Time to add conditioning?

[John Davison]

Apologies if this has already been asked and answered, but I can’t find it on the Forum or elsewhere on the website.

I’m 59 years old and getting towards the end of my NLP (to the point where I’m adding a light squat day on Wednesdays and starting to use rep progression). For years I ran and trained with weights, and made little progress as a result. About 18 months ago, I binned the running and I’ve made better progress then. I’m 6’ 1” and weigh 225lbs. Besides weights, I dance twice a week and average 3,400 calories per day to maintain my weight (including 240g protein/day). My doctor reckons I have high blood pressure, but I’m disputing that.

The Barbell Prescription recommends “a low- volume, high-intensity conditioning program”, once a foundation of strength has been built.

I can’t find much on conditioning in SSBBT, and PPFST seems to suggest that weight training alone is sufficient.

I’m training for the life generally, not for a specific sport. I don't have access to a prowler or a sled, so I’m thinking about getting an air bike and adding a short HIIT session once a week. This would seem to fit with the recommendations in TBP (and it might help put my doctor back in his box). But lifting weights is already hard and will remain my main priority, so I don’t want to blunt my recovery any more than I have to.

Is this a good idea or not?

Thanks in advance.

[Mark Rippetoe]

How does your doctor "reckon" that you have high blood pressure?

[John Davison]

I was stupid enough to take advantage of a free health check offered at an NHS (National Health Service) van in the car park of my local supermarket. I should have guessed it was a Mickey Mouse operation when they had to ask me my height because they weren’t able to measure me: the ceiling of the van wasn’t high enough for the measuring apparatus to measure the height of anyone over 5’ 8”.

Anyway, they took my blood pressure told me it was slightly high and referred me to my doctor.

While I was waiting for my appointment, I did some research. I found that I would need a BP monitor with a large-sized cuff - I suspected that the NHS van had used a medium cuff on me. I bought a BP monitor (with large cuff) and took readings morning and evening for two weeks. My BP was either normal or optimal.

When I saw the doctor, I gave him the BP readings and he pronounced them “Excellent”. He took another BP reading using his apparatus and it confirmed the readings I’d just given him. He quizzed me about my activity levels and my diet, and I showed him my training log, my dietary information from MyFitnessPal, and my copy of The Barbell Prescription.

The doctor was pleased with all this, to the point that he suggested I publish what I do on social media to encourage others to do it. As a final check, he said he’d like me to wear a BP monitor for 24 hours. Other doctors probably wouldn’t recommend it, he said, but he liked a “belt and braces” approach. I wore the monitor and returned it to the surgery.

A few days later the doctor phoned me. The 24-hour cuff had shown my BP was high and there was a prescription at the surgery waiting for me to collect it. I was to go onto this medication for life, and it might make my legs swell up as a possible side effect.

I don't fancy medication for life unless it's really necessary. What the doctor had just told me didn’t tally with my own BP readings, nor with what I knew about my activity levels and my diet. Having been caught out once already, I checked the size of the 24-hour cuff . It was 3cm (1.2”) too small.

I’m currently waiting for an appointment to collect and wear a 24-hour cuff in the correct size.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Why are you playing games with these fools?

[Ericreichelt81]

Because he's 59. Because doctors are help in high regard when it comes to helping us maintain health. I agree there are shortcomings, of course, but what are we left with? It takes a lot of visits to possibly find a doctor who you feel gets you. All that said, sometimes they're right. Sometimes they see something you don't see. Do the research and ask the questions, but don't be so niave as to think you know more based on some Google research. At 59, it's a fine line to walk, and I'm hoping by the time I get there it's a bit more reliable and less about the pill pushing.

[Jdcuth]

Hi John,
Home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) are generally considered effective ways to screen for hypertension. Obviously doing ABPM with the wrong cuff size will give you erroneous results. It sounds like you did your HBPM effectively and got normal results so your need to repeat the ABPM is debatable. It would be interesting to know your waist size because 225 at 6’1 in someone entering intermediate training may very well represent excellent body composition. The NHS would undoubtedly criticise your BMI but this is not often applicable to trained athletes (like yourself).
Blood pressure testing on the NHS is done VERY badly and you are probably doing a much better job yourself. The need to add conditioning is probably best left to the qualified coaches on here but dancing twice a week is a good start and if you enjoy it probably has health benefits beyond those brought on purely from the cardio. FYI I am a doctor in the NHS mainly specialised in Derm but doing some general practice still. BW James

[Mark Rippetoe]

Because he's 59. Because doctors are help in high regard when it comes to helping us maintain health. I agree there are shortcomings, of course, but what are we left with? It takes a lot of visits to possibly find a doctor who you feel gets you. All that said, sometimes they're right. Sometimes they see something you don't see. Do the research and ask the questions, but don't be so niave as to think you know more based on some Google research. At 59, it's a fine line to walk, and I'm hoping by the time I get there it's a bit more reliable and less about the pill pushing.

The fact that he's 59 does not simultaneously mean that he's stupid, as tempting as that might be to conclude to a young man such as yourself. He is as aware of the shortcomings of GP-level medical practitioners as we all are, and even though he is at the mercy of the BPHS, he retains -- even here in 2019 -- some degree of autonomy with respect to his time. He has identified the errors that disqualify them from holding a qualified opinion, and I was curious as to his continued indulgence of their meddling in his affairs.

And, I didn't ask you.

[John Davison]

Fair comment. I'm probably treating his opinion with too much reverence.

[JDemboski]

Every year someone in the world turns 100. The news can’t wait to interview them and find out what their secret to a long life has been. Almost to a person the response is, “I don’t take medications and I don’t go to the doctor”. Might want to think about that for a bit.

[Matt James]

Every year someone in the world turns 100. The news can’t wait to interview them and find out what their secret to a long life has been. Almost to a person the response is, “I don’t take medications and I don’t go to the doctor”. Might want to think about that for a bit.

Using that logic we should all be doing split squats lunges on Bosu balls because that's what the elite pro athletes are doing.