Many people with heart disease lack the physical strength or self-confidence to perform common activities of daily living. According to the American Heart Association, mild-to-moderate resistance training can help these people improve muscular strength and endurance, thereby preventing and managing a variety of chronic medical conditions, modifying coronary risk factors and enhancing psychosocial well-being.

Resistance training can decrease demands on the heart during daily activities such as carrying groceries. AHA advises that programs with a single set of eight to ten different exercises (such as chest press, shoulder press, triceps extension, biceps curl, pull-down, lower-back extension, abdominal crunch, quadriceps extension or leg press, leg curls, and calf raise) performed two to three days a week will produce improvement. For a balanced increase in both strength and endurance, a range of eight to twelve repetitions is recommended for healthy people younger than 50, and 10 to 15 repetitions at lower resistance for cardiac patients and healthy people older than 50 or 60.

Resistance exercise has been shown to be safe in healthy people and men with low-risk heart disease; people with more severe disease should be evaluated by their physician before starting an exercise program of any type. The AHA notes that because of a lack of data on the effects of resistance training in moderate-to-high-risk cardiac patients, they cannot recommend routine resistance training for these individuals.

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Source:  American Heart Association. Science Advisory - Resistance exercise in individuals with and without cardiovascular disease. Circulation, Feb. 22, 2000;101:828-833.