From Heart Patient to Lifter | Mark Rippetoe

[stef]

I have known Scott Davison for about 20 years. A former columnist at our local newspaper, I used to read his opinions before he got fired for being on the wrong side of a local election. Prior to that, he had worked for the Strategic Air Command as a B-52 pilot, a job that provides interesting stories to this day. A more interesting story is the tale of his journey from heart patient to lifter...

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[MiddleMike]

AWESOME and inspirational! Just the other day I had someone attempt to ridicule me for saying my goal was a 500lb deadlift before I turned 50 in 21 months. "Oh that's dangerous for your back, why would you do that?" This from a person who struggles with cases of water from Costco to their car.

Scott, keep up the good work under the bar! Inspire more of us to face those challenges as strongly as you have!

[mbdonner]

I'm 63, and had a heart attack and a stent 2.5 months ago. I too am doing the cardiac "rehab" i.e. 30 minutes of monitored aerobics 3x a week. A month ago I restarted lifting. On my 63rd birthday, 30 days of NLP later, I got back to a 1x5 300 lb deadlift and three sets of 265 squats. The nurse at rehab freaked out, muttering something about "too much internal pressure" and "cortisol", and just last night my friend who is a physician got worried about "blowing out walls." I love the guy, but he is 88, never lifted, and can barely walk. There is so much misinformation out there. I want to thank Rip, Sully, Baraki and all the others for thinking these things through and looking at the actual research. I genuinely feel bad for all the folks in my "rehab" who are shuffling on the treadmills, slowly pedaling on the recumbent bikes, and using 2lb dumbbells during the "resistance" part. To my eye, they are making little progress. They are not just weaker than me, but they seem frail. Congratulations on your recovery. Keep up the hard work. As someone once said "Strong people are harder to kill than weak people and more useful in general."

[d2sutton]

I just turned 57 and I am in year 2 of lifting. While it is taxing and recovery is harder, I have found that weight lifting makes life easier. I am not interested in competition or achieving big lifts. Instead, I enjoy the challenge of being a little better everyday and just being able to throw 50 bags of rocks into the back of my truck and not worry about being sore or hurting myself. It is unfortunate that it takes a life altering event to get into lifting, it is better than the alternative of going back to being a couch potato, poor health, and lousy quality of life.

[evhough]

Very uplifting story, thank you. I’m curious if the program could also be applied to heart transplant patients? I have a close friend i have known since high school. Same age as me, 63. He had a heart transplant about 2 years ago. Has never done any type of strength training his entire life. Have been wanting to reach out to him and encourage him to try Rip’s SRA approach but not sure if safe for heart transplant patients? Any cases of a heart transplant patient doing strength training after rehab?