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Good in detail description as always by examine.com : Melatonin - Scientific Review on Usage, Dosage, Side Effects | Examine.com
(Disclaimer for those who dont know the site: Independent. Fully referenced. Imo a bit on the enthusiastic side when classifying usefulness - but that is of course subjective.)
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I'm jealous. This morning I was 133/84 and I'm on both beta- and calcium channel-blockers and I've worked out regularly six days a week for a year and a half.Originally Posted by Marlin
When I started, I was at 160/105, so I can't really complain, but it would be nice to get off the pills...
58, 6'5", 260, s 315, b 225, d 405
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Hmm, whats your waist circumference, or your BF%age, if you happen to know it? Maybe you can shed some belly-weight.
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FWIW, I seem to remember I started with a 48" waist (absolutely relaxed, right around the belly button) and I'm now somewhere around 42". My 40x38 jeans are getting loose enough in the waist that I might order some 38x38 soon. I had a bodpod scan done recently and it said I was 14.1% body fat. (Was 22% when I started in 2016. That reading was with a Seca scanner and it said I was 9.4% fat two weeks before I had the bodpod check, so I'm suspicious that it was actually a low reading.) I'm 58, will be 59 next week. I can see my abs when I flex, and I'm starting to see veins on my quads, shoulders and pecs, so I think I'm headed in the right direction...
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Every night?
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This is excellent knews! Hm, your waist is a bit more than half your height (54%), so in men that would usually indicate some potential for fat loss. However, if your BF%age is what it seems it is with your body apparently close to being ripped, then that may be due to muscle mass. (The belly region is less affected by hypertrophy, but still there are the back muscles, and the abs a bit as well).
Do you do any form of low intensity steady state conditioning? I know most prefer some form of HIIT - if anything..., but LISS is more effective for normalizing blood pressure. And another advantage: It doesnt interfere with recovery as HIIT can. Just pick anything that is easy on muscles and joints: Walking, cycling, gardening, swimming, hiking. Relaxed intensity, half an hour, preferably on non-lifting days, 2-4x/w.
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A couple of years ago I had some minor surgery. In pre-op, the nurse said “you must be a marathon runner” (I was highly offended). I told her “no, do I look like a runner, what makes you think I’m a runner?” And she pointed to a display on the wall and said, your resting heart rate is 44/45, we never see that except in runners. I told her, heavy sets of five will do that too.
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(Sorry about the length of this. TL;DR: I'm doing less HIIT and more LSD now...)
When I was first diagnosed with hypertension, I spent pretty much 45 mins every day on the elliptical. I was really out of shape, so it took sometimes a half hour to get my heart rate back below 100 afterwards. And this was with me being on metoprolol (beta blocker)! I think part of it was dealing with the pain in my joints. I was on a couple diclofenacs a day at the time just to be able to walk, and I was getting synvisc injections every six months. I couldn't run, but since the elliptical was no-impact, that was my main option. I tried to ride my bicycle a lot at the time as well, it was way better than walking for me.
It wasn't until after I had two total knee replacements in early 2015 that I could really start to do enough training to have a big effect. I spent a lot of time on one of those Star Trac Spinner bikes, the one with the video display with Josh Taylor as a virtual coach. (The music from that still haunts me sometimes! LOL) I did some interval training on the Spinner, but mostly I did the standard LSD endurance setting and tried to keep my heart rate at ~130. By the end of 2015, my heart rate would return to normal in about five minutes after finishing a ride.
In the summer of 2016, I started BHRT, and that really opened a new door for me. I was able to start training with weights seriously. My wife and I committed to six days a week and have been regular with that ever since (at least until we started powerlifting a month ago). Since we were spending so much time in the weight area, we pretty much switched away from the bicycles to HIIT training. For a year and a half, we did a bodybuilding-style workout where we did lots of reps, concentrating on blood flow, trying to get the joints into good shape. Recently, I found the Starting Strength books, and my wife became friends with a powerlifter in our gym, so we started reducing our reps and trying to gain strength. The two of them are going to compete in a women-only meet in April, so my wife found a coach and got on a meet prep program. I've been following along with her training program, which means we're in the gym four times a week now (1x deadlift, 1x squat, 2x bench).
With our new found free time, we've started riding our mountain bikes every weekend, and I'm thinking about making friends with Josh Taylor again on days between powerlifts...
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LOL, nice! My resting heart rate is 48-50, but that's probably because I'm on beta-blockers. I have done a fair amount of long distance bike riding in the past, but not so much for the last year and a half.
Has anyone here noticed an inverse relationship between heart rate and BP? Sometimes, when I take multiple readings, I'll get 130/85 with a 52 heart rate, and then after sitting quietly for a minute I'll get 120/80 at 56. (Yeah, I know, why does my rate go up when sitting quietly. What's up with that?)
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This is even better news. Your improving composition alone should lead to better blood pressure, the frequent weight training is a kind of HIIT training anyway, so I would indeed add LISS. You seem to be quite happy and relaxed, otherwise Id recommend trying a form of relaxation training (doesnt need to be esoteric, something simple as progressive muscle relaxation, short breathing exercises on stressful days etc). No risk, little costs, worth a try imo.
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