Cardiac Patients Doing Weight Training

Fifteen years ago the idea of anyone doing weight or resistance training a month after a heart attack was seen as very dangerous.

I'm still absorbing what I learned at last week's ACSM Health & Fitness Summit in Atlanta, GA. Heart health had a great deal of attention. The presentation by Paul Sorace, James Churilla and Peter Ronai was a great example of too the point education.

One exciting idea from them was to take the existing guidelines on exercise and then get through the typical 10 to 12 exercises for all the major muscle groups in about 15 to 20 minutes. In other words combine machine resistance and free weights exercise into one flowing circuit training workout.

Take each set reasonably steadily, don't rush it and allow about 30 to 60 seconds between each exercise.You should be able to get through 10 to 12 exercises with around 12 to 15 repetitions in each set in 20 minutes - maybe less.

Now that a weight and resistance is so compacted down timewise, you can think about adding strength training after a typical heart recovery, cardio workout. By reducing the recovery time between sets you will keep the heart rate up but not too high. So this workout should, if you are sensible, be safe.

When can you (or really should) start weights and resistance training ?

• You've had cardiac surgery (maybe a heart attack as well); then you've been doing your cardiac rehabilitation program exactly as specified for 4 weeks, then it's time to get into a resistance training activity as well
• You've had a transcatheter procedure; then you've been steadily doing cardiac rehab for at least 2 weeks; time to start some resistance training.

Of course you've got to be sensible! There are a whole bunch of conditions when you'd not want to start resistance training quite so soon:

• Congestive Heart Failure
• Valvular Disease
• Hypertension not under control with your top blood pressure number (Systolic) above 160; or your lower number (diastolic) above 100.
• Uncontrolled dysrhythmias
• Marfans.

But these items excluded it still leaves a lot of people able to get into building up their strength amazingly quickly after severe heart procedures.


That just leaves a couple of questions ?

1. Why build up your strength ? Is it worth the effort ?
2. Exactly how to go about it.

Why Build up your strength ?

• It decreases depression and that on it's own is probably a good enough reason.
• It increases your chances of staying independent
• You are able to do all the ordinary things of life so much more easily. All the way from just getting up out of a chair to picking up grandchildren
  
• If you've had a heart attack or a by-pass or a defibrilator implanted then the chances are that you have some other health issues as well - maybe diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis - getting stronger muscles and bones will help all of these issues.

Then there is the question of how to go about increasing your strength safely.

• Chances are your medical insurance will stop paying for cardiac rehabilitation at some point. It's best to find a Personal Trainer who understands all of these issues.
• The American College of Sports Medicine will help you find someone knowledgeable.
  
• The American Council on Exercise helps you find a Personal Trainer.
• Put in Post Code 30022 ( north of Atlanta, GA) and I should come up, with several others, in the search results.
• Look at these videos which give you an idea of an easy start to exercise and progressing to very hard (after a suitable period of build up).