I don't like either of the cholesterol medicines my doctor wants me to take: statins and/or niacin.Both have unpleasant side effects for me. (Actually, I don't like any medicines, but that's another story.)
I have had a little success with raising my HDL ("good") cholesterol by consuming things like olive oil, peanuts, peanut butter, avocados, salmon, and dry red wine.
Also, I have recently started to exercise as another way to try to raise my HDL. I have purchased a home gym (a cheap imitation of a Bowflex), and another machine that is a cheap imitation of the Total Gym. In addition, I have ordered a cheap imitation of the Tony Little Gazelle, and a weight bench to help me with some light dumbbell exercises.
So, my question is: should I expect much improvement in my HDL cholesterol with exercises using these devices? (If they seem to be helping, I may spend more money and move up to the miore expensive stuff.)
You might want to reevaluate your objective. The question you should ask is whether raising HDL as your sole objective or you want to raise your HDL as a way to combat/counterbalance your high LDL.
I personally think the latter case is actually your objective. If that is the case, an attempt to raise your HDL wouldn't be beneficial to you if your LDL is still way high.
HDL is the good cholesterol that your body natural synthesizes and regulates to the optimal level. LDL is what you get if you eat too much eat and dairy product, an egg a day almost exceeds the limit of your recommended cholesterol intake. If you really really want to lower your LDL, the simplest way is to eliminate meat all together. That eliminates LDL all together and you body still produces all the HDL you need. Your doctor's subcription for anti-cholesterol medicine is just the modern day quack for a quick fix.
In addition, exercise is absolutely crucial, but not all means avoided those commercial junks known as home gyms, they are more than useless. Fitness is composed of five components: cardiovascular condition, muscular strength, flexibility, power, agility. I should only be concerned with the first 3, the rest are for atheletes. You can achieve cardiovascular condition simply by walking. The second and third can be achieved by calisthenics using your own body, nothing is better than a weight of 100 lb of resistance, forget all those gym equipment.
Do your own research and understand every aspect of your health and medicine. What you want to do is entirely up to you. Good luck.