Natty Lifters w High Blood Pressure

Y

yallow

New member
Hey quick question here hoping someone may
have some anecdotal experience as I have
struggled to find any evidence based studies that address my question. I am a 23 yro healthy male that has been powerlifting quite heavily over the past 2-3 years. It's come to my attention that I have high systolic bp (normal dbp), after a month of recording my baseline seems to be around 140. Will taking blood pressure medication (I'm most interested in ace inhibitors be they have the lowest chance of killing erections) negatively impact my lifts? Also, any general advice from lifters out there also dealing with a high sp would be most welcomed! To be honest I'm a bit shaken by this but hoping I can keep doing what I love.
Cheers everyone!

(fyi I am seeing medical professional; asking this question only as it relates to my lifting/bb)
 
@yallow Ace-i at 23 years old seems suspicious to me. What’s your weight, height and body fat percentage? I would try to get in better shape instead of initiating anti-hypertensive medication at such a young age…
 
@twippoh66 This is some input from me. When I was around 16 my blood pressure was elevated and I was slightly out of shape, but still in the healthy range for weight. Neither of my parents are hypertensive, and my other family members who have it are much older and super out of shape. When I lost weight and did cardio it immediately dropped. Fast forward to now, I’m under 20 and around 8 months ago (when I was weightlifting and had less than 15% bf) my blood pressure was around 140/90, so I had many tests done and everything returned to normal. The doctors I visited all contributed it to “hormones”. I started to incorporate cardio into my workout sessions and my systolic blood pressure will be around 110’s-120’s. I’ve just considered myself super susceptible to it and cardio is a must for me now.
 
@blkcloud Very informative!
Good for you that you found something which worked, and I’m glad you’re devoting resources, energy and time to better your health!
 
@twippoh66 I’m 6’1’ and weight 195. I haven’t measured my body fat percentage but I’m certainly under 15% (abs are visible). I’m in the gym lifting 10 hours a week but I don’t do any cardio which may be apart of my problem. It still seems unusual for someone my age I’m fairly active despite not doing intensive cardio…
 
@yallow You should probably do some 2 cardio 5x a week and up your veggie/fruit intake before you decide to be on blood pressure medication for the rest of your life
 
@twippoh66 I agree- blood pressure like that at OP’s age seems totally ridiculous to me. Something else might be going on, might want to get a second medical opinion.
 
@yallow My systolic was around 130-140 for a few months and I recently had a reading of of 109. I did a few things that I think contributed to lowering it. I lost 15ish pounds (was around 235 and cut to 220, goal is 210ish), I lowered my coffee consumption by like 80% (more tea instead), and I started trying to be more conscious of my sodium intake. I'm super sensitive to excess sodium to the point where I'll notice chest pain if I eat too much salt throughout the day. I try to do 20-30 min of cardio after my lifts even if it's just low intensity incline walking. I also started meditating for 10 minutes everyday which may have helped with anxiety while at the doctor's office.
 
@jkb2011 Yes I plan to watch my sodium and increase cardio x At 23 I can’t imagine my kidneys would be having issues with my current level of salt (I meal prep and eat very clean). I take 5 mg of creatine daily and have seen some anecdotal eveidence that suggests it could elevate sbp, although no peer reviewed evidence.. I don’t really want to cut right now as I’m still trying to progress in strength. Plus , cutting seems like a temporary solution as I will want to bulk again at some point
 
@yallow Yeah I bet if you lower your sodium, do more cardio, etc you'll see a change but since you're only 23 I'd say get it dealt with ASAP. Sometimes people are predisposed to have high blood pressure, it sucks. When you bulk just make sure you don't get fat like I did, stay in that "can kinda see abs" territory. It sounds like you have your nutrition on lock, I'd recommend tracking sodium with MyFitnessPal (I had no idea tortillas had so much sodium) and refraining from adding any extra salt to meals you cook. Canned foods tend to have high sodium too, like beans/chickpeas so buy the no salt added versions. Also add 1-2 handfuls of greens for each meal. If you are taking casein/whey/mass gainer etc supplements those sometimes have tons of sodium depending on the brand.
 
@nuovacreatura Hey sorry for the very late update. My blood pressure stayed elevated for the past year in 130-140s and even as high as 150s in doctors office. I ended up getting a referral to cardiologist who did a ekg that was concerning for LVH. He was concerned about either that or aortic dissection so I went ahead and had a echo done with came back totally normal. Jan 1 2024 I decided to quite caffeine cold turkey. Before, I was drinking about 3-4 coffees a day (including some cold brews). The first night after quiting caffeine, I had one of the most restful nights of sleep that I can recall (I have always been a horrible sleeper). The last three weeks I have been sleeping better than ever, and my systolic blood pressure has stabilized at 120. It cured my hypertension overnight. I feel stupid for not having tried this earlier, but all the studies I read showed that caffeine could at most raise your bp 10-15 points transiently. I think drinking an excessive amt of coffee in addition to it affecting my sleep made me hypersensitive. Anyways, still powerlifting and happy my blood pressure is back in good spot.
 
@yallow Something to think about, is it a standard size cuff you use? Most lifters need a large cuff.

Using a cuff too small will give a higher inaccurate reading.
 
@sh419ob Haha I don’t think my biceps are that big unfortunately but certainly larger than the average person. I’ll have to ask my doc about this.
 
@yallow Standard cuffs here i the UK only go to 14" relaxed arms. Im not sure about other countries.

Also if you are getting it tested at the doctors you might get whats called "white coat syndrome" where you get anxious about getting tested and give a false high reading. So your BP might not be that high.

I would always test on the high end at doctors as id worry it would be high so i bought a monitor for home where i could relax and do it myself, also with a large cuff and i test normal everytime.
 
@yallow You'll probably be fine in the weight room. If you're already exercising and maintaining a healthy weight, maybe medication is the logical next step if you already have healthy habits. I don't see how ACEi could impact your muscle mass and even if your strength output decreases a bit at first, controlling your hypertension is far far more important, specially beginning at such a young age.
 
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