I have a question for you all about weight gain and blood pressure. I have gained about 100 lbs in the last 5 years, I watch my diet pretty well, try not to eat out, do my cardio and don’t take medications or recreational drugs.
I am wondering if some of you gainers out there have encountered similar issues.
My morning readings are about 130 ish over 60, when it is it’s highest mid afternoon it sits around 160 over 50 which I find strange because the higher the systolic seems to be the lower the diastolic number ends up being.
I have heard that when you gain large amounts of body mass, blood pressure can average higher than usual and I was wondering how much weight any of you had gained sence you started training and if you did notice an increase in your average if you do check every so often
Obviously the peak of the season is a little higher because of water bloat, estrogen ect… I am trying to get this issue well under control before it’s time to gear up for the next season. I do take arimadex, ACV 2 oz a day, take hawthorne berry, watch my sodium, watch my diet fairly well as i said (except on bloated road trips), take magnesium, zinc, aspirin, vitamin e and have been considering celery extract and have recently started juicing large amounts of vegetables for their therapeutic value and besides that they are good for you and a pain to eat whole
Anyways, thank you so much for your time and consideration. If i can get this all figured out with my severe swings in numbers I am sure i will be able to help may others with the same issue
It’s not unusual for your diastolic to drop and your systolic to rise but as far as I know that’s only during exercise. It could also be genetic in your case if everything else is dialed in like you say (diet wise). Although 100lbs is a ton of weight to put on, I have to ask how much LBM did you put on? Maybe you should try to get a bit leaner, or increase your conditioning.
I’ve put on 40lb’s over the past 5 years, and the opposite has actually happened where I’m actually “more fit” cardiovascular wise. All of course depending on the type of training I’m doing. So far as of last week my resting BP readings are 104/72. And this isn’t a “true” resting BP done as soon as you wake up so it could be lower, but since injuring my foot back in May I haven’t been able to do any sort of conditioning work outside of lifting heavy weights.
Another thing, how is your caffeine intake? Do you drink a ton of coffee/caffeinated drinks a day?
Where are you having your blood pressure taken? If it’s at one of those automated kiosks at a pharmacy, the cuff is more than likely too small for your arm giving an incorrect reading. This is what happened to me.
If it’s at a doctor’s office, make sure they’re using a thigh cuff. I believe the nurse told me that the normal cuff is less accurate for arms over 14".
Also:
The cuffs (any pressure type really) factor in a squish factor for the transmission of the pulse through the tissue… Fat squishes far more then muscle…
Only really accurate reading is in artery…
SO: for exact same actual blood pressure, the worse the body comp the lower the number will read.
Wrist cuff would seem less sensitive to this as there’s little tissue between arteries and cuff…
[quote]jldume wrote:
It’s not unusual for your diastolic to drop and your systolic to rise but as far as I know that’s only during exercise. It could also be genetic in your case if everything else is dialed in like you say (diet wise). Although 100lbs is a ton of weight to put on, I have to ask how much LBM did you put on? Maybe you should try to get a bit leaner, or increase your conditioning.
I’ve put on 40lb’s over the past 5 years, and the opposite has actually happened where I’m actually “more fit” cardiovascular wise. All of course depending on the type of training I’m doing. So far as of last week my resting BP readings are 104/72. And this isn’t a “true” resting BP done as soon as you wake up so it could be lower, but since injuring my foot back in May I haven’t been able to do any sort of conditioning work outside of lifting heavy weights.
Another thing, how is your caffeine intake? Do you drink a ton of coffee/caffeinated drinks a day? [/quote]
Well I was 145 lbs of skin and bone, so I would say about 85 lbs of lean mass. I’m not a body builder and physique has never really mattered to me much, I’m a hard gainer and the entire function of my training is to lift more weight and place better in competition. We do some GPP work (short duration of rest between sets of events ect) I do various types of conditioning and cardio specifically for 90 seconds of intense effort such as tire flip for 8, sledge hammer 20 reps, active rest on bike or weighted prowler push accross a soccer field and a drag back for a number of sets (or untill we are too burnt out) or just 15 to 20 mins of spin cycle if I really don’t feel like doing much. I’ll go our on a limb and say that our conditioning is decent, but i’m no marathon runner or anything
Heart disease runs in my famly on my dad’s side for sure, he’s the first one to make it past 50 I’m pretty sure for 3 generations due to blood clot or heart attack so that’s another reason for me to be aware of what is going on inside by body. My diet isn’t bad but it could always be better, it is very difficult for me to eat 100% clean and expect to stay at 245 - 250, if I skip a meal or don’t get enough calories I can lose 5 to 10 lbs easily so often I resort to Gatorade, granola bars, fatty steaks, sweet potatoes, tons of milk and yes cookies and garbage literally just to get me to 6000 or so a day. I don’t tend to drink coffee or use pre workout stuff with caffiene, just some good old Gatorade, creatine, arginine and taurine I have bought seperately and mix myself
[quote]kakno wrote:
Is the cuff big enough?
Manual or automatic? Who measures it?
Seated, lying?
Do you relax for a few minutes before?
Drink coffee before?
Arimidex… are you on any so called “super supplements”?[/quote]
I’m not too sure how big the cuff is supposed to be but I have gone for a 24 hr blood test machine and it was set up by my doctor. The results of the machine were fairly consistant with what we had for my self taken at home numbers. It is manual, I take it and I do relax for a while before I take the reading, seated most often. I do not drink coffee regularly, mostly reserved for ocasions
And yes I am on 200 mg of test a week which is a fairly reserved dose compared to some of the cycles you hear about guys taking
[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
Where are you having your blood pressure taken? If it’s at one of those automated kiosks at a pharmacy, the cuff is more than likely too small for your arm giving an incorrect reading. This is what happened to me.
If it’s at a doctor’s office, make sure they’re using a thigh cuff. I believe the nurse told me that the normal cuff is less accurate for arms over 14".
Cheers.
<------------- Not a Dr.[/quote]
I will try a bigger cuff for sure, this machine was lying around my house after my paps had a heart attack so it may be a factor as he is a normal sized man
[quote]Null wrote:
Also:
The cuffs (any pressure type really) factor in a squish factor for the transmission of the pulse through the tissue… Fat squishes far more then muscle…
Only really accurate reading is in artery…
SO: for exact same actual blood pressure, the worse the body comp the lower the number will read.
Wrist cuff would seem less sensitive to this as there’s little tissue between arteries and cuff…[/quote]
I’m not carrying much fat so that must be good, but I’m not sure it’s common practise to take BP readings from the wrist. I have never heard of a wrist cuff, does it actually exist?
Aside from technical/manual errors while taking the readings, cuff size and genetics, I’ve got no experience with PED’s and I’m not sure if that’s one of the main factors contributing to your BP spiking so high. Your nutrition might be something else you might have to dial in a bit tighter in order to see some benefits. Sounds like you get pretty good conditioning already as well.
In my case studies there have been instances where it could also have a lot to do with the stress in the person’s life, or if you have to place yourself in a stressful situation that really affect your body physiologically more than you think. If this really runs in your family, you should think about this and take it more seriously. Diabetes and hypertension run in my family, I’ve made SURE to watch for those and get them in order for the long run.
I think I’m sort of getting it a little more dialed in, it really comes down to dieting harder and talking to my doctor about what I am doing and possibly being medicated for the “heavy use” part of the season.
In the last 4 days I have eaten about 1500 - 2000 mg of sodium in an entire day (which let me tell you is stupid hard) there is salt in milk for fuck sake, taken a bit more apple cider vinegar and introduced a mild diuretic to my supplement regimen AND upped my cardio and it has dropped significantly, but still sits at 135 over 65 which isn’t bad and had the best reading of my life so far this morning of 125 over 70 but if I’m not extremely diligent with this specific routine and I go eat some pizza or something it can spike to 170 over 55 (I’m aware the diastolic went down, that’s just how mine goes when the systolic spikes) and this is while on 200 mg a week t400
I suppose some of us are super sensitive to salt and junk foods, as for what I’m going to do during the season, I will need to watch what I eat very closely especially working up north in a camp where they serve you nothing but salty salty food. There will be a lot of shakes, oatmeal and fruit in my diet, some suppers I will have to skip completely because they often don’t serve plain meat just some sort of giant chicken finger with fries and gravy, lots of deli meat sandwiches and all kinds of garbage that makes me wretch when I’m looking for “clean” sustenance for my day at work.
So to summarize, the answer for me has been some home remedies as cheesy and gay as it may sound and definitely low dosing test by it’s self has been easy on the RBC, allowing my blood to be thinner, less estrogen bloat which jacks up blood pressure and I will definitely have to let my doctor know what I plan on doing during the season and take a proactive approach to keeping my BP within a decent range.
I can also keep a log in this thread of my baseline (cruse) blood pressure, blood work and how different drugs at their doses have directly affected my blood pressure and how I have remedied the issues so that other members can take what they will from my physiological response to various compounds. I have yet to find a blog like that online so I could definitely start one, but posts will be spaced out and infrequent unless there is a discussion on a previous post.
I say go for it and keep the log up here, should be interesting to note for sure. Are you ever planning on ocming off the test entirely for a bit? Would be interesting to note if it does indeed affect your Blood Pressure in a more positive way.
Glad to hear you found a way to bring it down though.
I’m trying to loewr mine as well, mine has been ~140/90 and I’d like to drop it down. I’ve read that increasing potassium intake can counteract sodium.
So far all I’ve done is start a blood pressure log, eat more bananas/plantains/potatoes, and drink more water. I’m going to start doing cardio daily as well. I just got a cholesterol check and am worried about that as well. I’m only 22 but I’ve had high cholesterol in the past. I’m guessing the BP is high because I’ve gained over 60 lbs in the last year.
Mine was said to be high too (systolic) but the nurse took the measurement with one of those machines and it squeezed so hard I figured the reading would be off.
[quote]jldume wrote:
I say go for it and keep the log up here, should be interesting to note for sure. Are you ever planning on ocming off the test entirely for a bit? Would be interesting to note if it does indeed affect your Blood Pressure in a more positive way.
Glad to hear you found a way to bring it down though.[/quote]
I was planning on doing an aggressive PCT next year, but this is my last year as a JR in powerlifting, and I am trying to see if I can place well enough at Western Canada’s Strongest Man to qualify for Canada’s Strongest Man next year. So the decision to stay on was a fairly goal driven one, so I can total over 1700 raw as a jr and hold 4 world records for 242’s, and try to get to my first national level strongman competition.
I did come off completely last year and I did notice a significant drop in my blood pressure but I went to work on a rig and watched it jump from a normal reading to averaging stage 2 hypertension. Being in a room 9 by 6 with 5 men chain smoking every break and eating every meal out because we were in a hotel without kitchens, it was amazing how bad I reacted to that lifestyle and atmosphere health wise within 2 months. Being able to diet properly is a luxury with some careers
[quote]browndisaster wrote:
I’m trying to loewr mine as well, mine has been ~140/90 and I’d like to drop it down. I’ve read that increasing potassium intake can counteract sodium.
So far all I’ve done is start a blood pressure log, eat more bananas/plantains/potatoes, and drink more water. I’m going to start doing cardio daily as well. I just got a cholesterol check and am worried about that as well. I’m only 22 but I’ve had high cholesterol in the past. I’m guessing the BP is high because I’ve gained over 60 lbs in the last year.[/quote]
Are you on gear or clean? If your on that could be the answer to why your cholesterol is all out of order.
Potassium can help, you can get it through dietary sources and you can also add to your diet something called “Nosalt” all it is is a saltshaker filled with potassium basically and it tastes salty. You just use it as a person would use regular salt to season your food. Apple Cidar Vinegar can help if used on a regular basis, asprin and or diuretics. Cardio helps quite a bit too, or conditioning of some kind
[quote]Nards wrote:
Mine was said to be high too (systolic) but the nurse took the measurement with one of those machines and it squeezed so hard I figured the reading would be off.[/quote]
The higher your blood pressure is, the harder the cuff will have to squeeze to get your reading generally
So I am coming to the end of my cruze at 200 mg t400 a week for 6 weeks
I am going for blood work in 2 days from today. Blast starts right after blood work is done
Blood pressure in the morning has been between 120 over 70 to 108 over 64, mid afternoon averaging 130 over 68
Blast for 16 weeks consists of 300 mg test 300 mg EQ and some aromasin. 30 mg dbol \ day for 23 days at week 9
Best singles are as follows; deadlift 705, squat 605, bench 385, overhead (axle clean and press) 310
Shooting to improve all lifts and test new maxes in the 16 weeks, while monitoring blood pressure
I never asked for a print out of my blood work but I will get it checked mid cycle to see again what the values are and get both printouts and post the numbers for all to see
Pretty sure this entire thread is dead but i"ll update what has been going on
I got some blood work done and it came back fairly normal, no red flags. LDL was on the high end of normal and HDL was a little low, so do more cardio, eat ohmega3’s, eat fiber (bile is made of cholesterol and it is what processes vegetable fiber in the intestines) and i should be right around normal
Blood pressure averages about 140 over 60 and I start 23 days of dbol tomorrow
Hit an overhead press PR of 300 x 4, squatted 535 for 3 easy singles, pulled 650 for a few singles and benched 335 for 2 sets of 3 last week (all raw)
looking to up those numbers within the month, bodyweight was 253 4 days ago
again the drugs have been 400 mg t400, 300 mg EQ every week, dbol will be 30 mg a day. Conservative blast for off season focusing on minimizing loss, improving technique, and figuring out my body chemistry to keep lipids and blood pressure in check. will update again in January