Your resting heart rate is an indicator of how hard your heart is working to maintain adequate blood flow.  A resting heart rate of 60 to 80 beats per minute (bpm) is typically considered normal.  People in excellent physical condition have a resting heart rate of about 40 to 50 bpm, ahem.  Yet, an exceptionally high resting heart rate can be a sign of illness or overexertion.  New research even suggests that a long-term rise in one's resting heart rate leads to an earlier death.

   The stronger your heart, the more fit you are.  

   As you may know; to make your skeletal muscles stronger, you have to lift heavier weights or press against greater resistance in any weight-bearing exercise.  In order to make your heart muscle stronger, you must exercise against greater resistance also.

  As you exercise, your leg muscles force blood from the veins near them toward your heart.  Alternately, when your leg muscles relax, the veins near them fill with blood.  This alternating state of contraction and relaxation of your leg muscles act somewhat as a second heart pushing huge amounts of blood towards your heart.  Your heart then has to pump harder and faster to pump the extra blood from your legs to your heart and then to your body.  

   As you see, the harder you exercise, the more blood is pumped by your legs to your heart and the harder your heart has to work to push it out towards your body, leading your heart to beat faster and with more force to do the work. 

   Strengthening the heart and creating a fit, healthy body is determined by how hard you exercise and not by how long you exercise.  Depending on your level of fitness, exercising at a casual pace will not do much to strengthen either your heart or skeletal muscles.  As you work harder, more blood returns to your heart, increasing the amount of blood inside of your heart, so your heart will pump against greater resistance and the heart becomes stronger.

   There are several ways to exercise your heart.  A trained athlete may want to employ interval training, sprinting, or a new activity such as jump rope, kick boxing, or spinning.  Supersets, triple sets, and circuit training in the weight room are great, but you must keep up the pace between sets and exercises, no lengthy rest.  Whereas, someone new to exercise may want to start out slowly by walking on an incline or taking an aerobic class.  

   A recent study, presented to the American Heart Association, showed that even waltzing can benefit people with heart failure.  Researchers found that dancing helps hearts heal faster and improves breathing, sleep, and overall sense of well-being.  They also reported improved functioning for daily acitivities such as hobbies, housework, and sex.

   For more information, read my article on intensity.  
   But remember, safety first! 
Use my target heart rate calculator to calculate your heart rate training zone.