Great thread!!! Thanx for starting it, Lizw
Excercise is a two edged sword for me. My docs have told me that with my fragile heart the best way to maximize my longevity is to park my tush in a bed and never get out of it for the rest of my life. The objective being to reduce the pressures inside my heart to a minimum. Activity, and exercise, is the _worst_ thing I can do for my heart.
Being a firm believer in _quality_ of life instead of _length_ of life, that went over real well with me.
After much negotiations I got the medical people to set me up with an exercise plan that will keep my body healthy with not much damage to the ol' pump. I have specific goals in terms of blood pressure and heart rate that I have to meet before I move on from one phase of the plan to the next. Eventually, the plan would have me actually jogging for short distances. I've never gotten that far in my plan, over the last 3 years I've wound up in ICU seven times, and the plan restarts each time that happens.
* heavy sigh *
I start with yoga, floor movements only because if I move too fast my BP drops and I get dizzy. After a couple months of that I get on my exercycle and very slowly increase the resistance and distance. After a couple months of that I phase in some very mild resistance exercise. After a couple months of that I can start jogging. That's the part I can never seem to reach.
All I'm really doing is maintaining muscle tone. And that's about all I can handle without my BP getting all confuzled.
My g/f is my number one cheerleader. She's a world class marathon runner and is healthier than a racehorse. She's also a great motivator, nothing like watching her sprint a 6 miler to make me want to stay healthy.
Mike