Cardiovascular Disease (General)

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) here means established conditions such as coronary artery disease, prior myocardial infarction, angina, heart failure, peripheral artery disease, or post-revascularization status. Exercise reduces mortality and improves function and quality of life, but risk during exercise is higher in this group, so structure and supervision matter.

Framework — cardiac rehabilitation: medically supervised, individualized exercise + education + risk-factor management is the standard entry point after a cardiac event/diagnosis; it improves outcomes and teaches safe self-monitoring.

General prescription (ACSM, individualized post-clearance):

• Aerobic: most days, building toward 20–60 min/session, moderate intensity guided by a clinically determined safe range (HR reserve, RPE, or below an ischemic/symptom threshold). Start low; many begin with intervals/short bouts.
• Resistance: typically introduced after an initial aerobic-conditioning period, 2–3 days/week, lighter loads/higher reps, avoiding Valsalva; usually deferred for a defined period after a cardiac event or sternotomy.
• Warm-up/cool-down: extended and emphasized to reduce arrhythmia/ischemia risk.

• Use RPE and symptom monitoring alongside HR; many are on beta-blockers (blunted HR) — see rpe-borg-scales.
• Keep intensity below the angina/ischemic threshold if one is known.
• Watch for and avoid exercising during unstable symptoms; account for medications (nitrates, beta-blockers, antiplatelets/anticoagulants — bleeding/bruising).
• Peripheral artery disease: supervised walking to moderate claudication pain is therapeutic.

• Medical clearance and (ideally) supervised cardiac rehab are essential before independent exercise (medical-clearance-screening).
• Stop immediately and seek emergency care for: chest pain/pressure, radiating arm/jaw pain, severe breathlessness, dizziness/syncope, palpitations/irregular rhythm, cold sweat, nausea (cardio-safety-contraindications).
• Absolute contraindications to exercise (per ACSM) include unstable angina, uncontrolled arrhythmias, decompensated heart failure, recent MI/active ischemia, severe symptomatic aortic stenosis, acute systemic illness, etc. — exercise only when stabilized and cleared.

Educational only; not medical advice. People with CVD must follow individualized guidance from their cardiologist/cardiac-rehab team; this content does not replace that care.

• Start within supervised cardiac rehabilitation; benefits are large but exercise risk is higher.
• Aerobic: most days, build to 20–60 min, moderate, below symptom/ischemic threshold.
• Resistance added later, lighter/higher-rep, no Valsalva.
• Use RPE + symptoms (beta-blockers blunt HR); extended warm-up/cool-down.
• Clearance essential; stop for any cardiac warning signs.

• hypertension / dyslipidemia / metabolic-syndrome — co-managed risk factors.
• exercise-is-medicine — overarching framing.
• cardio-safety-contraindications — warning signs and contraindications.
• rpe-borg-scales — intensity gauge when HR is unreliable.