Bodybuilding Post Kidney Transplant

[Claudius67]

Hello,

I am looking at getting a kidney transplant in 2023 (G-d willing). I have been training all my life - although I am a typical hardgainer and relatively thin.

Has anyone ever experienced this situation and what were the training guidelines. (I am 55.) I have been on dialysis for about 2.3 years.

If there are any resources or scholarly articles, can you point me in the right direction? Any people that are SME in this?

Thank you.

Bret

[GinaPitterson]

Good luck for you fela

[Claudius67]

I am lucky and have been transplanted. The results of transplant often add a ton of adipose tissue and my bodyfat which was typically 7-8% is now closer to 18%. I am back at the gym and lifting light weights only and am not released to squat or deadlift. Cardiovascularly I am quite a mess but I have been walking 2-3 miles with the hopes of getting back on the Concept II (I was a rower). Has anyone gone through this process? What has worked. Obviously I can't be eating the level of protein that I was previously. The nutritionist told me about a gram per Kg. The muscle nuclei are still there before so it should be back in the long term. I'm looking for advice from people that did this before. I am not looking to compete - but to get back to around 9-10% bodyfat and maintain health. Any thoughts on the process would be appreciated.

[mtpockets]

I am lucky and have been transplanted. The results of transplant often add a ton of adipose tissue and my bodyfat which was typically 7-8% is now closer to 18%. I am back at the gym and lifting light weights only and am not released to squat or deadlift. Cardiovascularly I am quite a mess but I have been walking 2-3 miles with the hopes of getting back on the Concept II (I was a rower). Has anyone gone through this process? What has worked. Obviously I can't be eating the level of protein that I was previously. The nutritionist told me about a gram per Kg. The muscle nuclei are still there before so it should be back in the long term. I'm looking for advice from people that did this before. I am not looking to compete - but to get back to around 9-10% bodyfat and maintain health. Any thoughts on the process would be appreciated.

Hey Claudius, I have absolutely no advice for you, just wanted to say congrats on getting your transplant and wish you well on your journey back in fitness. I don't know anything about it but you seem to be doing very good all things considered. You got this and I look forward to hearing about your progress.

Take care

[SuicideGripMe]

The best advice is listen to your doctors. I would argue that protein needs is far less than what supplement companies push. 70 grams of QUALITY protein will do you well if your other macros are in check. No, you won't be Ronnie Coleman, but you can definitely be in shape.

Walking will be the best thing for you to build up general conditioning. Following a long period of this, I would ask the doctors what they thought of doing weight vest walks and weight vest bodyweight movements (as well as bands) to build up gradually. This worked well for another guy on here who went through a similiar surgery.

[Claudius67]

Ok, I figure to throw this out there for anyone who might be at or near my situation. I underwent a Kidney Transplant in July of 2023. So at this juncture, I am about four months out from the transplant. About early October of 2023, I was released to return to the gym although I was not allowed to do legs. Prior to the transplant I loved to squat and deadlift and although I was never really a huge guy, I could squat and deadlift in the 300-400 range with solid if not pristine form using a low bar squat, which as I aged, felt more stable and was easier on my back than a high bar squat. I will post some pictures of what I looked like. Bottom line is prior to going into end stage I was in very good shape - but by no means a bodybuilder or fitness competitor, I was a multiple HS National Champion Rower who needed another sport or athletic pursuit to make up for the buzz of competition. I was nothing special - but in very good shape as a 53 year old - with a measured homeostatic bodyfat consistently measured between 9-7% (tank measurements - so quite accurate). Thank G-d I worked out hard because I would be flat out dead if I didn't. I had a congenital kidney disease that came on fast and wham I was in the hospital in end stage.

I went through the transplant after being on dialysis for three plus years. During dialysis I worked out between 3-4 times per week and although my bodyfat clearly went up and my weights went down, I did not completely fall apart. I will post pictures.

I underwent within the past year and one half, two brain operations to deal with aneurisms, three heart operations to deal with issues caused by my kidney failure and hypertension (dialysis is very hard on one's heart) and a double nephrectomy where both of my kidneys had to be removed as there was no room in my trunk for the transplant. Finally I went through the transplant and got off dialysis which was amazing.

Post transplant you are put on immune suppressive medications that are a lifetime thing. These medications have side effects that can reduce your red blood cell count and cause anemia, which I have. I am looking at getting epogen type medications to deal with that. Second they cause in combination with the enforced inactivity, loss of muscle and gain of adipose tissue post transplant. They cut through your abdominal wall and your core strength goes to **** (along with the 26cm scar down the middle of my stomach). So I lost approximately 17-23 pounds of muscle tissue and gained a significant amount of fat around the lower abdomen. I look like a different person in the mirror. I have love handles! Never had that before.

So when they released me to exercise I was bloody thrilled! I started out slow with very light weights <25lbs and very gradually increased them. I was always a note taker so I have exact records of what I did. When they released me to squat and deadlift I was so pumped. Just to use the 45lb bar without any weight to do these exercises was like a dream. I am still not using weights more than 80lbs and it seems super light - but I am not going to do something to screw myself up and my core strength is still very poor because of the slow healing of the scars (also a side effect of the immune suppressants).

I figure I am somewhere between 18-22% bodyfat right now, with almost all of the fat tissue in my stomach and love handles. I am sure there is significant subcutanous fat in there as well.

All of my weights have increased over the last couple of months. I am trying to make very incremental improvements by increasing the weights and the repetitions over time. Doing it slow not to injure myself or create yet another medical problem.

I have a couple of bodyfat measuring scales and although they are inaccurate, they give me a general idea of what is going on.

As far as food intake my protein intake I try to keep to 100g or lower because of doctor's directions. I am eating between 1800-2000 calories a day which is far from the nearly 4000 I was eating previously. I chose that based upon my BMR. My general ideology here is to just eat and not diet too much because I need to maintain a caloric surplus - but to just try to get my muscle back which will in turn increase my BMR and will result in fat loss over a long period of time. I really don't want to go lower than the 1800-1900 calories a day and I am watching what is going on just to adjust that so I am not screwing myself as far as musculoskeletal gain. The muscle nuclei are still there and with the stimulus they should come back.

Couple other things. They monitor your bloodwork tons initially and now I am at getting bloodwork once or twice per month. You see your nephrologist regularly and they monitor your health. One of the great things pre-transplant is they literally crawl up your @ss looking for things that are wrong with you prior to transplant as they want to make sure that you have no health problems that could pop up and kill you quickly post transplant.

If anyone has any questions regarding what is happening please let me know. I figured that periodically I would come onto this thread and just throw out information to anyone who can read it. Please understand I am an N of 1 and this is not scientific information. You want medical advice you should ask your doctor. But I can tell you about my experience and privately talk about the kidney disease that I had which was congenital and runs in my family. I hope this helps anyone who is afraid of the idea or is worried about dialysis or end stage or dialysis. I had a particularly rough time. But in some ways I was a unicorn (doctors called me that) because I refused to let myself go to **** during dialysis no matter how bad I felt. Some guy hearing my story from one of my friends in the gym came up and told me I was a stud. I just think I am blessed and lucky and want to pass along what happens to me so that perhaps in some small way, I can help others get through a very frightening prospect. G-d bless.

[Claudius67]

Pre Kidney Failure. This is exactly how I walked around seven days a week when I was 53.

[Claudius67]

This is when I was about 54. I was on dialysis but still working out 4 days per week. Obviously different bodyfat and muscle loss.

[Claudius67]

Post double nephrectomy with big scar. Obvious muscle loss and adipose tissue gain. Post the surgery there was a month long period of relative inactivity and then of course not being able to lift at all and then finally being able to - but at a hugely reduced weight level and frequency. Obviously core strength was very damaged.

[mtpockets]

Great Thread Claudius67


You went through a lot and your story is inspirational and no doubt will help others on a similar path...

Well done!

This thread is very rep worthy..

[Claudius67]

Thank you. But I have seen people handle far worse with such bravery. I consider myself an incredibly lucky guy.

I guess bad things happen inevitably. Cry it out. Then it's a challenge.

[SuicideGripMe]

Congrats on making it through! Take your time and you'll find your strength again. As for squatting and deadlifting in the 300-400 range... maybe you'll get there again, maybe you won't. Set new goals as you go and don't compare yourself to the past. Jim Wendler has been doing some great youtube videos lately about changing his mindset as he's gotten older and dealt with injuries.

Glad you are doing better and God bless!

[Claudius67]

So, I have been lifting post transplant for a while. As far as process I keep assiduous records, exercise, weights, sets and reps. I also note how it feels and make notes to suggest changes for the next workout. I try to make either weight or rep progression. The workouts are all single body part per day right now. I split up legs into glute, Deadlift and Squat days. The other workouts are pretty much what everyone would expect. The programming is minimum 48 hours before a repeat. I'm in the gym six days a week, but I listen to my body and if I need to abbreviate I do.

My lack of core strength due to the relative inactivity and of course the giant holes in my abdominal wall. I have been trying to fix this but the going is slow. It is killing my ability to progress in the squat and CDL.

I do see my body beginning to recomp. The strategy is simply put the muscle back on and let increased BMR do the rest. So no special diet. I was just told I need to watch the sugar as my glucose went up. But that isn't a big deal simply because I am not, nor was I ever a sugar or candy person. Anyway my bodyfat is down I would say between .5-1.0% I would say my bodyfat is up about a pound or so. It's slow going. So that is the deal.

[Claudius67]

Just an update for the new year. On my current diet I have dropped about 8 pounds likely some muscle but mostly fat, when I get around to it I will put up a picture. My strength has gone up quite a bit since I started. I use what I describe as a wave method for progression using both weight and repetition progression. For example:

Incline Dumbbell Press. The objective overall is to get 10 repetitions at a given weight for 4 sets not counting warmup. So lets say you are starting with 50s. You start with 50s at six repetitions for four sets. You keep adding repetitions per workout until you get to 10 repetitions for four sets and at that point you go to 55s again at 6 repetitions and move up. I use a very basic calculation for volume. 50s x 10reps x 4 sets = Volume 2000. Going to 55s x 6 repetitions x 4 sets = Volume is 1320. So the anabolic stress is reduced and the weight progresses until 55 x 10 x 4 = Volume 2200. That way I get a natural rest pause as the weight goes up and eventually surpass the volume. I started with the 25s and now I am at 60 x 8 x 4. I haven't had a setback yet or hit a plateau and when I do I will change things up like going to heavier weights and lower rep ranges for a bit.

Anyway I feel pretty good and I am seeing results. I know I will eventually hit a wall and will have to change things up.

Squats and Deadlifts are still an exercise in patience. I have had my abdomen cut twice and my core strength is not particularly good so I am being very wary with the weight. I am 56 and when you get hurt at 56 its a whole different deal than age 25. Slow and steady wins the race.

Anyway, thank you for reading.

[tkdnj]

Just an update for the new year. On my current diet I have dropped about 8 pounds likely some muscle but mostly fat, when I get around to it I will put up a picture. My strength has gone up quite a bit since I started. I use what I describe as a wave method for progression using both weight and repetition progression. For example:

Incline Dumbbell Press. The objective overall is to get 10 repetitions at a given weight for 4 sets not counting warmup. So lets say you are starting with 50s. You start with 50s at six repetitions for four sets. You keep adding repetitions per workout until you get to 10 repetitions for four sets and at that point you go to 55s again at 6 repetitions and move up. I use a very basic calculation for volume. 50s x 10reps x 4 sets = Volume 2000. Going to 55s x 6 repetitions x 4 sets = Volume is 1320. So the anabolic stress is reduced and the weight progresses until 55 x 10 x 4 = Volume 2200. That way I get a natural rest pause as the weight goes up and eventually surpass the volume. I started with the 25s and now I am at 60 x 8 x 4. I haven't had a setback yet or hit a plateau and when I do I will change things up like going to heavier weights and lower rep ranges for a bit.

Anyway I feel pretty good and I am seeing results. I know I will eventually hit a wall and will have to change things up.

Squats and Deadlifts are still an exercise in patience. I have had my abdomen cut twice and my core strength is not particularly good so I am being very wary with the weight. I am 56 and when you get hurt at 56 its a whole different deal than age 25. Slow and steady wins the race.

Anyway, thank you for reading.

Great to hear you are progressing! You are certainly an inspiration!
Your progression plans sounds similar to "dynamic double progression", which is my favorite method and what I use. For example, I choose a rep range (in my case 6-10). Then I use a weight that I can at least 6 but fail before 11 reps. When I hit 11 reps (on any set) I increase the weight next time I do THAT set. So, if get 11 reps on set 1, next time I do that body part I increase the weight on set 1. The same goes for every set that I hit 11 reps on.