excercise

[psalmist]

I am one week from resuming excercise . . . 8 weeks from surgery. Any recomendations for starters. I am an at homer. what is ok and what should I not do. I feel great and I am anxious to start at it. I don't want to do to much to soon though. any thoughts would be great. Seth

 

[Lynlw]

Have you considerred doing cardiac rehab? that way you would be monitorred and know what you can and not over (or under) do as you are getting back.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

Did your surgeon give you an Exercise Guideline?
Or your Cardiologist?

If not, ASK for one.

If your insurance will cover Cardiac Rehab, I HIGHLY recommend it. If not, at least go visit a rehab class to see what they are doing. You might even be able to get an outline of their recommended warm up / cool down stretches and exercises plus some guidelines for treadmill, stationary bicycle, and other machines.

'AL Capshaw'

 

[tcerame]

I would highly recommend cardiac rehab also. It did wonders for me.

 

[Mary]

I am one week from resuming excercise . . . 8 weeks from surgery. Any recomendations for starters. I am an at homer. what is ok and what should I not do. I feel great and I am anxious to start at it. I don't want to do to much to soon though. any thoughts would be great. Seth

If your insurance doesn't cover cardiac rehab (mine didn't), I would suggest you start with some low level exercise (walking, biking, rowing, etc) and keep track of your heartrate. If you're on a treadmill, you can fine tune by using the slope along with the speed. I wouldn't let my heartrate get over the 80% mark, and if it starts to climb, I would cut back on the intensity. If you take your time, you should be back in good aerobic shape in no time at all.

 

[SumoRunner]

I wouldn't let my heartrate get over the 80% mark,

That begs the question, 80% of what? Very few people know their actual max heart rate. Here's a page that explains how to calculate it.

http://www.brianmac.co.uk/maxhr.htm

 

[Mary]

That begs the question, 80% of what? Very few people know their actual max heart rate. Here's a page that explains how to calculate it.

http://www.brianmac.co.uk/maxhr.htm

Using both formulas provided, my 80% of maximum was almost 10 beats higher than the number I've been going by. That makes me happy.
Thanks for providing the link for those needing to calculate their MHR. I thought most people posting on this forum would know how to do it, but perhaps they don't. And maybe some will get a different number . . . like I did.

 

[SumoRunner]

Calculators aside, you also need to consider the mouse and elephant analogy. Mice being very small have extremely rapid heart rates and elephants have very slow rates. So size matters.

Small and naturally skinny people tend to have faster than typical HRs and big, husky people have slower HRs. The calculator might be off by a few beats per minute, I doubt it's off as much as 10, but it's in the right ballpark.

I don't wear a HRM and I've never tested my max, so I have no idea what to shoot for. I long ago learned to run according to the rate of breathing and the feel of lactate buildup in the legs. What matters more to me is the resting HR. I try to take my pulse every morning when I wake up. This OFTEN takes several attempts. One, two, three, fo... Zzzz. If it's up a few beats then I'm not fully recovered from previous workouts and I need to back off on that day. If it's at the correct number then I'm good to go.

 

[BillCobit]

The reasons I was told not to do that was because it could induce a valsalva maneuver and stress the ascending aorta or it could strain the sternotomy incision before it had healed fully.

That, and it bulks you up, too

Seriously, though, I also recommend a few rehab sessions if that option is available to you. I found that supervised exercise gave me a feel for how much I should exert myself. I did a lot of walking at first, then some slow jogging and stationary bike riding. I went to the gym after about 10 weeks to start doing some very light weights - more range of motion exercises than anything else.

Go slowly at first then gradually increase, and you should be fine.

Best wishes.

 

[halleyg]

Hi Seth, that's great you are feeling so well! I second what others have said about cardiac rehab. I started three weeks ago and I love it - it has made such a difference in my energy level and stamina already, plus I enjoy being around the other people. Usually I am a solo exerciser, but the company is good! Before rehab I would walk around the neighborhood but I was never sure what was too much or not enough. I like my heart being monitored; it really does wonders for my confidence while exercising. Good luck.

 

[jds]

Walking and walking a lot is great therapy

Walking and walking a lot is great therapy

Hello -

I am in a cardio-rehab program and it is great. But it was a while before I got started.

In the meantime, I did a lot of walking at moderate to quick pace. I was doing 2 hours a day. For me, walking would not get my pulse anywhere near a danger zone. I enjoyed it a lot. Got an MP3 player and listened to a lot of music I enjoyed. I walked into town early in the AM, got a cup of coffee, and walked home.

The general formula for max heart rate is 220 minus age. However, your cardiologist can fine tune this with a stress test.

A pulse rate moniotr ($30-$50 for a basic one) is a great investment.

Godd luck -

John

 

[67walkon]

This is a question for your doctor, not people here.

They let me start doing some very light lower body weights at 6 weeks. At 8 weeks, they told me no restrictions except no "heavy, heavy" weights, which still hasn't been quantified.

All of us are different. My fitness level was pretty high going into surgery and it didn't take me long to recover back to about 90%; I'm not sure when, if ever, the last 10% will come, but I'm working on it. If your doctor won't give you some specifics, listen to your body! It will tell you what is okay and what isn't.