So far, I did not have to take any drugs regularly. Some weeks ago I discovered, I have a little bit higher blood pressure. I went ot my doctor, did few blood tests and artery sonography. Tests revealed, I have higher cholesterol and that cholesterol started to settle in the arteries. So doctor prescribed me a medicine that belongs to the group of statins. Of course, I didn’t know anything about statins until now.
What are statins
Statins are a common group of drugs to treat high cholesterol. They block an enzyme in your liver, which decreases the amount of cholesterol your body makes. Statins also enable your liver to remove cholesterol from your blood. Both of these actions help to lower your total cholesterol level. This is important because too much cholesterol in your bloodstream is the main reason of heart attack and stroke. Statins effectively reduces such risk.
I read the instruction and it reveals, statins possibly can have quite a lot side effects. Uhh ok…, but there is no other option, if I don’t want to have my blood vessels damaged. I can only hope it will be easy for me. One important aspect is, stronger drinks 🥃 is not recommended while on statins, as it can bring too much load on livers and damage them. I used to drink some whiskey or rum or any other drinks during party or when friends meet 😜. Now I have to be very carefull with this and drink as little as possible.
Other thing I am worried about is, what possible impact will be on my muscles and body and whether it will affect my strenght and performance. Will see in my next workout.
First workout while on statins
My next upper body workout was two days after I started to take statins. And I was quite shocked about first feelings. I did 10 bodyweight pull ups in first set, and felt that no way I could do 14 reps as I did in previous week… Next set I added +16kg and did only 4 😰 weighted pull ups. Next sets was 8 bodyweight, 4 chin ups +10kg, 6 bodyweight, 5 bodyweight. Usualy, I did 7 reps with +13kg for some 4-5 sets and 8 bodyweight pull ups after that, as you can read in my monthly report here. So this time, I felt very exausted and my dips and push ups was lower as usual. It was absolutely clear that it was due to the statins. I was really disappointed about my performance, but I knew this is the only way I have. I have no choice as my cholesterol level and healthy vessels is main priority of course!
As this will be the new reality, I have to adapt to new circumstances. I guess, one of the first action I should take, is to focus more on endurance training. I feel it as the main problem. Therefore, I decided to do only bodyweight exercises in my next upper body workout.
Second workout – core and leg day
Second workout was supposed for core and legs. For now, it will stay the same, as it is more endurance oriented, not on maximal strenght, and it is not so hard to execute. Will see, maybe I will need to change my routine later, I know, I just need to listen to my body. So overall I felt a little bit fatique, but it was not so hard as in upper body workout. I did exercises for abs, legs and back, several exercises on mat and with rubbers and dumbbells.
Third workout – upper body exercises
So four days after my first “statins” workout, it was time for my next upper body training. As I decided, I did only bodyweight exercises. It was hard also, but now I was not surprised about it anymore. So I did 10 pull ups, 8 pull ups, 8 chin ups, 8 pull ups, 6 pullups. In total 40 reps. Volume of 40 reps is in my mind for some time, as I read that doing for example 4 sets of 6 reps is just too small volume.
Conclusions after three workouts while on statins
This is just my personal experience, so please, do not take it as any recommendation, just as one of thousands of other people experiences. After 3 workouts, I can say that statins affect strenght and endurance, and hence the overall workout performance. If compare my pull up stats, it is about 20% decrease in my first workouts unfortunately.
One more side effect I felt was, I am feeling pain in my muscles next days after training. It is same as, if I am doing first training after long time off. Muscle pain is also one of the common possible side effects of statins, and I can confirm that it is true in my case. But luckily it is only light pain in my case, nothing serious. It just reminds me that I need to strech myself more frequently.
There is a lot of information about statins on web, mainly studies and research results, but I hardly found some real people feedback, especially from sportists. That’s why I decided to share my experience, but I want to remind that is just my personal experience. You can never know how it would be on another people.