weight lifting, upper body

I have had my pacemaker for 12 weeks now and I can now have full motion with my right arm (pacemaker was put on my right side, not my left) and I want to get back into uper body weight lifting. I know that bicep and tricep curls are not going to be a problem, but, i'm very cautious still about my arm. I have questions about the following areas though.

bench press
military press
lat press
rowing


If you could also share what YOU do and what areas you work and wha you don't do at all, I would like to know. Much appreciated!


3 Comments

I'm a personal trainer...

by Jari - 2012-09-18 12:09:01

I work as a personal trainer and have had a pacemaker since the age of 12 and am currently 25.

I haven't had any issues with weightlifting and have done pretty much every exercise you can think of.

I bench press, incline press, military press, fly's, pull ups, chin ups, rows, lateral raises, etc. With various weights and set and rep schemes.

The only exercise I've done that caused a problem is front squats. Only because the 400 lbs crushed my lead and I had to go into surgery to have it repaired. So I suggest staying away from front squats or any exercise where you hold a heavy weight in the collarbone area.

I've bench pressed 335 lbs with a pacemaker, deadlifted 700 lbs, back squatted 455 lbs, military pressed 225 lbs, barbell rows with 275 lbs for 5 reps with no real problem pacemaker wise. I can do sets of 10-15 reps of pull ups and chin ups. So anyways, that's what I do.

My biggest suggestion is to start slowly and work your way back up. If you use to bench press 200 lbs for 3 sets of 10 reps start at 100 lbs and add 5 lbs a week until your back to your 200 lbs. Might take you six months but that's more than enough time to let all your hardware scar up and become nice a snug.

Obviously I'm an extreme case but if my pacemaker can go through 700 lbs deadlifts than a typical weight training routine would probably be fine.

Good Luck

crossfit

by Tracey_E - 2012-09-18 12:09:01

I do crossfit so the workout varies daily but we do all sorts of lifts, running, rowing, etc. My current goal is an unassisted pull up, I've never in my life done a real pull up and I am determined!

I do front squats, but my pm is not directly under the collarbone so the bar doesn't get near it. And, you know, I can't pick up anything close to 400# ;o) But I was quite proud of squatting 80 last week.

The only thing I don't do is inverted rows, where you lie on your back, grab the rings and pull yourself up. I'm not worried about doing damage but it aggravates the scar tissue so I end up holding back the next few days, easier to substitute push presses or something else that works the chest but doesn't get so deep. It's not hard to tell when something doesn't feel right. If it hurts or pulls, do something else.

As long as your doc has cleared you, just go for it! I know a lot of people are afraid of damaging their pm, some drs even give a list of do's and don't's, but they are tough and odds of hurting it are negligible. My dr's official instructions? Don't do anything stupid, go live your life and forget about it. And I have, almost 20 years paced now.

Weight lifting

by gleesue - 2012-10-15 01:10:44

Obviously we are not all personal trainers but exercise to stay in shape and improve our quality of life. I lift 2 – 3 times a week but also bike, kayak, play tennis, hike and more.
When I asked my Doc about weight lifting he gave a few pieces of advice. He also said excessive straining putts a lot of stress on the leads along with rubbing of the leads on the bone that can cause wear.

Suggestions:

• Use less weight and do more reps. I have done this on all my exercises. I have also sped up my reps, which adds a little cardio to it.
• If it hurts don’t do it. Shoulder shrugs hurt at first so I held off doing them. Now they no longer hurt so I am doing them. However, I am currently using 40 lbs. less weight.

I am also using less weight for bench presses, lat presses and even curls. Fly’s are still a little uncomfortable. I do dumbbell presses including curls. I find that better than military presses.

I may not go back to my max weight for weight lifting. Like I say, I just exercise because I like how it makes me feel. And, I want to be ready and able to do al forms of activity. I don’t use weights to bulk up but to help me satisfy my overall health objectives.

Some thoughts, I hope they help.

You can see other stuff I have written under Sports Activity.
Jerry

You know you're wired when...

You have a $50,000 chest.

Member Quotes

In fact after the final "tweaks" of my pacemaker programming at the one year check up it is working so well that I forget I have it.