Episode #26: Inspirational Interview | Barbell Training After a Heart Transplant
Heavy resistance training after a heart transplant might scare most people but it’s important for long term health and function. We share a story about how barbell training can help you get stronger and improve your quality of life after a heart transplant.
This is the first episode in our series of inspirational client interviews. As we head into the new year, we wanted to bring some of our clients on to talk about their unique stories, experiences with barbell training, and how their training has impacted their lives positively despite the negative medical narratives and belief systems surrounding barbell strength training.
In this series of interviews, each episode consists of a PRS client sharing their journey of overcoming injuries and illnesses, recovering from surgeries, and navigating changes in their lives and the role that barbell training has played throughout this process for each of them. These are just a handful of our clients that are truly inspiring and motivating and we hope that sharing their stories will inspire you, your patients or clients, or your family to incorporate barbell training into your life or continue barbell training during challenging times.
In this episode, we’re speaking with Dennis who has been active his entire life but has also overcome numerous health challenges. Dennis is currently 76 years old and was a competitive distance runner until about 40, running approximately 70 miles/week.
Around the age of 40, Dennis began experiencing cardiovascular issues and spent the next 25-30 years having various procedures done to improve the function of his heart. At 70 years old, Dennis was diagnosed with heart failure and was told that he needed a heart transplant. He had a heart transplant when he was 73 and began barbell training not too long after that.
Though he did do some barbell training previously, it wasn’t his main form of physical activity yet he recognized that it would be the most efficient way for him to gain strength. Despite having numerous medical procedures and treatments over the years, Dennis has managed to remain active and recognizes just how important it is for him to stay strong.
One thing that really sticks out to us about Dennis is that he’s remained positive and continued to advocate for himself throughout this entire process. He was faced with a very serious challenge that would absolutely terrify most of us but he navigated this challenge effectively. And when he started to notice how weak he felt, he took the necessary steps to get stronger in order to not just remain functional in his daily life but to continue to live an active and healthy life that is fulfilling for him.
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Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC, CSCS: [00:00:49] This is the first episode of our series of inspirational client interviews. As we head into the New Year, we wanted to bring some of our clients to talk about their unique stories and experiences with barbell training. And how their training has impacted their lives positively, despite the negative medical narratives and belief systems surrounding barbell strength training. In this series of interviews. Each episode consists of a PRS client sharing their journey of overcoming injuries and illnesses, recovering from surgeries, and navigating life changes. And the role that barbell training has played throughout this process for each of them. These are just a handful of our clients that are truly inspiring and motivating, and we hope that sharing their stories will inspire you, your patients or clients, or your family to incorporate barbell training into your life. Or continue barbell training during challenging times. In this episode, we're speaking with Dennis, who has been active his entire life but has also overcome numerous health challenges. Dennis is currently 76 years old and was a competitive distance runner until he was about 40, running approximately 70 miles weekly.
Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC, CSCS: [00:02:09] Around the age of 40, Dennis began experiencing cardiovascular issues. He spent the next 25 to 30 years having various procedures done to improve the function of his heart. Finally, at 70 years old, Dennis was diagnosed with heart failure and was told that he needed a heart transplant. He had a heart transplant when he was 73 and began barbell training shortly after. Though he had done some barbell training previously, it wasn't his main form of physical activity, yet he recognized that it would be the most efficient and effective way to gain strength. Despite having numerous medical procedures and treatments over the years, Dennis has managed to remain active and recognizes just how important it is for him to stay strong. One thing that sticks out to us about Dennis is that he's remained positive and advocated for himself throughout this entire process. He faced a very serious challenge that would terrify most of us, but he navigated that challenge effectively. And when he started to notice how weak he felt, he took the necessary steps to get stronger to not just remain functional in his daily life but to continue to live an active and healthy life that is fulfilling for him.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:03:27] All right. So, Dennis, why don't you tell us a little about your medical history and training history related to running and barbell training?
Dennis: [00:03:39] Okay. So I started running when I was in high school. I was a competitive distance runner, and I was pretty good. Up until about the time I was 34. I trained quite a lot. I averaged 70 miles a week of running for about five years. So, you know, I was serious. I was hardcore, pretty much. However, after I turned 34, or at about the same time, I got dizzy once while on the run. I sort of shook my head and finished the long run that I was on. And then, unfortunately, it kept happening. Worsened when I tried to run races, we eventually discovered that I had a heart arrhythmia problem that was eventually tied to an enlarged right ventricle. So that was either due to genetics, although I don't have any of the markers, or because I had inflammation in my heart. I was diagnosed with myocarditis in the process of being tested for the arrhythmias I was having. So that meant that just before I turned 40, when I was going to start winning age group races again, I had to stop racing. And I continued to run, and I played soccer some. And one doctor promised he couldn't tell me what would happen except that things would change and they would probably get worse.
Dennis: [00:05:16] And so, of course, they did. I eventually had a variety of ablations, pacemakers, and ICDs implanted in me. But, you know, none of that fixes anything. It just postpones the inevitable. So by the time I was about 70, I was in heart failure, and subsequent tests showed that my right ventricle was more of a balloon than a pump. So it was, you know, it was on its way out. So I investigated getting a transplant because that's the only cure. So when I was 73, just before I turned 74, I had a heart transplant, which, you know, meant a few weeks, several weeks of not doing much of anything. Mm-hmm. And I hadn't been doing much anyway because my heart was failing. And it was difficult for me to walk up the hill to my house from the road. I'd get out of breath. I got out of breath pretty easily so that, you know, so I hadn't been doing a lot for probably a year and a half. I'd walk around and stuff, nothing that anyone would call strenuous. So, at that point after the transplant, I was walking up the steps, and when I would get to the top of the steps, it was hard for me to take the last step.
Dennis: [00:06:44] Physically. I just had no strength. So I had previously done some weight training. Not particularly rigorous, but it was part of the distance running I was doing. And so I was familiar with lifting weights, and I knew what to expect from that. And so I decided I should take it more seriously because clearly, I needed to regain strength. And that's when I went online to find some good advice. Eventually, someone, I don't remember who it was now, hooked me up with PRS and said they thought it would be a good match. And so that is how I ended up at PRS. I've been pretty happy because I wanted to know how fast I should try to progress. Left to my own devices, I would probably do too much, too heavy, too often. And also, some of the things like just performing squat properly so that I don't hurt myself because, once you're getting up to squatting your bodyweight, you can start doing damage if you screw up. And so my goal was one and a half times my body weight, which I haven't quite made. But I got my body weight, which is not too bad for an old guy like me.
Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC, CSCS: [00:08:11] I was looking over your numbers before this call, so I'm wondering what.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:08:14] Yeah, Alyssa looked over your intake form and your goals. And we think you came pretty close to your goals. But one thing we wanted to hone in on here is, how old are you?
Dennis: [00:08:45] I'm 76 now.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:08:47] 76. So you had your heart replacement when you were 71. Is that what you said?
Dennis: [00:08:51] 73.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:08:52] 73. So one thing that just, in general, makes people kind of anxious about barbell training or strength training is age. They look at age as "too old to do something like this" or "I'm old, so it will hurt me." But then also you have this you had a massive surgery, and before that, you had a lot of deconditioning because of the heart failure. So what we want to share about your story is that despite having these things, people would consider creating a sense of frailty in the human being and resistance to getting under the barbell or even being physically active. You know, like, "if I do something, it's going to damage me more. If I do something, I'm going to get hurt, or I'm too frail, I'm too old, I'm too sick. I've had this surgery and can't do anything to impact that negatively." And there's this negative connotation about barbell training, especially when we add everything together. When we look at them in isolation, people view barbell training negatively as dangerous or says you shouldn't do that. Or we're frailer because we've had these things. But you look at it as a way of being less frail to get out of this frailty and impact your life, right?
Dennis: [00:10:34] That's pretty accurate.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:10:36] We want to share your story because we feel like many people out there might benefit. Unless they're actively looking, like you, for a way to improve their life, they might succumb to their situation. And we probably think that the people in their lives are listening to this podcast, you know, so their son, daughter, grandchild, or whatever is listening to this. And they might share this episode with someone in their life. So, talk to us about how you decided. You made this decision independently; you were looking for resistance training. You were looking for strength training. So, what was the thought process for you doing that? And then, how has barbell training specifically impacted your life despite these things?
Dennis: [00:11:36] Well, the decision was pretty clear when I walked up to the basement steps, and I had to stop sort of the next to the last step because the next step was going to be too hard to take. So I knew then, at that point, it wasn't conditioning or endurance as much as it was just pure strength that was causing this. And that was pretty clear to me. And the only way I know to gain strength is to try to lift heavier stuff. And I wanted to do that. Since it was also at the time of COVID, everybody was locked down. So I decided, well, I'll get a set of bumper plates, a rack, and a bench and start to work. But then I quickly realized that my technique was probably not the best and needed some work. So I went online looking to find someone to help with that because it would be pointless to try lifting heavier stuff and end up hurting myself. So, I wanted to ensure I wasn't doing stupid things, you know? So that's why I ended up looking at barbell training.
Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC, CSCS: [00:12:54] And the thing that I really think is cool is that you already had the bumper plates, the rack, the bar, the bench before you found us. So you went out, you got the equipment. You got the right equipment, and you got good stuff! You knew what you were doing. You probably researched.
Dennis: [00:13:10] You can research and find all that stuff online. Yeah, the Starting Strength will tell you all sorts of details that you need.
Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC, CSCS: [00:13:18] Yeah, they'll tell you everything to get. And Dennis, anybody listening to this can't see that I'm sitting here with a huge smile on my face because, you know, it's so cool that you were walking up the steps and realizing you felt weak. I think many people would feel that and think I'm weak. And I definitely couldn't lift weights because I'm weak, whereas your mindset was. "I feel weak."
Dennis: [00:13:46] I got to do something about it.