Plenty of people here to ask.
Member
Open Heart Surgery Patient
Rip,
My father will be 59 years old this year. Last year, at the beginning of August, he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest (the immediate killer kind), but through a lot of fortunate events, he survived. He kept hospital staff in disbelief with how well he bounced back and how healthy he was. He ended up needing open heart surgery, and they bypassed two arteries. He left the hospital in record time after the surgery. The doctors attributed his cardiac arrest to forty years of smoking. They could not find anything wrong with him except for the smoking. Anyway, he was disciplined and committed to his rehab that once it ended, he continued at home. Of course, all this is cardio based.
What is your opinion of someone his age and medical status starting your strength program? I have tried to talk him into doing some light weight training, but he avoids the topic. I believe he his nervous based on the limitations he had physically after open heart surgery. He has always been active, and the medications he is on after surgery are very minimal. So minimal that the doctors are amazed by it and predict he will only remain on two out of the four total he was prescribed.
Thank you in advance for your time.
TMPHBITEU
Plenty of people here to ask.
Starting Strength Coach
This sounds like CABG, not open-heart. Fairly routine. Barbell training should not be contraindicated, unless there's something here we don't know about.
Member
Open heart heart at the tail end of 2013 (at age 47) for a myxoma in the left atrium. My whole story is still here.
The cardiac surgeon told me there was no reason not to resume weight training once i'd passed the 90-day mark to allow for the sternum to heal. The cardiologist was more concerned that I continue to protect the sternum even after ninety days, but reluctantly approved with I explained the role of the safeties on my SML-1 rack are designed to do exactly that if something goes wrong.
Last visit to the cardiologist in September I handed over my nutritional info, body stats as well as how I trained for the past year, and was told, "keep doing what you're doing, because it's clearly working."
My personal feeling is everyone who's capable of picking up a barbell should be doing so.
Member
I had open heart surgery at the same age. Aortic valve replaced, and a couple of veins bypassed while they were in there. Got home on the fourth day after surgery, took care of myself from that day on. Started walking the day after I got home, and in 3 months was running 3 miles and doing my regular, moderate physical work. The only thing the docs seemed to be concerned with was allowing my sternum time (3 months) to heal solidly before I started putting heavy loads on it, and 3 months was plenty.
Didn't start lifting seriously until a few years ago, but it would not have been a problem any time after those first three months. Open heart surgery is one of the easiest to recover from, IME.
Member
Double bypass
Had my double bypass at the end of September 2016, age 64. Have never been a regular at any gym, even during 24 years in the USAF. Sedentary retirement job, poor diet, all the usual stuff. About five months after surgery and an unsatisfying cardio rehab, I finally listened to my old friend Rip and began weight training. The first two weeks were pretty rough with a lot of aches and pains, but none of them heart pain. Occasional twinges in the chest wall reminded me that I had the CABG, but not show stopping. I'm seven or eight weeks into the program now and all the aches and pains have died down to a slight annoyance.
Unless a medical professional can give you a specific, unique reason not to, I would recommend this to anyone, even an overweight, geriatric newbie like me.
BTW, anyone who refers to CABG as "fairly routine" has obviously not had their sternum sawn in half and their ribs spread apart so that they can stop your heart and take a knife to it! Sounds like a surgeon speaking. To them, all surgery is routine because they are not the ones on the table!
Starting Strength Coach
The power of perspective.Originally Posted by Owl
Member
I thought it was pretty routine, in retrospect. No particular pain except where they harvested the vein, no complications, quick recovery apart from the sternum taking time. Felt stronger almost immediately because the valve was working properly. A bit scary to contemplate in advance, but then I figured out that if they screwed up I probably wouldn't even know about it.
Member
First off, I’m probably less risk averse than the average doc. So you should take that admission into account before listening to anything I say.
Secondly, if you’re looking for a definitive answer in the medical literature regarding the costs and benefits of strength training, you’ll be extremely disappointed. It’s just not there. I can’t give you the certainty you want and no other physician can either.
Thirdly, I don’t know the details of your dad’s particular cardiac situation (his meds, the overall status of his heart e.g. ejection fraction, or his overall condition and comorbid medical issues).
Given those limitations, my first recommendation would be that he be very compliant with the medications his cardiologist has put him on. There are certain classes of meds that have very good data suggesting that they effectively lower the risk of future cardiac events. Your dad should be on those meds and none of them carry contraindications to weight training.
Secondly, I would find a cardiologist who is a jock; someone for whom exercise is critically important to his or her life. This is very important. If your dad is going to a doctor for whom exercise isn’t personally important, he or she will most likely recommend against strength training for a number of non-evidence-based and ill-informed reasons. Unless your dad is a super risk-taker and is emotionally committed to strength training, he’s going to need buy-in from his cardiologist otherwise he won’t do it.
There’s a reason your dad doesn’t want to talk about it. It’s very common for post-cardiac patients to become depressed, discouraged, and frightened for the future. You have to understand this and respect that his reality might not be your reality.
This is not to discourage you from pursuing this with your dad. Personally, I believe that there are many excellent reasons for him to weightlift. Most of these have been extremely well articulated by Mark and countless others in these forums. Your dad will have to be sold on these reasons like anyone else, only more so.
There are some cardiac conditions where the risks clearly outweigh the benefits. Aortic aneurysm is one that was recently discussed in this forum. I would put symptomatic congestive or diastolic heart failure into that category as well. No one can predict what a sudden rise in systemic blood pressure from the act of lifting or the sudden collapse in “preload” that can occur with Valsalva would do in such a patient. But if your father has neither of the above-mentioned issues, has a good “electrical system”, has decent valves, and has a cardiologist who’s onboard, then my guess is that a very slow, gradual progression with a good, cautious SSC who’s been given all the relevant information and likely a note from his cardiologist would be very feasible.
I’m the same age as your dad. Knowing myself and what I now know about weightlifting, I know that I’d descend into a terrible spiral of depression if I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life being weak, frail, and dependent on others to do my “activities of daily living”. I’d be willing to accept a poorly quantified risk of sudden cardiac death, heart attack, or even stroke rather than go into that place.
Not everyone is this way. That’s between you and your dad to ascertain.
I realize this doesn’t “answer” your question but I hope it gives you a framework for thinking about it. Good luck and know that my prayers are with you and your family!
✓ Member
Thanks to the docs who have chimed in. Thanks to the patients too.
I had a widow maker heart attack in 2013. Both the LAD and the Diagonal were 100% blocked. The doc was surprised I didn't stroke out in the ER. My BP was so high they recalibratd the unit twice because they didn't believe it. I had, about a year or so earlier, started LP. The doc stented me and when I woke up they couldn't believe I made it, let alone got out of bed and walked around.
I asked the doc how long it would be before I could dead lift 300 again. (That's all I ever figured I'd pull again.) He looked at me like I was an utterly crazy fool. "You're done lifting. You're lucky to be alive."
I reasoned if I took linear progression with baby steps I could rehab my heart just like rehabbing anything else. Two weeks later I was back under the empty bar, trembling. That was the hardest squat of my life. I'm went for it because I'm not dying weak and in a wheel chair if I can help it. I added weight a pound a workout.
Last week I pulled 405x4. A couple of weeks ago I squatted 365, admittedly high but Coach Matt and Scott are doing an incredible job watching my reps, providing humorous encouragement, coaching me through my fears, and answering my million questions.
Hell, I even pressed 205 tonight.
I'm post MI and I still have the 500, 400, 300, and now 250 goal on my mind by the end of summer.
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