This booklet has been designed to help you exercise safely at home. It can be used with the British Heart Foundation (BHF) online videos that are free to access and will guide you through your exercise session.

Before you start any exercise, it is important that you have had an assessment with your cardiac rehabilitation team to work out how much exercise you can safely do at home and to determine which exercise video you should follow.

It is really important that you have read and understood the information in this booklet and that you know which level of exercise you should start.

If you have any questions please contact the cardiac rehabilitation team who will be able to help you. They can be contacted on: 01274 364348 or for people with hearing or speech difficulties, you can contact them using the Relay UK app. Textphone users will need to dial 18001 ahead of the number to be contacted.

Please follow the advice below prior to starting any exercise:

• Wear loose comfortable clothing that helps you to move freely.
• Clear enough space in the room so you can take three steps in any direction.
• Keep the temperature comfortable; perhaps open a window so you do not get too hot.
• Do not exercise for at least two hours after eating food, or drinking alcohol.
• Have a bottle/glass of water to hand either during exercise or at the end to replace the fluid you lose during the session.

Before you start any exercise, make sure you feel rested and feel well. You should not start any of the exercises and should contact your GP or the cardiac rehabilitation team if:

• Your heart beat feels irregular, and this is not normal for you.
• You have a temperature or feel generally unwell.
• You have chest pain when at rest.

The warm up should last 15 minutes and prepares your body for exercise. The gradual build-up of activity improves the blood flow to the heart and working muscles. This helps the oxygen to get to where it is needed.

The stretches at the end of the warm up improves your range of movement.

Your warm up should involve moving your arms and legs in most directions and should include:

• Tapping your toes forward.
• Heel digs forward.
• Stepping one foot behind. Right foot then left foot.

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 rate your feeling of exertion and fatigue as spontaneously and as honestly as possible.

• 6 No exertion at all.
• 7-8 Extremely light on exertion.
• 9-10 Very light. For a normal, healthy person it is like walking slowly at his/her own pace.
• 11-12 Light.
• 13-14 Somewhat Hard, but feels ok to continue.
• 15-16 Hard (heavy)
• 17-18 Very hard. It is very strenuous, a healthy persion can still go on, but he/she really has to push themselves. It feels very heavy and the persion is very tired.
• 19-20 Extremely Hard. For most people this is the most strenuous exercise they have ever experienced.

• 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:

• 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. Details of the BORG scale can be found above.

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.

Physiotherapy Department
Bradford Royal Infirmary
Duckworth Lane
Bradford
BD9 6RJ
Tel: 01274 364 348
Monday to Friday 8.00am to 5.00pm

BHF Videos

British Heart Foundation - exercise videos (opens in new window)

Seated exercises

British Gymnastics Foundation - seated exercises video (opens in new window)