Working out

As far as rehab goes, most if not all of my rehab has been in the pool, although all the walking I did in the first 2 and a 1/2 months is technically rehab as well (although not as sexy as swimming....) Am up to 30 min swimming 4-5 times a week, and have been getting more vigorous each time, so given now I'm 4 and a 1/2 months out post-op, it seemed a good time to add some other exercises to the mix. Being a mechanical valve patient with an aorta wrapped in Dacron, heavy, heavy weights are out of the question. However, given how important maintaining muscle mass is as we age, as well as the well-documented cardiovascular benefits of moderate weight lifting, I decided to add very low weight training to the mix. Benched 55 lbs total on incline bench-press, and did about 65 lbs on squats. Pretty low-level stuff for any fitness level, but damn....I'm weak. Little-girl weak. Did about 30 bench presses in sets of 10 and about 25 squats, and wow. Wow as in, I really had more trouble than I was expecting. Of course I was trying to keep things light to minimize effects on the heart from lifting heavy, but it still felt way heavier than I would have thought. Even weirder was the DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) I had starting when I woke up today. At least I know it had an effect on my muscles and wasn't just in my mind.

The plan now is to keep up the swimming and repeat the low weights in a day or two, only adding low increments as the soreness and heaviness go away. Getting Prison Quality Fit, one day at a time.....