| Training After a Heart Attack By Alan Palmieri |
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| Recovery Workout By Alan Palmieri Since writing "Still Here," the article about the massive heart attack and emergency five bypass surgery I had, many people have written asking about my recuperation and therapy. What did I do? What did my therapy and exercise routines consist of? To be honest, a year and a half later I do not feel as good as I did before undergoing the nightmare. Some people have told me they felt great after they had their heart surgery. Maybe that’s because they were not feeling very well before they had the surgery or perhaps they didn’t endure the same thing I did. I don’t know, I’m not a doctor. All I know is what I know. Getting back on track, the therapy and exercises I did after my major surgery is what I am supposed to be talking about. I hope this is not going to be one of those articles in which I just drift from one point to another. My wife will try to proof my work and yells at me all the time, "I wish you would stick to the point and quit rambling." Ah, my taskmaster! Back on track!! First of all, I didn’t do anything for a full year after my experience and operation. I was not able to. Not only was I instructed to rest for an extended time before I began my therapy, I came down with pneumonia, two different infections, bouts of irregular heart beats, serious reactions to the medications I was prescribed, and several other things that made it impossible to perform even the mildest of activity. Putting it bluntly it was pure torture! Once I had regained a foothold on myself the doctor prescribed cardiac rehab. That’s when I discovered my insurance would not cover enough of the therapy for me to be able to take it. I talked to the nurse and she told me; "From what I’ve seen and know about you, you most likely know more than enough to do your own rehab." Needless to say I thought that was pretty nice, stroking my ego is what it was, still it was nice to hear. Thus I set out to rebuild myself and I had to start from scratch, I mean the bottom. Mentally, physically, and emotionally I was a total and complete wreck. Not part of the recovery exercise aspect I am supposed to be talking about, I have to just say, the impact the ordeal had on me mentally and emotionally was something I would not believe possible. It was traumatic to say the least. Before I began exercising, I took a lot of time to evaluate my entire situation. The medication I was on, the food changes in my diet, the long absence from exercise, the need to watch the amount of stress I placed on my heart, etc. I did not allow one single make up of my being go without an honest evaluation. I was out of shape and that was a fact. I lost size and all definition and shape. My strength was completely gone and my coordination and endurance were, well… "What is coordination and endurance" gone. At my age and from what I had gone through a slow but steady program needed to be devised. Prior to my problems, I trained using a great many techniques, programs, and routines. Quite often my training was extremely heavy and always intense, other times light and more causal. I do not believe in one single routine or program being the "absolute best" for everyone. I used and believe in variety, a great amount of it, in my training. Now, after all my health problems, I had come to the point I would have to completely alter what I had done in the past. Now simply walking for a hundred yards was a major task and walking is the first thing I did for my come back. I began walking inside the house, down the hall, two times. As I could I upped it to four times, then six. Next I began walking up and down the stairs, from upstairs to downstairs. Each day I tried to do more than the day before. I graduated to walking outside up and down my driveway. Soon I began to increase the pace. I continued to walk longer and faster. All the while I was also performing mostly freehand exercise movements and stretching. I did squats, lunges, calf raises, and dumbbell curls with 15 lbs. Boy that was hard to swallow. Before my "happening" I was doing dumbbell curls with 65 lbs. No more. Those days are gone. What I’m trying to say is this; I started back doing things I could do and continued to add to them each and every day. The important thing was in my doing something. It was a slow process. As I could I advanced to my first workout. This is what that workout consisted of. I walked daily and did the following routine three times per week. Walk one mile in 18 minutes Bench Press 1 x 25 x 35 lbs Lunges No Weight 1 x 15 x 0 lbs Dumbbell Curls 1 x 12 x 15lbs Close Grip Triceps Press 1 x 12 x 65 lbs Not much I know but remember, it took a long time for me to get to the point I could do this simple workout. I progressed, as my body would allow which was rather slowly. I could no longer push myself to the point I once did but I pushed until both mind and body told me "enough." Once conditioned and after a good amount of time, I was able to increase everything I did. Listed is my actual workout. Column 1 was followed for the first month. Column 2 was followed for the second month and, Column 3 was followed in the third month. Today I adjust my workouts constantly and train more instinctively than ever before. Monday and Thursday: Walk 1 mile in 12 minutes Run 1 mile non stop Walk 1 mile, fast paced. Monday: Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Incline Dumbbell Press 2 x 10 3 x 10 5 x 10 Incline Dumbbell Flyes 2 x 10 3 X 10 4 x 10 Triceps Extensions 2 x 8 3 x 8 4 x 8 Triceps Press Downs 2 x 10 3 x 10 4 x 10 Tuesday: Bent Over Row 2 x 12 3 x 10 5 x 10 Lat Pulldown 2 x 10 3 x 10 4 x 10 Dumbbell Shrug 2 x 10 3 x 10 4 x 10 Barbell Body Drag Curl 2 x 10 3 x 8 4 x 8 Incline Dumbbell Curl 2 x 10 3 x 6 4 x 6 Wednesday: Lunges 2 x 15 3 x 25 4 x 25 Sissy Squats 2 x 10 3 x 10 4 x 10 Leg Extensions 2 x 12 3 x 12 4 x 10 Leg Curl 2 x 10 3 x 10 4 x 10 Calf Raises 2 x 15 3 x 12 5 x 12 Thursday: Dumbbell Press 2 x 15 3 x 12 4 x 12 Side Lateral Raises 2 x 12 3 x 10 3 x 10 Bent Over Laterals 2 x 10 3 x 10 3 x 10 Friday: Barbell Bench Press 2 x 20 3 x 25 3 x 25 Bent Over Row 2 x 15 3 x 20 3 x 20 Close Grip Triceps Press 2 x 10 3 x 15 3 x 15 Dumbbell Curl 2 x 10 3 x 15 3 x 15 Leg Extensions 2 x 12 3 x 25 3 x 25 Seated Calf Raises 2 x 15 3 x 15 3 x 15 Saturday and Sunday: Rest What you may notice from my workouts is the absence of any abdominal work. When I had my heart attack the pain was not actually in my chest area, rather it was in the solar plexus region. Every time I have tried to perform crunches or other movements for the abs it actually results in discomfort and has brought on an irregular heartbeat. Why I don’t know and doctors have been unable to explain it also. Years ago if you had a major surgery, the doctors wanted complete bed rest and time for recuperation to take place. Today, the faster you can get up and going the better. I believe in that philosophy myself and honestly feel recover time can be dramatically cut if the patient can and is able to get moving as soon as possible after surgery. I would however, make certain to follow the advice of the doctors. What I did and how I did it was an individual thing. Everyone is different so everyone would need to follow what works best for their own set of circumstances. I definitely would not begin an exercise routine after major surgery without first consulting with your doctor. © Copyright 2005 Alan Palmieri You can visit Alan Palmieri's website at http://palmieribodybuilding.com |
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