WHAT'S UP DOC?

Happy New Year everybody!  If you're like me, and most other people, you'll be making a New Year resolution to be more healthy.  This may include being more active, losing weight, gaining some muscle, or eating better food.  Whatever your resolution, you should start with a visit to the doctor to determine what your starting point is.  Hopefully, you are able to get yearly physicals. A lot can happen in a year, and what you don't know CAN hurt you.  Different risk factors require different compensations, and ways of managing them.  I have yet to find a risk factor that would prevent all forms of exercise, but when starting a new workout program there may be things you should avoid doing (doesn't mean you can't do it later, as your body gets used to working out).  Keep in mind that any recommendations from your personal doctor always come first. For this post I will be talking about typical scenarios - your situation may be different.

Blood Pressure: Having high blood pressure is a really common risk factor.  There are a couple of things to keep in mind when you have high blood pressure:  Your heart is working harder than normal, so this means that when you are exercising you are going to want to keep your heart rate lower than the normal guidelines for the specific exercise you are performing.  You will also want to avoid overhead exercises - at least in the beginning.  Overhead exercises have been known to make people with high blood pressure dizzy because of the stress placed on the vascular (blood vessels) system.  If you have high blood pressure, make sure to talk to your doctor about diets and medication (if needed) so that you can stabilize your blood pressure before you start a workout program.  Long term effects of working out usually include lower blood pressure, but that can take awhile to achieve, so sometimes you doctor will recommend medication as a stop gap.  Diet can help speed up the process of lowering blood pressure as well.

Heart Complications: Hopefully, your doctor does routine examinations of your heart when you go in for a physical (I mean, it's sort of an important organ).  This is a huge category and each different complication has to be handled in a different way (super specific advice, I know). Your doctor may also recommend you see a specialist.  If you haven't had a physical in a while and you have unexplained dizziness or feel your heart racing, skipping a beat, etc. make an appointment to get your heart looked at. You're not catching feelings - you need to see a doctor.

Diabetes: For clients who have diabetes, I always suggest two things.  The first is you talk to a doctor to make sure you are ready for exercise (most of them will recommend exercise as a way to help with the disease).  And second I recommend seeing a nutritionist who specializes in diabetes.  Exercise affects your blood sugar, so this is a case where a specialist can help you to prepare for what you need before a workout, how you will feel during a workout, and what your condition requires after a workout for recovery.  If you are trying to lose weight and you also have diabetes, a nutritionist with experience in that can also help you to learn what snacks are best to help with blood sugar while not interfering with weight loss.

Arthritis: In most of the cases of arthritis I have seen, the individual is fine to work out. But there are certain exercises that cause pain.  If you have arthritis, get cleared from your doctor before you start your workout, and also talk to him or her about getting involved in some rehabilitation exercises.  A lot of arthritis pain can be managed by doing a regular rehabilitation program aimed at strengthening the muscles around the affect joint(s).  There are some clients with arthritis that I recommend only doing weight training (starting with very light weight and building very slowly).  As you make yourself stronger the muscles are able to handle more of the force placed on your body during daily life and it helps to decrease pain.  And as the pain goes down you will be able to do more exercises and get even stronger, and then the pain goes down even more.  I also like to caution: if you have arthritis and something causes pain, don't do it. Also, pay attention to the amount of fatigue you are feeling. You may fatigue very quickly in the beginning, so if you start an exercise with no pain and then after 15 min you have pain, it's time to stop and rest.  As you get stronger, your endurance will also go up.  Listen to your body and stop when you need to.  If you have arthritis (especially in weight bearing joints) do not push your body to the point of pain. The recovery can actually set you back further than the progress you make working out.

slightly inaccurate, but I laughed

Effects of Medication: Medication is obviously very helpful.  But it can also have weird effects on you when you exercise.  Medicine can make you gain weight, lose weight, feel light headed, affect your endurance levels, make you lethargic, make you not sweat, make you sweat too much, and a crap ton of other things.  Just talk to your doctor and see if you need to be careful while exercising.

Pregnancy: This topic is a bit of an odd ball one.  If you are pregnant, just talk to your doctor about your workout.  Depending on any risk factors you have for complications, your age, how far along you are, and what shape you were in before you got pregnant, your doctor may change your limitations.  Plus, being pregnant changes your nutritional needs.  I can't really give any feedback in this because every pregnancy is different.  If you are looking to start a workout program and are trying to get pregnant, make sure you find a trainer that has certifications involving pregnancy.  I also recommend getting a heart rate monitor, I refuse to work with any pregnant women until they have a heart rate monitor because when you are pregnant your heart rate should not reach the same levels as when you were not pregnant (the heart rate you should aim for depends on what shape you were in before you were pregnant).

Injuries: If you have an injury, don't be stupid about it, see your doctor and try to get an appointment with a specialist or get a rehab program.  Pushing injured tissue in a workout doesn't help it heal faster, it just sets you back. You run the risk of complications and secondary injuries as well.  It is also a good idea if you have an injury to focus some attention on stability exercises related to your injury.  The scar tissue that heals in the place of injured tissue is very brittle, and its never gonna be quite the same, so some stability exercises can help to prevent re-injuring the area.

Skeletal Abnormalities: Again, this category is very broad. There are a ton of skeletal abnormalities and within each one there are varying degrees of severity.  Your doctor may limit you from types of training, he or she may limit specific exercises, or he or she may limit the intensity of exercise.  All three of these categories are things you are going to want to specifically address with your physician.

Hormone Levels: This is another tricky category.  From my experience MOST (not all, so do what the doc says) hormonal imbalances don't actually affect the work out part, they affect the results.  If you are trying to lose or gain weight, and you are doing everything perfectly (including food and proper rest) and I do mean perfect, it may be hormones that are holding you back.  So talk to your doctor about getting that tested.  This is especially true in women who have recently started or stopped taking birth control, or recently given birth.

Autoimmune Disorders: Huge category (I've been saying that a lot this post, but it's true).  I don't have much to say about this except that the more information you can have the better off you will be.  I know its not super helpful, but these diseases are all very weird.  Usually there will be good and bad days, and as long as you have clearance from your doctor, it's just gonna take time for you to figure out what programs work for you.  In many cases, exercise can help autoimmune disorders but usually only in moderation, and again, that's for your physician to decide.

Hopefully this post will help you get started with your New Year's resolutions and isn't too vague.  If you need elaboration or have questions for me, leave a comment below the post.  I always like hearing what topics you guys would like me to cover, so let me know.  Happy New Year and good luck everybody.  Time to make some changes.