Starting Strength w/ Anemia

[Ac is 70's Big]

Hey Rip whats up.

I had a question for ya. A friend of mine wants to start training and she has anemia. She takes Iron pills and I guess whatever else there is for that.

Anyway she has not worked out yet, but I was curious if you or someone you know has trained someone like that and if there were any problems that came up or any tips you have.

Ill update you later in the week when she actually trains.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Unless she has some weirdass form of anemia, it's really easy to fix by eating actual food that contains iron. Red meat, that kind of shit. She can train now anyway.

[zephed56]

Yeah she probably eats rice cakes and frozen yogurt and fat free candy and chips and thinks it's pretty good for her.

[Blairbob]

AC in the past 8 or so years, I've probably coached about a dozen boys and girls with anemia. Sometimes this has come from vegetarian diets whereas most of the girls were pubescent and very light eaters ( preferring to eat light, useless stuff like cereal ). Most of the boys were coming from vegetarian diets are diets lacking red meat because they were vegetarian-ish. In some cases, some of the boys just didn't eat enough. Said boys were all pre-pubescent.

After noticing that their workout ability fluctuated greatly from day to day, I asked their parents about it. Some of the parents found out their child was anemic after a doctor's visit and tried to change their diet to get more iron with mitigating success. Mitigating success because these children still suffered from the same symptoms of anemia in workouts. It's very frustrating as a coach when it's not just an issue of them being lazy or me being too demanding.

At least you know she has anemia which is one part of the problem. Now getting some kids to eat seems to be a chore nowadays ( my 3 brothers were all pain in the butts regarding this ). I have two boys on my team that are light eaters besides being picky and I think WTF. I rarely have had this problem with athletes and never had it myself ( and I was considered a picky eater ).

[tremorviolet]

I dunno, I eat meat and take supplements (for the last four years) and am still borderline anemic. Some of us just have bigger issues with this crap. But I don't perceive it to have much affect on my training (of course, I really don't know any different) although the iron supplements have helped immensely with any aerobic activities (I can actually get enough air during hard workouts now).

[Mark Rippetoe]

I'm not a diet guy, but I do know that iron is absorbed poorly from a low-fat diet. Investigate this as a possibility.

[Donovan]

I dunno, I eat meat and take supplements (for the last four years) and am still borderline anemic. Some of us just have bigger issues with this crap. But I don't perceive it to have much affect on my training (of course, I really don't know any different) although the iron supplements have helped immensely with any aerobic activities (I can actually get enough air during hard workouts now).

You couldn't get enough air because of the anemia? I'm in the same boat as you, I eat a lot of iron rich foods but am still slightly anemic. I never associated the breathing with it but I have the same thing. Not really out of breath but feels like you can't get a full breath of air and have to keep trying? Iron supplements have helped but before that the only time I wasn't tired was when I was doing physical activity..

I'm going to look into that low fat thing and experiment, feels like I fit the bill (before SS anyway).

[Mark Rippetoe]

It obviously doesn't involve the actual gross respiratory process itself, but rather the efficiency of O2 transport in the anemic hemoglobin.

[Donovan]

It obviously doesn't involve the actual gross respiratory process itself, but rather the efficiency of O2 transport in the anemic hemoglobin.
So would it therefore make sense that I would experience the feeling of lacking a full breath even though I know I am getting as much air as my lungs can take? Or would this be contributable to a deviated septum?

Anecdote: I had my junior AAA hockey tryouts and the day of the inter-squad game I was very tense and couldn't make myself eat as much as I normally do. It had been about 4 hours before the game started that I had last eaten. Even before the game the breathing thing started recurring (which it hadn't throughout the tryouts where I had been working just as hard but had eaten much more during the day) and I would fatigue faster.

So would the lack of O2 transportation ability effect how fast your muscles recover and respiratory function (whether mental or not (i.e. your body tricks itself into thinking it isn't getting a deep breath so it can take more deep breaths to make up for the lack of O2 being transported to the muscles))?

Sorry if I hijacked this thread. In my experience anemia hasn't effected my weightlifting at all.

[Ac is 70's Big]

I appreciate all the help from everybody. Especially Rip.

[jep6095]

There are a lot of variables to training with extreme anemia. I know this because for many years of my life, periods=near death. SO, please get the facts of her diet and sleep and understand that for a week per month, she may need light training.

I would have preferred strength to metcon training but wasn't smart enough at the time. Help her get the facts; train and eat so she can be stronger which will help her fight the situation when needed.
jp

[juicysweet]

AC, everything depends on what type of anemia(s). We can assume Iron since she is at least supplementing this, but there may be more going on...

Severe deficiency can take months to correct.
Iron is absorbed better with vitamin C.
Good eating can be overcome by unfortunate menses (so don't everyone assume that she is an idiotic eater) and may require continuing supplementation.
Strength training shouldn't be affected too much by anemia relative to other kinds of training, so she should just go ahead and do it while getting the deficiency(ies) under control. In any case, there is no reason to delay the start.

s.

[tremorviolet]

You couldn't get enough air because of the anemia? I'm in the same boat as you, I eat a lot of iron rich foods but am still slightly anemic. I never associated the breathing with it but I have the same thing. Not really out of breath but feels like you can't get a full breath of air and have to keep trying? Iron supplements have helped but before that the only time I wasn't tired was when I was doing physical activity..

I'm going to look into that low fat thing and experiment, feels like I fit the bill (before SS anyway).

I felt like I wasn't getting enough air. I'm a rower and after a race I'd be unable to talk 'cause I was desperately sucking in oxygen. I honestly thought you were supposed to feel like that when you were working hard and couldn't figure out why all these people could outperform me with less pain and effort.

Classic example in pic. 2006 Masters Nationals (I guess I've only taken supplements for 3 years, this was right when I was diagnosed), my boat had just won gold in the lightweight A 4+. Everyone in the boat was cheering and I was hunched over my oar, gasping for air.

Might as well give the fat thing a try, fat's good for you anyway. But my diet is like 50-60% fat and I still can't give blood.

[Need2Lift]

Former rower here. I just thought everyone who's never rowed should know how impressive it is that tremorviolet was winning races while feeling the way she was describing.