tl;dr: looking for a moderately intense upper body workout that will impact heart rate the most.
I am a "new" runner again after not going out of my way to exercise for the last 20 years or so. My blood pressure had gotten insane (resting rate was clocked at +180/+120 at a Dr. checkup earlier this year.) so I decided to take action.
For the past couple of months, I have been working my way up from walking, to power-walking, to almost jogging and now into actual running at probably a 8-10 minute/mile pace. Thankfully, I have always been on the thinner side, so I get to focus purely on cardio for now.
Of course, my posture and gait sucked ass at first and I was pushing too hard without much recovery time, so as a result, I am babysitting minor MCL injuries right now. There isn't anything torn or anything, just sore as hell. I literally just got back from a 2.5 mile walk, but it was kind of pointless as it was extremely slow pace and I had to stay focused on knee safety.
However, as a result of the walking/jogging/running, my resting blood pressure is already down to a reasonable average of 124/90 and my Dr. has reduced my BP meds (beta blockers). As hell has apparently frozen over, she even managed to crack a smile over my lifestyle changes. (She has seen me through some rough times to include my most severe alcoholism days, so I was just used to stern looks and pseudo-lectures.)
Through my fitness apps, I noticed a direct correlation between max heart rate achieved (over time) to reduction of BP and lower resting heart rate and I want more!
On my running down time/recovery time, I would like keep to pushing my heart rate a bit. What upper body exercises are best for heart rate as I still am able to commit 1-1.5 hrs per day to fitness? Until I can plateau my fitness level and switch to more "maintenance syle" exercises, I would prefer to keep pushing fairly hard.
Any suggestions would be appreciated and I hope my storytime post gave context to my situation. Cheers!
Core exercises that use motion such as crunches, situps, leg lifts, bicycles if they don't hurt your knees or you can do them straight-legged can get your heart pumping. And they'll help build support for better gait.
I started those this morning before my walk, actually. My calf are the first thing to give out when running or power walking and read that I need to focus more on other parts of my body like you suggest. (Glutes specifically for calf endurance.)
Thanks for suggesting more core exercises though. It does align with what I have been reading so far, so confirmation is awesome.
Ah, maybe try letting your heels hang off an edge, not too high and with something to hold onto, then raising to tiptoe and lowering to heel-stretch, up and down until you START to feel it in your calves and/or shins, then stop. Don't overdo, build slowly. You won't really know until 2 days later if you can do more next time. Surely by now you've learned pushing too hard just sets you back.