Home Exercise for Cardiac Rehabilitation

This is the main part of the exercise session and should last 20 minutes. This will help tone and strengthen your muscles and improve your heart’s efficiency. You will be able to progress through the different levels identified on the BHF videos after advice from your cardiac rehabilitation team. If you do not have internet access, exercise level sheets will be sent to you.

This part of the exercise session should last for 10 minutes and is about gradually slowing down the exercises so that your heart rate and blood pressure return to normal, as they will both have risen whilst you have been exercising. You repeat the stretches done in the warm up to try and help prevent any stiffness which you might feel later, and to improve your flexibility.

During your assessment with the cardiac rehabilitation team, you should have discussed the Borg scale rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and how you should use it.

This is a safe and effective way to help you measure how hard your body is working when you exercise i.e. how heavy and strenuous the exercise feels to you and how tired you are. The perception of exertion is mainly felt as strain and fatigue in your muscles, as breathlessness or some aching during exercise. Using a scale from 6-20, you choose a rating number to describe how hard the activity feels. You base the number on how tired you are, how hard it is to breathe and how hard it is to do the exercise.

You should think about your RPE during the warm up, so you know you are at the right level to start the conditioning phase. During the conditioning phase you should record your RPE number every five minutes on the exercise Level sheet sent out to you. Try to appraise your feeling of exertion and fatigue as spontaneously and as honestly as possible.

• On the onset of chest pain, discomfort or tightness sit down and rest for 1-2
minutes. If the pain persists then spray GTN under the tongue once, close your mouth and relax.
• Wait 5 minutes.
• If pain is still there, repeat the GTN spray as above.
• If after 10 minutes you continue to have pain please contact 999, they will advise a further spray while you wait for the ambulance crew to arrive.

When you are exercising it is normal to feel:
• Slightly sweaty.
• Warm or slightly flushed.
• That you are breathing deeper and faster.
• Your heart beating faster.

You should slow down and make the movements smaller if:
• Your breathing is uncomfortable.
• You feel excessively tired or are sweating a lot.
• Your rating of perceived exertion (RPE) identified on the BORG scale is higher than recommended by your cardiac rehabilitation team.

If your RPE does not go down when you have tried to slow down and reduce
the movements for a few minutes, walk on the spot slowly. If you are still feeling short of breath after a couple of minutes, stop and sit down in a supportive chair.

You should also stop, sit down, and not resume the exercise session again if:
• You feel dizzy.
• You feel chest pain.
• Your heart beat becomes irregular.
You can resume exercise tomorrow if the above symptoms have resolved.