Weight Lifting & Heart Disease???

I'm a 30 year old who suffered three consecutive heart attacks at the age of 28.  I have a stent inserted in my left main artery.  I am currently running on 40% of my heart muscle as a result of delay in opening up my clogged artery.  Doctors say damage to the muscle is permanent.

Can i continue to lift weights as long as i monitor my BPM and not exceed 130 lets say while giving appropriate recovery time?  

I am extremely fit and feel GREAT... Basically, i'm a health freak diagnosed with HEART DISEASE.

Considering the loss in my Heart muscle, would this have an effect on my life span?  Could it get worse???

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hi,

Well, I will not suggest you to do the weight lifting as such exercises put a sudden strain on the heart which is not good for the heart. Instead aerobic exercises like walking,jogging,cycling,swimming etc are better exercises as they put little less load on the heart and simultaneously give a lot of benefit.

I hope that helps. Please do keep me posted.

Kind Regards.