What I did this week.

[Doug]

I forgot to post the weekly thread, but I will post what I did.

I traveled for business for the first time since Oct. This is one of the the things I was really concerned about. I am a frequent traveler, so I am used to slinging bags and getting through lines before most people.

I have to say, I had a much easier time than I was expecting. I moved through the airports without having to stop to catch my breath (and Dallas Love Field has some climbs) and I was able to put my bags in the overheads without any problems. My roll aboard typically weighs about 40 - 50 pounds.

Since I missed two days of rehab, I worked out in the hotel on Wednesday and Thursday. In rehab I have been warming up with 5 lb weights in each hand, this week I upped it to 10 lbs in each hand. I did not have any problems with it, but I did notice that some of the nerves around my incision decided to wake up and give me a little grief, but other than that I did good.

I am happy with the way my body responded and happy that I did not really become short of breath. I did notice that when my hotel rooms were very quiet, I was able to hear my new valve much clearer. At home we generally have a fan running. I think I will wait to worry about that for when I can not hear it any more.

 

[Dexter Bob]

Well my Cardiac Rehab upped me to 5.5 mets (what ever that is) and that got me huffing pretty good on the treadmill, EFX, and some kind of arms only device. We had a break in our typically rainy weather and I took a bike ride of several miles including some walking type hills; legs were fine but my butt is really saddle sore. Yesterday I played racquetball for the first time in almost three months with my doubles group. Today I am sore in some strange places but feel pretty good!

 

[SumoRunner]

Not a very interesting week for me. I like it better when I have a race or track meet to report. 4 runs, 3 fours and a five, for 17 miles total. Much of the 5 miler this morning on trails in the woods which are finally dry enough. I managed over 1000 push-ups again, that's 4 weeks in a row, 4200 for the month but March isn't over yet. I'm only doing the push-ups 3 days a week, sometimes 4 so that's about 300 a session.

 

[Doug]

Well my Cardiac Rehab upped me to 5.5 mets (what ever that is) and that got me huffing pretty good on the treadmill, EFX, and some kind of arms only device. We had a break in our typically rainy weather and I took a bike ride of several miles including some walking type hills; legs were fine but my butt is really saddle sore. Yesterday I played racquetball for the first time in almost three months with my doubles group. Today I am sore in some strange places but feel pretty good!

My nurses explained that mets are a calculation that is done to measure exertion. The formula is quite complicated but they have software to handle it for them. They try to get rehab patients to around 5 mets before we finish rehab. I am around 4 mets now and have only a couple of weeks left, so I guess we have to bump things up a bit.

 

[Doug]

I have been using the treadmill at 3 - 3.2 mph, but any faster really hurts my shins, so the nurses use the elevation to add effort to it. I really like the Sci-Fit Rex machine, I really work up a sweat with that thing and it does leave me huffing. The other machine I use is a NuStep. During rehab, there is a 10 minute warmup 15 minutes on one machine and 10 minutes each on two other machines and then a 10 minute cool down. During the warm up we use weights for the upper body warm up, I am up to 10 lbs in each hand now, it feels good. This is done 3 days a week.
I am trying to figure out a way to get a workout, when I finish rehab, like the Rex machine without paying $4k for a machine, I will miss it. I could pay $35 a month to go into the hospital and use their equipment during off times, but the only time that would work for me is 5:30 am and I am not going to get up at 4:00 am to do that.

 

[Doug]

Well my Cardiac Rehab upped me to 5.5 mets (what ever that is) and that got me huffing pretty good on the treadmill, EFX, and some kind of arms only device. !

Here is a definition of mets:
* 1 MET is equivalent to a metabolic rate consuming 3.5 milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute.
* 1 MET is equivalent to a metabolic rate consuming 1 kilocalorie per kilogram of body weight per hour.
I am going to start another thread on mets and rehab.

 

[SumoRunner]

I found an explanation of METs on Wikipedia. It doesn't consider duration, only intensity and it is a statistical estimation which can vary from person to person. I would imagine that as you get in better condition your actual MET level changes. i.e. What rehab considers 5.5 would be too easy in a few months.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_equivalent

 

[ar bee]

last week was fantastic, 5 exercise sessions (1 yoga, 2 fast steep uphill walks and 2 indoor cardio), but this week looks bad, probably one round of gym only