I find the hills are cunningly getting steeper as I get older and I try to follow a regular pattern of exercise so I can monitor how I am getting on. I find that if I stop walking for about a fortnight my ability to walk, in terms of when I get breathless, starts to decline. So my question is do you (or any one else) know of any research into maintaining muscle tone in your heart?
Ian
Hello Ian , I don't know of any research other that we are advised by the medical profession to take regular daily exercise like a brisk 20 min walk (fast enough to talk but not to sing as the TV doctor Mosley puts it) to help us to stay fit .
I do just that whatever the weather (and even slowly stagger down the lane with the dog when I have AF )
I have found in the past as a gardener it is easy to 'lose stamina' during the winter when I am less active and since I was diagnosed with AF I have tried hard not to let that happen by taking daily exercise and watching my weight.I do find now when I get back in the garden in the spring it isn't such hard going.
Well snap Ian, I agree with you, the hills are certainly getting steeper these days!
Interesting question you've asked and I guess as we get older maintaining as much muscle tone as we can throughout the whole of our body is vital. How to do it when we feel drained by a heart in AF I really don't know. I suppose we just have to make the most of days when we're feeling reasonably well. It will be interesting to see what others have to say on this subject.
Jean
Not only getting steeper. Hills are appearing where it was previously flat.
another Jean
Put succinctly and plainly, I believe it is a product of aging. I answer my own questions like that when I realize keeping up with myself as in years and times past in my 60's has been problematic as I had not noticed it until I did. But I comfort myself that NOBODY my age can and I am the most fit of my friends even younger than myself by 10-15 years. Welcome to the reality of aging. Can't give up, or it gets worse even quicker. It is harder now as I suffer from worsening back condition that is pushing me further into the corner as I age as walking or standing for more than 5-10 minutes is agony so I do all my exercising in place and in short bursts.
Have you tried walking backwards. Seriously it is meant to strengthen calf muscles and gives a new perspective on life.
Is it possible to improve your heart strength after an av node ablation? I also have an enlarged heart and wonder if exercise improves the heart as well as other benefits?
I am in same situation and would also like to ask the same question... look forward to some hints
I do the same of always walking the same course at least once a week to monitor my heart health and I'm surprised it takes yours two weeks to decline. If I miss two days exercise then I notice it on the third day. Someone told me that every half hour brisk walking adds a half hour to your life so you have to think of it as 'free time'. Of course this new time may be when you are too old to really enjoy it but keeping fit does make the rest of the day a lot more pleasurable.
Exercise is always good. (My personal aphorism).
It is probably your leg and other muscles that lose tone. When you 're running g to train for a race or similar if you miss two days training you start to go backwards.
I am 57 After my atial fib ablation in ja uary i developed flutter and was laid up for a month. After my flutter ablation i struggled to keep up witb my misses walking less than a mile. Until last july i was running 6 or 8 , 8 min to 8 15 miles juzt to keep fit. A terrible decline but I have just got back to 3 x 9 min miles so you can get back fitter if you keep trying.(assuming nothing else is wrong g with your heart)
Magnesium, CoQ10 and L-Carnitine are all supposed to strengthen the heart. It is a muscle so exercise should do so too, except, possibly, when in AF.
Me too! I used to do soo....much exercise until 2 yrs ago when I suddenly had afib. Now, after 2 ablations, the last one a 3d mapping one, I have just recovered from & in October can hopefully start leaving out Bisoprolol & Flecainide. Breast stroke swimming I find is good. I do pilates too & that helps me. Walking good too if weather ok. When I get out of breath & have to stop frequently I find the same route easier the next day. Keep us posted how you get on.
Hi all
thanks for all the input and suggestions. I think steady gentle exercise on a regular basis is the key, as so many of you have suggested. I am fortunate in that I have 2 neighbours who also like going out in all weathers. I have heard us being referred to as the last the last of the summer swine.
When I were a lad I one my uncles was a wheel tapper on the LNER and I asked about being a train driver . He said " You start by being a engine cleaner in the shed, raking out the ashes and getting the engines ready. After a while you can become a fireman and shovel a constant flow of coal from the tender to the firebox, it is constant hard effort. Then when you are about 35 and getting a bit knackered, then you can become a driver".
I liked RiderontheStorm's comment. ' You can't give up or it gets worse even quicker'. I can find plenty of research regarding the life extending ( life saving) benefits of getting your act together in your forties and fifties, but there's not much research about getting older and exercising with afib. I look forward to reading something in the future.
Ian
Bisoprolol and muscle weakness 
Heart Rate Spikes after Ablation
Upper body muscle pain
Bisopropol and heart rate
