I've belonged to a gym most of my life until my sixties. I'm now 71 yrs old. I had to quit going to a gym for a couple of years due to supraventricular tachycardia and then afib.
Once I was diagnosed and started on meds I couldnt wait to get back to it. I was going 4 or 5 times a week doing cardio on the elliptical every day and strength training 3 times a week.
Because I'd moved to a different city after just being diagnosed and having several stress testings on the treadmill, I never got an answer as to the maximum heart rate I should exercise at. I know how to figure it out for healthy people but thought a cardiologist should be able to give me my specific safe number for my present age, condition and meds.
So I tried to ask the "new" cardiologist but he cut me off mid-sentence and said he'd send me to his fitness centre which is run primarily by students. While there I did get to talk to a telemedicine cardiologist for exactly 5 minutes who you speak to on a computer monitor. I don't know what health info of mine he had. It could not have been much because they hadn't gotten my file from the doctor who'd done all the original testing.
So he told me what I needed to do was HIIT. High Intensity Interval Training. You exercise at 100% capacity so you can't even talk for the 20 or 30 second intervals. You then let your heart rate get a little slower for perhaps 90 seconds and then go 100% again. Do that for about 8 intervals.
Really? I did it for 4 alternate days in my gym with no monitoring of course. My face was bright red for about an hour afterwards to the point that people were asking me if I was okay.
Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think that's necessary or safe for me at my age and with heart problems. I know young healthy people do it.
I wondered what people think about it here?
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myrlyn
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Sounds like this is a really bad idea. AF is not generally a killer but those who have died have usually been athletes who don't get the message and listen to their bodies. Here in UK we have the occasional marathion death due in part to AF.
Exercise is good but not to the extent that it makes you ill. General rule is you should be able to talk normally during exercise if you are in AF . We are not medically trained nor sports medics but remember that AF may well result from over exercise in the first place. We know that people like you will never want to stop this sort of regime but do take it easier please.
I thought the idea of extreme exercise for me at my age is ridiculous. I would never have thought of doing it on my own.
I told my cardiologist what the other one had told me to do and he said oh great!
They’re both very young men and I don’t think they have a clue what’s good for seniors.
When I go to the gym this past year I simply do a nice session on the elliptical keeping my heart rate in a moderate range.
No help from these two cardiologists near me.
The former one where I’d moved from was going to have me do cardiac rehab but they reiterated that I would be monitored always and cardiac care team members would be there to do CPR if necessary.
When I moved here I got the exact opposite attitude.
I have PSVT and came really close to death twice so don’t think I should be doing this.
Don't blame you. It's a hard old slog with this AF isn't it!!!! Unfortunately some medics just don't have a clue! You have to experience something to really understand what it's like.
Could you buy your own elliptical machine, that's what my 76 year old sister has done. She managed to reduce her diabetes by using it and come off of pills.
I agree with everyone. I understand your situation because all my doctors would not "stand up to the table" and give direction. Something I have experienced as well as many others with the doctors, no proper guidance and simply opaque answers.... Many times we are left searching for answers ourselves with nurses or internet, etc...... I must say that nurses have been the most help and best source of guidance for me. Now I am sure not all doctors are like this, but mine have been as well as many other friends who have the exact same concern. Now the best advice I was given came from a cardiac nurse who told me not to involve with HIIT for someone with a heart issue and also my age. Lifting weights are excellent for recovery to maintain muscle/strength but do higher repetitions with good form to maximize the weight being used. Aerobic activity is good but don't over do it either by blasting your heart in the stratosphere even for a brief moment. In summary for exercise don't push yourself so hard you are huffing and puffing and so short of breath. Set a small goal that is easily accomplished, get comfortable at that level and then move up a small increment. In closing, I am a former power lifter and this nurse said if you enjoy lifting weights, you do not have to quit, but look at it in a different light and continue on.....
Yes, I knew it was ludicrous advice from the doctor. I bet he didn’t even realize that I have asthma/copd too. I’ve always done weights. These days I only do them to try to maintain enough muscle to still be able to carry my own groceries etc. The goal is to be self-sufficient as long as possible.
My doc also suggested it to me but I dont feel good about it, Im voting no
I used to do HIT but after AF switched to yoga, hill walking and light weights and some bodyweight exercises which are more moderate, I am pretty sure HIT played a role in my AF developing ! Find a cardiologist who knows his stuff moderation is the key go for 80% of what you can do instead of pushing for the max !
I am an ex leisure centre manager (now retired) and the advice you have been given is not good advice, good advice is just to take regular exercise, eat healthily and rest when your body wants to rest, maintain a good healthy weight and a balance in your life. Now 75, I take my regular exercise, including walking the dog and belong to a seniors activity group in which we use the gym, have exercise classes, play tennis/badminton/table tennis and swim, we can do all or part of this and it also has a social side too, trips out, holidays etc, etc, and aimed at the Over 50's, a government initiative of the 1970's and this works on so many levels and this is what I would recommend, we have members still active and maintaining a good level of health who are 80+. Forgot to mention, I have just started Tai Chi classes which is apparently very good for mind, body and balance. Good luck.
Our French friend died after a long session at the gym. He was in his early 70s and extremely fit, he visited the gym daily most of his life so this wasn't a sudden burst of exercise, and when he did go, he exercised hard. His wife tried to revive him until the emergency services came but without success. Autopsies for sudden death aren't mandatory in France, his wife was just told that he had had a massive heart attack. He had absolutely no apparent health problems at all. We often speak about him, and puzzle over what did happen, we don't have enough medical knowledge to know if the cause of death can be determined that easily.
So a few weeks ago there was a lot of talk about the lean physique Prince Charles is sporting, he apparently does a very simple 11-minute regime of exercise every day. Following that there was an article in the Times supplement about fitness. The expert writing really stressed how vital it is not to overload the heart in older people - to exercise gently. I have looked for the article to send you a link but can't find it, but we read it at the time and our friend sprung to mind.
I am glad you are questioning your cardiologist's advice. I think it is wrong, and I think how you felt afterwards illustrates that. I hope you find a routine that is far more suited to you.
extreme exercise is bad for seniors i'm 69 and do only what my body tells me too you don't have to kill yourself with exercise gentle is the way to go we are special people at older ages most medical people are a lot younger and don't know what's best for us
I'm 72 and I'm just about to clock my one millionth metre on a Concept 2 rowing machine so I understand the attraction of cardio, the gym and exercising at home. That said, your gym routine didn't let your body recover. One you said that you had done treadmill tests, was that medically supervised Bruce Protocol tests? I believe that HIIT at our age is too extreme (and probably for a lot of people); steady state with some controlled surges will be better. Heart rate formulae are alwaways contaversial. For us older people with a hidtory of cardio, Metzl or Karvonen using heart rate reserve is less biased to younger people. Yoga has been mentioned and I used to love Candle, Shoulderstand and Plough after a hard gym session until I had a stroke. My Neurologist told me not to do inverted yoga poses as she had treated someone who had a stroke during a yoga session. She also told me o avoid weights (my kettlebells went to eBay). My experience of clinicians in the UK is that only one or two have been able to understand and comment on cardio, particulalrly as I don't fit the stereotype profile for my age. If you're thinking about a personal trainer (PT), watch them working with other people in the gym, and then choose a women. Most PT guys are all about showing you how fit thay are, whilst a woman won't stand for that macho stuff. My female PT who excelled in kick boxing and had some medical issues, told me not to use the weights as they were too heavy for me and I needed to get my form right. If you can, get some exercise equipment for home as in the gym, ego can take over and push you too hard.
Quite frankly I think that a lot of the advice bandied about by " fitness experts" these days is like that dished out about diet -to be taken with bucket loads of salt. This advice also never takes into account physiological differences between men and women. If we look at the way our ancestors evolved before agriculture took over and at modern hunter gatherer societies we will see that movement for a large part of the day would be necessary. You cannot gather food without walking around. But for women this is all that would have been done. The sharp intense bursts of movement that hunting might involve would not be possible with a nursing child on your back. I remember a programme about exercise on the BBC where it turned out that a waitress who never set foot in a gym actually got more exercise than all the gym bunnies. My grandparents never "exercised " their whole life. My gran lived to be a month off 98. She walked to the shops when younger, did all her washing by hand using an old fashioned mangle. My grandfather held that machines did not wash the clothes properly though I suspect he was just too mean to buy one. He had a sedentay job as bus driver but pottered about gardening . Many people who exercise intensively who are not professional athletes often do so because they become addicted to the "high" the endorphins give. But this is a two edged sword . Before retiring I practised a form of Indian dance that was very cardiac intensive. After performing and rehearsing I often experienced the high. But after the endorphins wore off the knee and back pain would kick in especially if I had not performed on a proper sprung dance floor - most of the time. Although I was not doing this on a very regular basis and got most of my exercise from gardening I sometimes wonder if it played apart in developing afib.
I am Welsh age 72, I have longevity in my family an aunt still alive at 93 and many more lived into their late 80s, they never exercised but worked very hard. Personally I think longevity is genetic.
My aunt had a heart attack at 55 but lived to 84, very poor quality of life for 30 years though. There is a problem with heart trouble in the family, my great uncle died suddenly with a heart attack at 64. I have another aunt of nearly 89 alive but has many health problems, my uncle died in 2017 age 96.
I am not a big fan for that type of training even if you don't have a heart issue. Since I believe my a fib gets triggered when my HR is quite high, I train with a sports monitor and keep the exercise intensity in the moderate range for my age ( 69).
63 year old rower and cyclist. In sinus rhythm again with Amioderone and trying to get back to normal exercise ( cruising heart rate of 130 or so). Used to do interval training in my 50s (HIT) but 30 seconds intensive (never to the point of collapse) and 3 minutes gentle rowing repeated 5 or 6 times. The rest period you got was for a young man!!
My problem is my cardiologist wont stop my beta blockers despite my heart rate being too slow, 40s on waking up and no more than 100 after cycling up a steep hill. Feels like my heart is beating so hard but not fast enough. Its like a chemical pacemaker.
Hi Bob, I agree about the beta blockers being like a chemical pacemaker. My brother’s been on Sotolol for many years and runs on the treadmill daily but says he can’t get his heart rate to as high as he would like.
I am a fellow extreme exercise enthusiast (which probably caused my AF), but at 56, I refuse to consider myself a senior. When I was first experiencing symptoms, I was given a preliminary diagnosis from my GP who referred me to the cardiology dept and an EP. Both of these were young and knew each other from the University Triathlon club, so had an idea of the limits of exercise and AF.
Prior to AF i had a resting HR of 57 and a tested max of 185. Initially, I was told to continue with light exercise and keep to a max of 130. This was difficult until I started Beta blockers, but when I started them I struggled to get my HR up that high.
Three months after ablation I was AF-free and off all medications (and still am more than two years later). I was told I could exercise relatively normally, but I had to avoid HIIT and not return to anything close to racing. The advice I have now is to watch my HR; it is OK if it rises, but I need to stop and phone an ambulance if it doesn't fall on reduction of effort. During exercise, I generally average around 140 and back off if my HR approaches 165. I am slower than i used to be, but my health is so good compared to what I expected a couple of years ago, I am not going to risk anything more intensive.
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