Morning. After a successful ablation. Does your heart lose a certain amount of cardio fitness for ever ? Ie
If you can run a 10m in 1hour before the ablation. Does an ablation make your heart lose a fraction of co2 fitness. Or will after time you be able to get back to exactly the same fitness levels ?
Cheers
Rightly or wrongly, I feel that it is this desire to become super fit that is at the root of a lot of Afib. I think it may start when you push yourself one way or another and your heart tries to help by adding in an extra beat. It doesn't realise that it is doing no good at all but it just wants to assist you.
What good is it if you are able to do 10 miles in an hour? What does it matter if you can't? By trying to get cardio fit you may be doing just the opposite. You need to do a certain amount of exercise to keep your heart in good condition but if, by overdoing things, you bring on AFib then what have you gained?
After an ablation do everything in moderation, don't push yourself, exercise but only what your body is happy to do easily.
Since it is likely just that activity that caused the A Fib in the first place one needs to maybe re think life goals.
If you define “cardio fitness” as running faster and further, ablation won’t reduce your potential to increase the damage to your left atrium with which your af is associated.The only reason to run rather than jog, is if you enjoy the wind in your hair, the sun on your back, the view from the top and the endorphin rush...
Thanks all.
There will be some ever so slight reduction in your cardio output due to the very nature of the ablation process. My cardiologist told me that you cannot undo through exercise anything done during your ablation.
I feel what people are hinting at is by the nature of the question it would seem that you like to push yourself to the limit and as I have personally found out this is one of the triggers for afib to start with. It is a shame many of us do not find this out until it is too late.
If the fitness world was more honest and perhaps informed its participants of the long term risks of extreme cardio efforts there could be a genuine reduction in new cases each year. Talk it through with your doc, tell him your concerns and your goals post ablation and maybe try and step back from the strava KOM's if you can.
Cheers yes that’s what I was asking. Thanks
Totally! We need to redefine what is meant by fitness and wellness. The fitness industry hype has a lot to answer for.
I was 57.5 yrs when I had my ablation and I could run 8 minute miles cross country prior to this. I was not an athlete - I ran 4 or 6 miles 2 or 3 times a week max, and did cycling max 1 or 2 times a week.I was slower after afib progressed mainly due to the drugs.
After my succesful ablation I got back to 8 mins 15 to 8 mins 20 best but I was a few years older AND I deliberately restricted my max HR to 155bpm where previously I had not been concerned.
So I think that if the heart is fit and drug free the PVI ablation I had did not affect my heart. I have not been running the last 12 months as I hurt my knee, which running seemed to aggravate, and and have never tried to get it investigated owing to Covid.( so far)
The other thing is I am sure my AFIB was not owing to running. In fact for the first 20 months of my AFIB life I found if I went running it terminated my AFIB after 7 to 10 mins . Say my AFIB progressed past this.
If you think you developed Afib owing to excess endurance sport , then you have some other things to consider.
Not sure about this. Only a small proportion of athletic types develop AF. Naturally they are over represented here on AFA. Family history of AF hypertension and anxiety, associated with type A personality, all predict AF. Whether avoidance of strenuous exercise over decades is a separate risk in this group is an unknown. The need to exercise compulsively into old age may reflect this personality type.
That said, despite permanent AF at 68, and what I now know, I wouldn’t give up on a lifetime of athletic pursuits. It was part of my DNA and brought me much joy: and I can still indulge, albeit more modestly.
I have mentioned previously how many cyclists and runners are amongst the "posters". To my mind and that of my first cardiologist there is a link between slow resting heartbeat, the striving and drive for fitness then- Afib.
Others have stated that they also believe in the link between activity and Afib. Some qualified further by saying extreme exercise. But what is extreme. Extreme for one could just be a jog in the park for another.
A note to admin. As this is a very and somewhat subjective topic. Just a thought could we start with some form of questionnaire. Maybe sponsored by some research institute to try and bottom causation with exercise or over exercise. Is it causation or correlation? To many fitness strivers on this site to ignore - my thoughts.
I prefer not to make assumptions as to the reasons why people develop AF. You'd need extensive medical training and a full history to even attempt such a thing. Some folk do like to try though. My personal maxim is to ignore training advice from anyone whose idea of exertion is pulling out a particularly reluctant weed 
To answer your question. In my experience it's yes and no.
I ran before I developed AF (It was during recovery period on a hill session that I first noticed my irregular heart rate) and I've continued to run after a successful ablation in 2016.
I currently run more mileage than I did pre ablation and my performances have actually improved. I didn't run that much pre ablation (hence my preference to avoid assumptions) and as I've trained more I've naturally got better. I'm currently training to run this years London Marathon for the AF association and I'm building mileage slowly without any issues so far.
A 60 min 10mile is obviously pretty fast so if you were at that level then you might possibly lose some ability but again it would very much depend on your previous training and physiology.
The one thing I have noticed post ablation is that it takes longer to warm up than previously. I suspect that my heart is stiffer than before and therefore takes longer to loosen up. I need a good 2 miles easy pace before I'm ready to go. Before races I like even more.
What an interesting post, maybe more unknowns than equations, hence unsolvable.
Maybe all those who got to survive through exercise, strenuous or otherwise, and got Afib and an ablation might not have been around to have the Afib in the first place had they not been exercising.
Maybe their hearts physical structure had been such that allowed an ablation, and without an exercise regime this would have been denied.
I played basketball for years and ran a lot!
Ran around more cities in the world than I can mention, when I had to stop running because of knee injury, apart from crying, I had to adjust my lifestyle!
I miss my running!
My ablation was six months after a RTKR, unfortunately I will never run again.
I am now two months post ablation and my energy levels are starting to come back at a level that surprises me!
Running is more than exercise, I just wish 50 years ago knee surgery is where it is today!!
Geoff
Personally my fitness suffered, I used to do rounds of kickboxing, I can’t do that now.
The medicine slows down my metabolism and I gained weight, it’s very hard to shift.
All after being diagnosed with AF.
I still hike and climb but much more slowly than 5 or 6 years ago.
I'm not fit in terms of an athlete, but I'm a heavy-duty gardener (i.e. landscaping with boulders, moving large amounts of soil around, etc.) and my vitality bounced back to normal after my first ablation in 2019. I had my second on April 7th (cryo-type) and I can say that after 13 days, my energy level is completely back to normal again. And I'm 71.
That’s great news.
I had AF and two ablations - and I cycled 15,000 miles a year for several years - and cycled 760 miles in 90 hours in 1995.I have also had two pacemakers - and I was disabled for five years before they fitted an additional atrial lead.
My sister was never an athlete, but she too has AF.
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