Chest exercises

I hav a pacemaker for 2 years. I'm 84 years old.

Prior to my PM insertion I was a life long exercise enthusiast, (resistance,weight trainer).

I spoke to my cardio doc about resuming light weightlifting using 3 lb dumbels.

He preferred other forms of exercise, like walking, swimming.

but kind of frowned when it came to weight lifting.

 I decided  to disregard his advice and proceeded to start light weight training last August .

I'm back on shape now except I don't do any chest work because I'm afraid of damaging my Pm leads. has anyone here hav a similar problem, and how did you deal with it.

 

4 Comments

You can safely resume upper body work - go slowly

by crustyg - 2021-01-18 05:43:45

It's completely inappropriate to advise PM patients not to do any upper body work, free weight lifting etc.  It's wise to limit this for the first 6weeks or so as the lead=>heart muscle junction becomes stronger, but after that it should be fine.  There *ought* to be plenty of slack between where the leads are anchored just before they enter the subclavian vein and the heart muscle, and this slack allows you to work the upper body, stretch, swim etc.

There *are* possible areas that can cause a problem with upper body work, but in general any problems here reflect poor installation or very unlucky anatomy.  Very unusual.

Take it slowly getting back to your chest exercises.

weights

by Tracey_E - 2021-01-18 16:26:33

I'll echo what crusty said and add that my doc allowed exercises with 3# weights before I was even fully healed, his post op limit was 20#. There is nothing you will do with 3# that will cause any damage. I lift considerably more than that with my doctor's blessing, have been doing it for years and my leads are fine. 

Cleared!

by Shana - 2021-01-20 00:11:45

I am HIS bundle paced and all exercise restrictions were removed at one year.
 

 Good luck! 

 

Chest exercise

by Kettlebell man - 2021-01-21 17:50:31

I agree with the other folks here. I had my PM and two stents put in 18 months ago. Prior to my heart attack, I was doing quite a bit, running, kettlebells, and boxing. Took me awhile but eventually got back into it. To include push ups. I just turned 64. So go ahead and work the chest. But please be careful at first, and don't over do it. 

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