Hi,
My Dad has been watching my recent weight lifting and is eager to get back into the gym after being absent for 20-odd years. The trouble is that in those years his health hasn’t been great and he was a constant smoker.
He had a heart attack 6 years ago, and has recently been diagnosed with diabetes. He quit smoking after his heart attack, although he “occasionally” has one or two - which I believe in practise means about one cigarrete a week. He had a endeoplasty surgery a few years ago and has stopped taking cholesterol medicine, against the doctor’s wishes.
His doctor has recommended he doesn’t do anything too stressful due to his heart condition, and at the moment he is doing around 10 minutes of cardio a day, along with around 50 situps and 50 press ups.
My question are:
*Would you recommend he take his exercise regime further?
*Should he be doing strength training?
*Do you know of anyone who has had a similar experience and has done resistance training successfully?
*What program do you recommend, if any?
*Are exercises that use many different muscles(squat, DL) worse for his heart than those which use fewer muscles?
Thanks in advance.