mitral repair and weightlifting

[mldollins]

I'm a newbie and glad to be here but I have some pressing questions from you who have had mitral valve repair.

Let me give a little history. I am 38 and had mitral valve repair at 29. I had been an avid power lifter from 17-22 years old and got very strong. I quit and got out of shape and then BAMMM I go to the doctor at age 29 for strep throat. Unfortunately, what would have turned out to be a simple 20 dollar office visit turned out to be 100 grand before it was all over.

The went in looking to replace the valve. However, they were able to cut some out and put a prostetic ring in. I do treadmill and elliptical work everyday which was advised by my doctor. However, when I pressed him post-op about weightlift, he replied no heavy duty but go high reps.

Heres the dillema, what is high reps? I have just now begun to do light bicep/tricep work from 10-15 reps and more than likely supersetting those to reduce time.

I guess my ultimate question is to those with mitral repair, am I pushing it? What do doctors say today about weightlifting. It is obvious that maxing and power training are out. But I have absolutely no desire to go through what I did 9 years ago.

 

[geebee]

I am sorry to say I have no answers for you about weightlifting but I did want to welcome you. I am sure you will get some answers from others.

Hope you are able to do what you want.

 

[MikeHeim]

Unfortunately, there's not much of a consensus on this question. We had a pretty good discussion on it a couple weeks ago under a thread titled "Any Weight Lifters Here?". You can scroll down in the Active Lifestyles section and find it and all the responses.

Some Cardio's give a general number (most often 50lbs.) for how much weight you are "allowed" to lift after surgery. I think most of the people on this site agree that it doesn't make much sense to define it that way as larger people can obviously lift much more weight with less effort that people with a smaller build. My Cardio seemed fine with me lifting any amount of weight I can do 15 or more reps with. I typically do three sets of 15 each, and make sure that I'm not lifting so much that I have to "grunt" out the last couple reps. The real issue is trying to avoid large pressure gradients across the repaired valve. From what I have read, a person's blood pressure can spike to as high as 400/200 with a sudden exhersion with resistance (power lifting). That's not good for anyone's valve, but especially for someone that has had their's surgically repaired.

As I mentioned on a previous post, I've been mostly using machines since surgery because I have way too much pride to stand in the middle of a group of people and lift the amount I do to stay in the threshold above. However, I would hate to overdo it and wind up needing a second sugery in the future because of lifting too much. I'd much rather push the envelope with other things...

 

[mtkayak]

Yeah, sorry but the heavy weight lifting is probably not a good thing. I don't think there is a magic number on what you can lift or work out with. My Card told me 50lbs. doing high reps. I go over that but not a lot. I usually stick to weight that doesn't make me grunt, strain and/or make my face turn red. As you probably know too, don't hold your breath (red face) either while lifting weights.

 

[mldollins]

So what is the concern.....

So what is the concern.....

Is it the fact that heavy weightlifting causes the BP to go up? If that is the case, doesnt treadmills and elliptical machines cause the BP to elevate? I currently do an elliptical 30 minutes daily and treadmill on the weekends.

 

[MikeHeim]

I'll once again preface my post by saying that I am not a medical professional nor do I play one on TV, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night...

The way I understand it, the issue is with the sudden spike in BP that weightlifting gives you. On a treadmill or elliptical machine, your body has small amount of time to go from "at rest" to your workout HR and BP. When I start, my HR is typically around 60 beats per minute, and it usually takes a couple minutes to go from that level up to the 130-140bpm that I work out at. I would assume that a person's BP raises at a similar rate. When you weight lift, your body goes from rest to full exersion virtually immediately. Compounding that issue, your muscles are more tense the more weight you try to lift. If you are running or using a treadmill correctly, your muscles should be fairly relaxed.

Hopefully someone else will be along who has a little better understanding of the physiology of weightlifting who can either patch in the holes or totally discount everything I've said.

 

[BillCobit]

BP increases more with heavy resistance training than with aerobic exercise. This presentation includes some graphs that show BP response to both types of exercise.

www.uta.edu/faculty/beckham/2 aa Cardiac Function.pdf

3mph at 22% grade = systolic BP of 200

double leg press > 300

I am wondering if there are observed, documented valve failures due to spikes in BP. I.e., has anyone ever damaged or "blown" a valve from resistance training. It has been mentioned on VR.com before that the Governator has done it, but with no supporiting references, and I couldn't corroborate that story with a web search (A fib was only complication I could find reference to). Seems intuitive to me though, that huge spikes in BP wouldn't be good for a valve.

Anybody seen a published doc citing a reals case where there is causal relationship between resistance training and valve failure? I'd be keen to read it.

 

[LLJ]

Well, I am a medical professional,but I'd rather play one on t.v....especially Gray's Anatomy where it is apparent no one practices any medical ethics and has a rip roaring good time!
My cardiology professor once told me it's the pressure across the valve which is the problem with weight lifting. This pressure cannot be measured by a cuff,you need an internal catheter into your ventricle to measure this. I was also taught that pressure damge is cumulative with impaired valves less able to sustain pressure and the response is calciying or degrading of tissue.
Our Govenator destroyed his valves early on with anabolic steroid use and was then able to join our club of OHS partyers!
There's a sorta complicated explanation as to why weight lifting (anerobic burst) raises blood pressure and aerobic activity actually can be maintained with fairly normal rise in BP. It all has to do with cardiac output and heart rate. Suffice it to say aerobic activity with moderate rise in heart rate is good for us.
Everyone here knows I love weightlifting and if I could powerlift again I would be a happy woman,but now I am relegated to finding happiness amongst my aerobic buddies. It ain't so bad,(it would be better if I was fast)but there's nothing like pushing big heavy weight! (Unless I could get a job working at that hospital in Gray's Anatomy.....)
Laura
LLJ