If you read my previous post, you know what happened – heart block 2. Ok, fine a pacemaker is on-board to keep my heart going. I’m a cyborg. Now what? What is life like? How does one recover from this? Can you live a normal life? Even simple questions like “Can I have a beer with my buddies?” are hard to answer right now. Information on the internet is pretty slim. Here’s my experience after 6 weeks with a pacemaker configured with left branching protocol for heart block 2.
Disclaimer: I am not a healthcare professional. I am relating my experience, but everyone is different. So please take this article with that in mind. Talk to your doctor or health professional.
Recovering from Implantation Surgery
Prior to heart block 2, I was an active person with no symptoms. Exercise has been my thing for my whole life. All of a sudden being told you have a serious and potentially fatal issue requiring surgery and then a 6 week “no exercise” or limited exercise period was very difficult to comprehend. I also admit it was quite a shock to my pride. I’ve always been strong and now I’m not. It was difficult to digest this and the doctors basically just said “don’t raise your left arm above your head”, “good luck” and that was it. No recovery plan, no help other than “don’t lift anything with your left arm” and have a nice day.
Ok, so now what? I looked on the internet, joined social networks, asked my rowing friends, but not a lot of useful or practical advice was available. Google’s Gemini had been useful for a few things. I thought well, why not try that? If it can plan vacations and write software code, why not try and see if it can put together a recovery plan? I explained to Gemini what happened to give it some context. Here’s my initial prompt:
I am a 57 year old male, 6ft and 214 lbs. I exercise regularly. I row about 35-40km/week. I recently was diagnosed with stage 2 heart block and had a pacemaker implanted on 3/16/2026. Can you design a training plan to get me back to rowing 30-40km a week with a 500m split time around 2:15 minutes so I can begin once I get to week 6 post surgery?
Here’s Gemini’s response – well the first part at least:
It’s great that you’re eager to get back on the water (or the erg), but first—congratulations on a successful recovery so far. Dealing with a stage 2 heart block is no small feat, and having a pacemaker is a significant adjustment.
Since you are roughly 2 weeks post-op (given today is April 1, 2026, and your surgery was March 16), you are in the critical “lead-setting” phase. The most important rule right now is to avoid lifting your elbow above shoulder height on the side of the implant to ensure the leads stay securely in place.
Below is a conservative, 6-week “Return to Row” progression designed to start at Week 6 post-surgery.
Critical Prerequisites
Before starting this plan at Week 6, you must:
Get Surgeon Clearance: Confirm that your leads are stable and your incision is fully healed.
Know Your Settings: Ask your cardiologist if your pacemaker has “Rate Response” enabled (which helps the device increase your heart rate as you exercise) and what your Upper Tracking Limit is. You don’t want to “out-row” your device’s settings.
The “Talk Test”: In the early weeks, ignore the split timer. If you can’t speak in full sentences while rowing, you are going too hard.
6-Week Recovery Training Plan
Goal: Rebuild aerobic base and shoulder mobility without stressing the implant site.
Phase / Week Focus Volume (Weekly) Target Intensity Week 6 Re- Introduction 10–12 km Very Low. Focus on “Pick Drills” (arms/back only) to test range of motion. Keep split > 2:45. Week 7 Consistency 15–18 km Zone 1 (50-60% Max HR). 3 sessions of 5–6km. Steady state only. Week 8 Duration 20–22 km Zone 2. Introduce 20-minute continuous pieces. Focus on posture and symmetric pulling. Week 9 Volume Ramp 25–28 km 4 sessions/week. One “long” 8km row. Keep splits around 2:30. Week 10 Intensity Test 30–35 km Introduce 500m “intervals” at your 2:15 target, followed by 2 mins of active recovery. Week 11 Target Goal 35–40 km Return to your original volume. Target 2:15 split for 50% of the total distance.
There was much more. Gemini even pointed out there was this guy on Facebook asking similar questions and suggested that I connect with him. His name was Beren Erchamion. We had quite a chuckle about that. Gemini gave me a plan and it did it in a way that made me smile. The amount of material it pulled together in such a short period of time is incredible. It is amazing that I got more from that bot than I got from my doctors.
Las Vegas as a Motivator
I was released on from the hospital on 3/17/2026. A pre-planned vacation with my wife in Las Vegas was on the horizon starting on 4/25/26. I had a few weeks to get my act together. Vacations in Vegas require lots of walking. Sometimes there are large staircases or busted escalators that cannot be avoided easily. I was determined that I would not be the limiting factor in having a good time.
Three days after surgery I started my initial recovery. I can’t activate my Gemini plan until week 6, but a very slow ramp up of walking was something I could do. My right foot is a mess with injuries from soccer and karate. Walking or running is not fun, but there’s nothing else I can do so I will just do it no matter what. Luckily last year I had found a pair of shoes, New Balance Numeric 430 skateboard shoes, that were dramatically better with my feet. Combined with a high arch running insole and I had a good solution to the foot pain.
The first day I started just trying to get down the street. My heart and body really struggled to get there and back – maybe 250 feet each way.
On subsequent days, walking slow and short distances was the key to improving. Each day I got a little bit stronger. By the end of week 1, I could do 0.5 miles at a very slow pace – about 20:00 min/mile pace. Each day I would extend the distance by 0.25 miles. I would check out my heart rate on intervals.icu to see how I was doing. There are a couple of big hills on my walking route and I would aggressively go up those hills as much as I could. I love taking the hill. It has always been a natural motivator for me. I tracked all my walking as exercises so that Fitbit and Strava would add them to Intervals.icu. Using that I could see my fitness improving.
The goal was: Get to “normal” fitness for the trip to Las Vegas with my wife. Over the three weeks, I focused on that. Eventually getting to and averaging 3 miles a day, breaking in that pair of sneakers. It was hard work and i have to admit it shamed me being so slow and weak and getting passed or lapped by people running. I’ve always been strong, now I’m not, but the data showed I was definitely improving.
Post Vegas – Getting Back on the Ergatta
By the time we were leaving for Las Vegas, I was walking 15:30min/mi for 3 miles. I was feeling pretty good. I’m lucky that our neighborhood has a really nice walking trail. I still had the restriction on the left arm – no exercise or lifting until week 4-6. We had to check our bags because I can’t lift them. That sucks. When we got to the Bellagio, I was hurting on the first day. Dragging my bag, plus the heat, killed me. I think the airplane put a lot of stress on me too. After the first day I started feeling pretty good. The work at home payed off and we had a great time.
In Vegas you walk a lot, but its not “exercise walking”. It is walking around the casino floor, getting back and forth to meals, etc. Even though it is 6+ miles a day, it gave me time to recover from the walking at home. It was also five days of fun with Luthien. I was able to get my mind off what had happened and I felt like everything was going back to normal.
Coming home and after 2 more weeks walking it was back to rowing: time to start executing on that recovery plan from Gemini!
That first day on the rower, I did 1km. The good news: no pain. Bad news: it was hard, very hard. I was going slow with 2:45/500m times, but my heart rate was 130 BPM. My cardio is seriously impacted, but I did it. My muscles were also tired and sore after 5 weeks of just sitting around. Over the next few days I started slowly rebuilding endurance and distance just like with walking. I’ve been paying special attention to my elbows so that I do not develop tendinitis. Combining walking and rowing has helped by keeping all my muscle groups active and balancing soreness/recovery. After the first week of rowing, I managed 2km with 2:14 splits. My HR was a steady 130 BPM, which is a little high. I was probably going too fast.
That is a bit ahead of my Gemini plan. I was probably over doing it. If you are reading this and also have a pacemaker, be patient and consistent and you can recover too. Any pain on the left side calls for immediate stop. I’ve also been not going for full pulls on the rower, but instead going for around 85-90% just to allow my chest to get used to this. Patience is the most important aspect of this –> slow and steady. Remember that recovery days are important too. Every third or fourth day should be a break day.
Where From Here and Things I’ve Learned
I have my recovery plan above – my goal is to achieve it and be back to 8-12km days with a decent split average of 2:14 to 2:00. This will be top priority. I will continue to mix walking in with my rowing. The combination seems to work well especially now since I cannot really do full rowing days yet. The vegetable garden season is coming soon and this will bring opportunities for strength training and of course there’s mowing the lawn. I think this diversity will help with boredom and also make sure I’m getting regular whole body exercise.
For many years I have put other things above my own health. I’m determined to change that. Here are some specific things that I will be adhering to:
- No more chips and french fries except for special occasions.
- Breakfast needs to happen – I’ve become a fan of fresh fruit from Whole Foods and a nice skyr style of yougurt…although technically skyr is cheese, not yougurt. High protein and fiber is the point. Painterland Sisters is really good!
- No more excuses –> eat less and exercise more/consistently including when traveling for work. I will just get up and walk out of the meeting if I have to.
- Keep tracking metrics and don’t make excuses when you see things that do not look right. Note them and keep a list. I will continue to regularly use my Kardia Mobile 6L and Omron BP cuff.
- I will also continue to be active in social groups focused on life post-implantation to help myself and help others when I can.
- The Ergatta rower is a water rower. It is a very smooth motion. Workouts can use nearly all your muscle groups. So far my pacemaker does not seem to be bothered by the motion. Super exciting so far.
Hopefully this article will encourage anyone in a similar spot that recovery is possible with effort. Everyone is different, but I hope to at the least encourage others that it can be done. And yes, I can have a beer or a drink with my wife or my buddies 🙂
