Thread: New Tricks for an Old Dog?

I'm 74 years old. At 73, after 4 heart attacks and ER visits for resuscitation from flash pulmonary edema, they gave me a pace-maker and defibrillator on St. Patrick's Day, 2008. I was always a couch potato, had contempt for those who exercise and those who exercise. I ate pastries, sweets, gumdrops--anything with lots of sugar-- with total abandon. When told all this was "empty calories," I would say empty calories is what made your heart beat. I was grossly obese, 260 pounds at 5' 7". After my last heart attack and pacemaker implant I had beens such a sick pup that I didn't eat anything except to stay alive for six months. Most food tasted "furry." Last March, my appetite returned. I started to gain back the 60 pounds I had lost while I was sick. I figured out that the only good thing that had come out of being so sick was the weight loss and I didn't want to gain it back. I signed up for a month's trial at Ultimate Fitness East, the local gym in Riverhead, NY. I started walking on the flatbed tread at 1.5 mph for 20 mins. That was the best I could do with a lot of effort. A guy who worked out regularly next to me at 4.5 mph for two straight hours befriended me and said take it easy. (I call him affectionately "The Horse," his name is Robert.) One of the trainers when he was not busy showed me how to do this gym's set of 16 circuit machines in addition to the flatbed. The same trainer told me to do the circuit machines first, and then the flatbed, and to take every other day off to rebuild. I did enough to feel the "burn" in my body after exercise, the rush in my blood, and the over-all feeling of well being that comes after exercizing. Some of the machines are like scratching an itch you didn't even know you had. I lost another 30 pounds and now weigh 170 at 5' 7", which is at last reasonable. I am in my 10th month of regular 2 hour work-outs at the gym. My heart doctor says I am his poster child (Before he called me "Lazarus."), and told me I have taken years off the way I look. I recently had an inguinal hernia repair. I don't know when it occurred but doubtlessly it was at the gym. The aftermath of the surgery has been very painful, and the doctor has given me orders not to exercise vigorously for 3 weeks (until February 3). I would appreciate very much any advice from readers here how to go about determining which exercise caused the hernia, and the right way to proceed when I go back. I felt the hernia the worst on the flatbed tread but may have caused it on one of the circuit machines (I don't as yet lift free weights.). Just any sort of input I'd really appreciate. Henry

Mine happened when reaching forward while lifting.