I have heard from a doctor that there is a risk of heavy lifting for people diagnosed with atherosclerosis. The risk is that a spike in blood pressure may burst the plaque and cause a blood clot. How much of a spike in blood pressure occurs during a heavy lift? Is this spike significantly different from a hard aerobic effort, like a sprint at the end of a race? If one were to restrict their sets to RPE 8 or less, would that be safer?
The increase in blood pressure during exercise is proportional to the intensity, amount of muscle mass used, etc. That said, resistance training seems to reduce resting blood pressure the same amount as aerobic training. If someone has an unstable plaque requiring urgent intervention, they may not be a good candidate for exercise of any kind at the time. Barring that, the doctor who said that is mistaken when considering the impact of exercise mode on blood pressure, atherosclerosis, and hard clinical outcomes.
The issue has to do with the risks with blood pressure spikes. The same doctor recommended weight training, only with light weights. His concern was that lifting heavy had the potential to cause a blood clot from a spike in blood pressure. My concern is that there are other activities I find myself doing that also may cause spikes in blood pressure. So, if this issue is real, is there any way to know how to regulate one’s activity to be safe(r)?
It is difficult to comment on your individual situation without knowing more about you and your specific diagnostic findings, but your observation that there are numerous other activities throughout the day that involve increases in blood pressure (such as having a bowel movement, for example), is precisely the flaw in reasoning regarding strength training. Additionally, even if you lifted lighter weights but took the sets close enough to failure, you could likely achieve similar changes in blood pressure to heavier loads. Finally, increases in blood pressure do not cause clot formation.
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