Personal Heart Rate Monitors

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Personal Heart Rate Monitors

Postby lars999 » Sat Jan 08, 2011 5:05 pm

Hello!!

This is another topic that really does not fit anywhere, so I put it here.

What I write below is likely nothing new to folks seriously into aerobic exercise. Although I have long done aerobic and endurance activities I never used a personal heart rate monitor, only ones built into exercise machines. I use my recently acquired personal heart rate monitor to keep the intensity of my aerobic activities to a level that I have found to be apparently safe for me, as I continue my recovery from Lipitor damage.

I use a rather simple monitor, consisting of a wrist-watch like unit and a chest strap with heart rate sensor and signal transmiter (to wrist unit or to many exercise machines). This combination allows continuous monitoring. There are many such on the market, from discount prices of about $50 to fancy, full price ones costing hundreds of dollars.

In my case, I want to keep my heart rate during hours-long aerobic activity in the 130-140+ bpm range, except for short bursts of effort. This seems not to cause any additional chemical damage to the already Lipitor-damaged mitochrondia in my muscle cells, encluding especially in heart muscle cells, at least not when taking CoQ10 as ubiquinol and Acetyl-L-Carnitine to improve mitochondrial function. In my case, I seem to be able to exercise at 150+ bpm for at least 30 min, and go back and do it again the next day, for at least 3 days in row (at elevations of 5000+ feet). A year ago such excercise level required 2-3 days rest and recuperation before the repeating.

My heart rate monitor has already paid for its $50 price in two cross country ski trips. To my surprise I found I was much too often operating at 150+ bpm and having to stop for a few minutes rest, letting my heart rate drop to 120-130 range. Once I found out what I needed to do to stay in 130-140 bpm range, I found -- surprise!!! surprise!!! --- that I could ski for longer before needing to stop for rest. Because these ski trips last 2+ hours, are at 4000-5000 feet higher than where I live, and involve many uphill sections, I really want to stay well below the maximum aerobic and heart rate levels I can sustain for 30 minutes at lower elevations.

For those not already aware, those of us accoustomed to fairly intense aerobic activity can suffer major degradation in our capacity for aerobic exercise because of statin induced chemical damage to our mitochondria, our little energy factories -- 100s or 1000s per cell. Even 7-8 months after quiting Lipitor and constantly working to recover my aerobic capacity, I remain at a level about 1/2 of my previous level 2 years ago. It remains unclear how much additional recovery I can achieve. Lipitor had me down to a mere shadow of even my present aerobic ability.

Hope this is useful to someone,
Lars
lars999
 
Posts: 331
Joined: Mon Sep 20, 2010 10:14 am

Useful to me

Postby Nancy W » Sat Jan 08, 2011 10:49 pm

Lars, it is useful info. David had just shared an article with me pertaining to exercise and CFS, along the same line. Being a PT, I am interested, so thanks for posting your experience wiht using a HR monitor. I have one, except it is not waterproof, and I swim...still, I can take my pulse the old fashioned way and read the racing clock at the side of the pool.
Nancy W
 
Posts: 139
Joined: Thu Sep 03, 2009 11:22 pm
Location: Bonney Lake, Washington

Postby lars999 » Sun Jan 09, 2011 7:05 pm

Hi Nancy,

That article by Dr. MyHill is probably same one David posted link to some months ago. I especially liked informations about exercise intolerance and short-term damage to mitochondia because they so nicely fit what happened to me last ski season when I tried stubbornly to get back to previous level and duration of aerobic activity. Two hours of cross country skiing was consistantly followed by need for 2-3 days of recouperation. Three months of such skiing is apparently what added to Lipitor damage and turned me into an extremely wimpy old man.

I am now a believer of statin-induced damage to mitochondria, partly because of reading Dr. MyHill's treatise, heavily because of following the biochemical logic of statin effects on Mevalonate Pathway and especially Krebs Cycle.

The day I understood statin's effects on Mevalonate Pathway and Krebs Cycle is same day I quit Lipitor --IF I had been smart enouth to have done this when doctor perscribed Lipitor, I would never have taken it. I have yet to find a GP that understands that -- blank looks on their faces is the first and fatal indication.

Unfortunately, I gave up, at least for now, trying to understand how one actually determines status of one's mitochondria. Clearly this is not a simple, direct matter. Presently I am pursuing other approaches to determining current states of my essential body parts. Maybe Dr. MyHill's writings about determining status of mitochondria will make more sense next time around.

Lars
lars999
 
Posts: 331
Joined: Mon Sep 20, 2010 10:14 am


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