Swimming

[BC4ever]

I'm at ten months recovery from my heart attack and five stents fitted. Completed Cardiac Rehab' and have been walking for my general exercise. I'm thinking of taking up swimming (though I'm not a competent swimmer). Is this a good activity for me to take up - or would it be too much? Thanks in advance.

[Lowerfield_no_more]

My view....give it a go. Swimming is a good all round activity, that uses many muscle groups unlike some forms of exercise. Start simple and work your way up. Listen to your body and if you feel you have done too much as you do more, wind it back.

[Stentsandrun]

Absolutely yes (assuming you mean swimming in an indoor pool). I would suggest getting a sports watch so you can monitor your heart rate while doing it, if you are thinking of lane swimming etc. I think the only thing you have to watch is that due to the environment it can be easy to not realise how much effort you are putting in especially if you are not a particularly competent swimmer (yet). But it's a controlled environment, weather independent and a great way of exercising. Monitoring you distance with the watch will also give you something to focus on, as you do see quite a few folks who do more chatting than swimming sometimes! Before you know it you will soon be timing yourself over your regular mile. You can also get adult swimming lessons to improve your technique. Go for it!

[cabgpatch]

Yes, swimming is good to do, but as has been said, you will need to take it easy and slowly work up. Because a your body is being supported by the water, you can be putting much more effort in than you realise, which was inferred in an earlier answer. My opinion, and it is only a layman's opinion, is that is it sufficiently long after your procedure to start swimming.

I had a CABGx3 so had the full chest wound experience which obviously adds further complications to starting swimming again. I had swum a lot before my op although had dialled it back a bit in between my diagnosis and op. Now, around 9 months post-op, I have worked back up and swam 4.5 km this week. So, with time and practice, you can expect to get a decent workout swimming.

Definitely worth getting some means of measuring heart rate and distance as you will be able to keep track of how you are doing. Hope that helps, happy exercising!

Paul

[sohotimes]

I had a quadruple bypass 7 months ago. I am back to swimming every day. Excellent exercise. I'm sure your local pool will do swimming lessons.