Minus Doc, How Can I Know My Limit?

[Rezzy7]

I would like to start some cardio of some kind. Currently I exercise occasionally, strenuously for 30minute, or walk for an hour. I am 40, need to lose about 15 lbs. (The weight is not my goal with cardio, btw).

I don't have health insurance, so without being able to consult my doctor, how can I determine what is a safe level to start?

[Medea33]

Originally Posted by Rezzy7

I would like to start some cardio of some kind. Currently I exercise occasionally, strenuously for 30minute, or walk for an hour. I am 40, need to lose about 15 lbs. (The weight is not my goal with cardio, btw).

I don't have health insurance, so without being able to consult my doctor, how can I determine what is a safe level to start?

I do know that everyone is advised to consult a doctor before commencing any exercise program, but I don't see much point unless you have an underlying health concern.

Absent medical advice, start slow. By cardio, do you mean something like running? If so, you could do HIIT, high intensity interval training, or adapt one of the many "learn to run" programs on the web. Know your target heart rate and don't exceed it. Wear good shoes. Not sure what else a doctor would tell you.

[ginkgo]

That is simple. Start very lightly and build up gradually.

[chrisrushton]

when you start to lose your vision that's a good time to stop. or generally light headed. or your muscles start to cramp up. or you get really out of breath and can't physically do it anymore. be careful though because your emotional hardwiring will keep telling you to stop the exercise at first.

i remember after i broke my leg i hadn't exercised for about 3 months. I jumped on a rowing machine and blitzed it like i'd been doing before my accident. All was good until i got off it. My body was like WTF WAS THAT and I whited out. Had to rest for about 5 minutes before i could see again.

That would be too much exercise.

Oh yeah, get off the forum, stop asking questions and go do some exercise. You will learn more in 30 minutes at the gym than a lifetime reading other peoples' advice on forums like this.

[Rezzy7]

Originally Posted by Medea33

I do know that everyone is advised to consult a doctor before commencing any exercise program, but I don't see much point unless you have an underlying health concern.

My bp goes high under exertion. My guess is that's normal w/out adequate fitness. Several months ago my resting bp inexplicably spiked for a while, totally out of the blue, for a day. It went lower, but remained a bit higher than normal for a while, and now mostly it's just my diastolic pressure that's high.

Of course I will be starting slow, that's obvious enough. I'm just wondering if there's a way, other than pushing it, to get an idea how to build up safely.

Currently I jog/walk, not run. I recently did 100 Pushups up to week 3 and I'm reassessing which level to continue because I barely could finish the last set.

My understanding is that I'm not getting cardio benefit unless I'm at 80% of max, but how do I know if my max is the same as "charts" say?

Originally Posted by chrisrushton

when you start to lose your vision that's a good time to stop. or generally light headed. or your muscles start to cramp up. or you get really out of breath and can't physically do it anymore. be careful though because your emotional hardwiring will keep telling you to stop the exercise at first.

All was good until i got off it. My body was like WTF WAS THAT and I whited out. Had to rest for about 5 minutes before i could see again.

That would be too much exercise.

Oh yeah, get off the forum, stop asking questions and go do some exercise. You will learn more in 30 minutes at the gym than a lifetime reading other peoples' advice on forums like this.

I once had an experience like that. Friends invited me to play basketball many years ago. I lasted about 5 minutes and began seeing stars. This was weird because I played several hours of racquetball without any problem. I think it was the jumping, and the sprinting in r/b is much, much shorter distances!

If I try to do something like that now I'm concerned I could actually die. So, I have to disagree, I think it's wiser to ask questions first in case there's something I don't know. I'm already doing some exercise. I'm going to be on forums whether I exercise or not, so that won't do anything.

[Medea33]

Originally Posted by Rezzy7

My bp goes high under exertion. My guess is that's normal w/out adequate fitness. Several months ago my resting bp inexplicably spiked for a while, totally out of the blue, for a day. It went lower, but remained a bit higher than normal for a while, and now mostly it's just my diastolic pressure that's high.

Of course I will be starting slow, that's obvious enough. I'm just wondering if there's a way, other than pushing it, to get an idea how to build up safely

Run/jog short intervals, followed by longer intervals of walking. Check in with how you feel. Monitor your pulse fairly frequently. Steadily increase your run/jog to walk ratio over days or weeks. Continue checking in with your body and monitoring your pulse. When you start to feel slightly yucky (don't wait until you see stars, not with your bp), ease back and walk an extra minute.

You should see fairly steady improvement in your ratio of jogging to walking - and you should monitor and record your progress - but if you don't, see what happens if you push a little harder for one jogging interval.

And, for the sake of your blood pressure, consider eliminating refined carbs in favor of fruits and vegetables.

[Lifeisamazing]

I agree with gradualness. If you can monitor your heart rate, start with something like 60% of your maximum heart rate. It's important to start from the very bottom and increase the intensity, the duration, the distance step by step.

If you walk an hour a day right now, plan to walk an hour and ten minutes next week, an hour and twenty minutes the week after until you've reach two hours for instance. Then start walking very fast for an hour and build up to two hours again. Then start jogging for twenty minutes and walk for another twenty minutes. There are countless possibilities. Just remember starting slowly and progressing.

[Rezzy7]

Thanks, you guys have been helpful. Been feeling like I'm stuck not wanting to push too hard to fast. The weird thing is I thought I'd be hurting if I tried to exercise more, my lungs and heart feel better than when resting. I started eating waaaaay more fruits and vegs this summer but I didn't know refined carbs contribute to bp issues. I'll probably be exercising indoors more now that the weather is colder and wet.

[Brutha]

My understanding is that I'm not getting cardio benefit unless I'm at 80% of max, but how do I know if my max is the same as "charts" say?

You don't. When I did the test 3 three years ago they found that my target bps was 20 bpm lower than one that the basic age chart would produce. I however have a pretty abnormal physiology.

Most people however don't know either. As the testing is quite complex procedure a normal doc would probably also simple tell you the value that's in the charts.

If you jog it and fear to black out you might want to practice fastly to sit down. Then sit down immediately when you start to see stars.

I want want to be safe as possible than Lifeisamazing advice of starting slow and gradually increasing intensity is good.
Even when exercise has it's risk you should however keep in mind that in general it's however much safer to exercise than to not exercise.

My bp goes high under exertion. My guess is that's normal w/out adequate fitness. Several months ago my resting bp inexplicably spiked for a while, totally out of the blue, for a day. It went lower, but remained a bit higher than normal for a while, and now mostly it's just my diastolic pressure that's high.

If you tell us a story like that it would help when you would name numbers.
What's normal for you? 70bpm? 80bpm? 90bpm? 100bpm? 110bpm?
Did it spike to 140bpm or did it spike to 190bpm?

For completeness I know a bit about heart rate both from my own experience as well as from university lectures as I study bioinformatics. I have however have no background in medicine.

[James81]

Originally Posted by Rezzy7

My bp goes high under exertion.

Consult a doctor.

A doctor's visit doesn't cost THAT much.

[Rezzy7]

I did the stress test before losing my job and benefits. The technician would not tell my what my vitals were at the peak of the test. She seemed to understand that some people get freaked out if they are told a high number which can raise bp. Exercising at home I've measured as high as 170/93 or something like that (I wrote it somewhere). Resting I get readings anywhere from 116/70 and 130/90, with most falling around 128/80. The cardiology technician said take bp at the same times daily, but I do not have a regular schedule, so I'm not necessarily in the same physical state every day. I will probably pay to talk to a doctor just to cover bases, one visit isn't going to break the bank. I have hesitated because I can't see the doc at my HMO now, and the new doc won't have my records to go by.

[Brutha]

For home blood pressure measurements you might be interested in The Quantified Self .

The cardiology technician said take bp at the same times daily, but I do not have a regular schedule, so I'm not necessarily in the same physical state every day.

Doing it at the same time every day is still worthwhile. Your biorhythms don't change because you change your schedule.

[Rezzy7]

I had the impression they want you to take readings at the same time because, for example, when you first wake that would likely be one body state, or at lunch maybe it's before or after eating a meal or going on a walk in the afternoon. Sometimes I rise at noon, sometimes I go to bed a 3am sometimes 7am. I also read that lack of sleep increases bp.

A few days ago I did some quick exercise...100 jumping jacks. My bp was extremely high, then it took a long time to return to normal. I guess I have to see a doctor for sure, but now I will not qualify if I apply for insurance!