I prepared for Covid and didn't know it

My asthma doctor wanted to know why I did not go straight to the emergency room.  He called my cardiologist on the spot; he was worried that I might have had a silent heart attack.   There have been times in my life when I had focused on things other than my health.  This was one of those times.  It was a year marked by significant injuries, very little exercise, and a lot of inactivity. It showed in my declining health, as was made clear by the following numbers:

·       Resting pulse was 98 bpm

·       Oxygen level was in the low eighties.  That is dangerously low.

·        Forced air expiratory rate (how much air you can expel) was 40% of what it should have been.

·       Blood pressure poorly controlled

·       30 pounds overweight

·       Sugar levels were the highest they had been in my life

·       Testosterone levels were depressed. It is notable that the majority of male patients admitted to the hospital for Covid-19 present low testosterone levels.

After my stress test my cardiologist informed me that fortunately I did not have heart disease. If I did not make changes, I faced the possibility of living with heart disease, poorly controlled high blood pressure, and a compromised respiratory system.  I began consistently strength training with a trainer, not by myself.

Today, three years later:

·       Resting pulse is 23 beats lower

·       Blood pressure is under control

·       Testosterone level is 35% higher

·       Oxygen level is 98%.

·       20 pounds lighter

·       My forced air expiratory volume is the highest it has been in 12 years

·       I am stronger than I have been in years. 

My asthma doctor said my improvement was “remarkable”.

I know Covid-19 is out there.  If today I were in the same state of poor health I was three years ago, I would be sweating bullets and kicking myself for not sticking to my strength training program.

It is easier to stick to the program when you are made accountable. You have a set weekly appointment, you have standards to achieve, and once that is achieved the bar is raised just a little bit more. I love my workouts now; I just show up and go. The trainer takes care of all the details. This a program that most people can stick to.  If you get a little bit stronger week by week the improvements can add up to a life-changing or possibly life-saving difference. 

The type of strength training conducted at our Austin Strength Training facility has also been shown to strengthen the immune system. For more information on that and how the right strength training can reverse health conditions that make Covid-19 more deadly, follow this link.

If you change nothing, what does the future of your health hold? Make a positive change. Schedule your first free session.

Request a complimentary first session at Kelly Personal Training

 Click here to schedule a session to try it yourself

We operate by appointment. Before you stop by please call us at 512-964-8787

Yes, we are open with Covid-19 safety protocols in place.

Strength Training for Those Who Have Heart Conditions

From this study, Strength Training Early After Myocardial Infarction, comes this quote:

“In selected patients, low-to-moderate intensity strength training performed early after infarction is effective and may have lower rates of cardiovascular problems than aerobic exercise.”

The selection of those patients as candidates for strength training is will beyond the pay grade of personal trainers and falls under the purview of a doctor. Once a doctor clears the patient for exercise special care is given to bring the client up to speed slowly.

At Kelly Personal Training in Austin and at Ultimate Fitness in New Orleans our personal training sessions follow a simple dictate: Perform a little more exercise than one is used to handling and then rest and recover adequately. This applies to recovering patients and advanced athletes. For the advanced trainees doing a little more than they did last time will be difficult but doable. For the recovering patients it will not involve much to take them to a point of exercise they are not used to handling.
 

Both groups will improve but the recovering patients often show the most profound improvement, as they start at a much lower base line. Each week they come in a little stronger and each week we progressively increase the weights lifted by small increments. After a few months they are dramatically stronger.

Aerobic activity has been stressed as necessary for cardiovascular health. This cannot occur if the muscles are too weak to allow adequate aerobic activity.

Another quote from the study:

“For the three treatment groups, 30 of 42 subjects had one or more cardiovascular complication (arrhythmias, angina, ischemia, hypertension, hypotension) during the aerobic exercises as compared to only 1 subject with complications during the resistive exercises.”

An interesting result that speaks for itself.