How & Why My Exercise Journey Started

Now at the ripe old age of 49, I looked back and my new health journey started at 45. It started when I found that I was suffering from some ringing in my years and was conscious this could be the result of an ear infection and I was due to go on a flight, so I went and checked in with the doc. Don’t want to burst an eye drum in the sky! My doctor checked ears and confirmed all was well in there but that the ringing was also a common side effect of high blood pressure and so we checked the blood pressure and yes, it was good and high and falling into the high risk in the Hypertensive category.

Now this was not a giant shock to me as every time I have had Blood Pressure checked over the years such as when trying a gym or seeing a curious doctor it has always been high. This was about Jan 2020 (remember that year??, it was a bit different from the rest 😉 ) wasn’t it .

However, on this occasion the doctor declared it needed something doing about it as they were not happy and so the pills began. I started on the normal first brand within the NHS which is Ramipril. To be honest still to this day I think the medication has made little difference and my body just runs at a higher level but time will tell 😉 Anyway, I started these in Feb 2020, typically they take couple weeks to take affect and so off we went.

Now – March of 2020 was an unusual time in history as YES, Covid started to be a thing and the world was waking up to it. The interesting bit I found from my experience of Ramipril is that, as with all medications, it can cause side effects. In this new paranoid world of Covid and everyone thinking everyone else might have the plague I got a side affect – A Cough ! I mean a bloody cough, people were staying well away from me (more so than unusual).

It took me a couple of months to associate the cough with the Ramipril as of course there are many reasons for a cough, particularly then as the world learned the symptoms and affects but in the ended decided that was the cause, so we changed medication to Cadersatan Cilexetil and I am still taking it to this day.

HOWEVER – This need for blood pressure medication and the idea of needing to take drugs all the time for my body, which shouldn’t need it, didn’t sit well with me and so I decided I wanted to try something else as I was determined I wanted to get off the pills as they shouldn’t be needed! This was the trigger for me!! As it was Covid times I remember having a call with the doctor in my car as no face to face unless really required and this seemed to be a doctor with genuine interest of making suggestions and helping.

I am not daft and so knew the best things you can do for health particularly around heart and blood pressure would be to lose weight and do more exercise. Whilst I would not have declared myself fat (very regular badminton player) there was plenty of squishy parts of me that could preferably not be there and my aerobic exercise could benefit from more regular consistent exercise. Whilst not calling myself fat I think I was probably 120 kg (260 lb) at 6ft 2″ and so could happily lose at least 20+ kgs. At this time I must admit thay my shirts were snug, the trousers were using a belt on the max hole but not thought that much of it. Isn’t it funny how many of these things you notice AFTER you do something.

I needed to decide what to try and the doctor suggested the “Couch to 5k App”. This is a free mobile app that the NHS (National Health Service in the UK ) created and it is all around getting people off their ass and targeting a 5K run, targeting 10 weeks from start to end. I have always liked the idea of running as people look like they enjoy it and that it looks freeing but I have never been one for running. For me though I decided this was the moment and so I downloaded the NHS Couch to 5K App on my iphone. At this time I didn’t have any knee issues really and so decided the time had come. A phrase I will comment regularly as one that I think has resonated it you have to decide – One Day OR Day One!

You can read separately in due course of my experience with this mobile app and jogging but I will add to this post that it is well worth a try. I was not a runner, I am still not a runner but this was an eye opener and in terms of a tool to help you start to get moving it was a great start and well worth a try.