Weight training

[SirhcTheBearded]

good evening all hope we are all well i had a heart attack a year ago and i also have heart failure i am looking at getting back into the gym for weigh loss and to build strength back up does anybody have any recommendations for programs i can try to get back into the gym TIA

[Ewloe]

I’m older than you and I’m just coming up to 1yr after my heart attack, cardiac arrest and subsequent AFib and cardio version and now more arrhythmia’s. I was a gym bunny before all this. The day before I’d walked 10k carrying an extra 6k in weights. Then the morning of my HA I’d been with a personal trainer.

I was told if I hadn’t been so fit I would not be mentally or physically intact!

Initially I could only manage the short strolls and I found coping with the changes in my physical abilities difficult. But here I am now. I’m unable to do what I used to as I have some reduction in ejection fraction, a few arrhythmia’s and then there’s all the drugs 🙈. BUT————

I kept walking, slowly increasing it and I’m slower.

I started swimming again and I now do 50 lengths twice a week.

I do Pilates- it’s good for strength and stretching.

For last 6 months I’ve been going to the gym. Not like it used to be but via rehab I was referred to a trainer who was cardiac trained. I go twice a week and am gradually building up what I can do.

I’ve accepted I’ll never get back to the intensity of before my HA but have met new people and I’m enjoying it. I’ve maintained a level of fitness.

I will say I wear an Apple Watch and for burning calories swimming is the best by far but rehab did warn me swimming can put strain on my heart and it needs to be a manned pool. I am sensible and if I hadn’t had previously been fit it wouldn’t have been sensible to jump straight in.

I’d say work with what your starting point now is, take proper advice, do different types of exercise and don’t expect too much. It’s slower and different. Accept what you can/can’t do. That mental challenge could be harder.

[1290Duke in reply to Ewloe]

Hi there,

Highly recommend 'Greysteel - Fitness after 50' on Youtube. The american guy that runs the channel is a retired doctor and the channel is specifically about barbell training for people over 50, and also focuses on the benefits of resistance training for those with heart and other health issues. The barbell program they recommend is based on the programs of Mark Rippetoe (US strength coach). They are two of the most knowledgeable people out there on this topic. I bought the Greysteel training book / manual as I'm over 50 and was diagnosed with AFib back in March. As I'm getting stronger the better I'm feeling and my symptoms have steadily declined. Being strong matters, even with a heart condition. Strong people are harder to kill.

[Hidden in reply to Ewloe]

In a very similar situation to you

[Clerkenweller]

The BHF has free advice sheets for recuperative exercises. The key advice is to start carefully with cardio building up pace And time. Monitor your pulse rate and keep to guidelines. Go for lower weights and frequent reps. Trust your body and don’t over do things. Build weights over time

[1290Duke]

Hi there, Just realised that I'd responded to Ewloe below rather than you!

Highly recommend 'Greysteel - Fitness after 50' on Youtube. The american guy that runs the channel is a retired doctor and the channel is specifically about barbell training for people over 50, and also focuses on the benefits of resistance training for those with heart and other health issues. The barbell program they recommend is based on the programs of Mark Rippetoe (US strength coach). They are two of the most knowledgeable people out there on this topic. I bought the Greysteel training book / manual as I'm over 50 and was diagnosed with AFib back in March. As I'm getting stronger the better I'm feeling and my symptoms have steadily declined. Being strong matters, even with a heart condition. Strong people are harder to kill.

[Heartinthehills]

Hi Sirhc. I am a lot older and 9 years on from an MI, Cardiac Arrest, PCI and stents and diagnosis of Heart Failure, LVSD with 30% ejection fraction. Hope all that makes sense. I had cardiac rehab classes after diagnosis and continued with gym based Phase 4 cardiac rehab classes until Covid closed gyms and I moved house as well. No Phase 4 classes near where I live now but I do the same exercise sessions once a week in the local gym to maintain muscle bulk and strength. Routine is a slow warm up on a 5% inclined treadmill speeding up to 3.8mph 10 minutes in total but longer and slower increase in speed if you are still very breathless. Then exercise bike with resistance for 10 minutes to maintain my optimum heart rate. Mine is 120bpm. After that I do most leg, arm chest and back weight machines in the gym, arm curls and side arm lifts with dumbbells. Two sets of 20 reps on each with weights that I can just achieve the 20 reps with and increasing weights till I improved ability and reached an optimum. I'm still on the weights I worked up to in year two and ejection fraction measured recently is just the same. I also swim a mile twice a week in the local pool and do an 11 mile walk once a week with the local Ramblers group. Looking back it was and still is the walking and increasing my walking distance and pace that got me back to best fitness for my condition. I also lost 12Kilo in weight in the first year. Good diet is needed for this as well. I can't run without fairly immediate breathlessness so running is out. The gym sessions and weights are a personal discipline to maintain strength particularly upper body strength. Good luck in your recovery. Regular exercise should do it.