So, with all things said and done, which is better: indoor or outdoor exercises? Ultimately, it’s a matter of personal preference. There’s no such thing as a single perfect workout routine. What works for one person may not work for the next, so having a great routine is all about finding what works for you personally. We recommend incorporating both indoor and outdoor exercises into your routine to experience the benefits of both, but ultimately, the decision is up to you, so find what you most enjoy and go for it!


Looking for more great exercise tips, advice, and products? Feel free to visit us at NineFit today!

Whether you’re a seasoned athlete or just a beginner, you deserve to feel supported and comfortable during your workout. No matter how toned your chest is, your breasts are still susceptible to tearing, since they do not contain muscle. Wearing a sports bra prevents unnecessary pain or discomfort you might feel with sagging breasts. Trust us, a great sports bra makes all the difference during a workout.

Choosing the right one seems deceptively simple, but there’s actually a lot that goes into finding a decent gym bra. From size and style to fabric and straps, there are many factors to consider. In this blog post, we’ll guide you through the process of selecting a sports bra that will make your workouts even better.

Match Your Activity Level to Your Bra Top 

One of the most important things to consider when shopping for women’s sports bras is activity level. Sports bras are designed to provide three different levels of support, depending on your impact level during exercise. Support can be divided into three categories: low, medium, and high. The higher the impact, the more support you need. Any exercise that involves a lot of jumping or bouncing will need a bra with more support. On the other hand, yoga bras are better for low-impact exercise like stretches. Here’s a more detailed breakdown of bra support levels: 

Low Support Bras 

• Best for: walking, strength training, and yoga. 
• Ideal for A and B cup sizes 
• Features: narrow bands, light-weight, offer light compression effect

Medium Support Bras 

• Best for: hiking, skiing, cycling 
• Features: Restricts breast movement more than low-support bras, wider straps 
• Both compression and push up sports bras are available 

High Support Bras 

• Best for: high-intensity workouts, mountain biking, and running 
• Features: Hook-loop closures, wider straps, restricts breast movement the most 
• Ideal for D cup sizes and above 

If you play a variety of different types of exercises, you’ll probably need a few different types of bras to match. It’s also a good idea to own a couple sports bras to extend their use and avoid wearing them out.

 

Ensure a Good Fit 

Finding the right fit is crucial. Generally, your sports bra will be the same size as the size you normally wear. It should fit more snugly than your other bras, but still provide breathing room. Here are some tips to keep in mind when determining fit: 

• Test the bra’s support by running in place or jumping. If there’s too much movement up and down or side to side, it’s time to keep looking. 
• Make sure the cups fully contain your breasts. If you notice wrinkles or gaps in the fabric while wearing the bra, they’re probably too big. If your breasts are spilling out of the bra, you need a bigger size or a different cut that provides more coverage. 
• Test the band’s fit by raising your hands up and turning around in the mirror. Check the band— is it level or riding up in the back? If you notice the latter, you need a smaller band size. The ideal size you allow to  put two fingers between the band and your rib cage. 
  
  

Select the Right Strap Type 

You might be surprised by the variety of straps on bras for women. There are many different types out there, but we’ll just cover the basics here. First, you’ll notice when browsing for sports bras that the straps will vary in width. A wider strap provides you with more support, but some women prefer thin straps because they’re easier to conceal.  

There are three main strap types to choose from: crisscross, tank top, and racerback. Crisscross bras cross over in the back, and often have adjustable straps so you can customize your fit. They’re usually found in low or medium support bras. The straps on these types of bras conceal well under a jacket or another top, or they make a nice fashion statement on their own.

Tank top sports bras are the most like every-day bras. They usually have a back closure and adjustable straps. Racerback bras have striking straps that form a “Y” shape on the back. They do a great job holding breasts in place, but some people don’t like the pressure they put on the neck. Still, these straps are a great feature for high-impact exercise. 

Find High-Performance Sports Bras at Ninefit 

Don’t let all the different types of bras out there scare you— choosing the right sports bra is easy with a bit of research. By understanding the main types of bras, strap styles, and what works best with your routine, you’ll find your go-to bra in no time. Whether you want a sleek black sports bra or a casual sports top, NineFit has you covered. Shop sports bras, leggings, workout equipment, and more at NineFit now.