Cardiopulmonary Rehab Resources

With the help of our comprehensive team of registered nurses, respiratory therapists and health experts, we’ve designed this resource page to help support our Cardiopulmonary Rehab participants maintain healthy lifestyles beyond the walls of our center. Here you’ll find links to helpful exercise tips, healthy recipes and more.

Exercise

Borg Scale of Perceived Exertion

We utilize the modified Borg Scale of Perceived Exertion at Tallahassee Memorial Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation. This helps with rating exertion, dyspnea and pain during exercise.

Start a Walking Program

Walking is one of the simplest and least expensive options to increase your physical activity level and improve your overall health.

Breathing Exercises

Find out why breathing exercises are helpful tools to utilize in your everyday life by downloading this guide. Take a deep breath and inhale your way to a future of easy breathing!

At-Home Exercise Modifications

Kaydi Blackstock is sharing at-home exercise modifications to keep you active, strong and healthy, while catering to your unique needs.

Kaydi is an athletic trainer, Pilates instructor and yoga teacher at Premier Health & Fitness Center. She specializes in working with clients who have injuries and medical conditions, and enjoys tailoring exercises to fit your needs.

Chair Workout Demonstration

Join Raegan Mahler, personal trainer and volunteer for TMH's Cardiopulmonary Rehab Program, for an at-home chair workout. All you need is a chair!

Beta Blockers & Exercise

Beta blockers are a type of cardiac medication prescribed after a heart attack or to treat abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias) and other conditions. They slow down your heartbeat, and that raises a common question about them: Do they affect your ability to exercise? The American Heart Association breaks down the answer.

Active Static Stretching

Active static stretching involves holding the stretched position using the strength of the agonist muscle, as is common in many forms of yoga. Flexibility exercises like these are most effective when the muscles are warm. Range of motion is improved both acutely and chronically following yoga exercise.

Performing flexibility exercises 2-3 days per week is recommended with daily flexibility exercises being the most effective, with a total of 60 seconds per joint. Holding a single flexibility exercise for 10-30 seconds to the point of tightness or slight discomfort is effective. Older adults can benefit from holding the stretch for 30-60 seconds. Repetition of each flexibility exercise 2-4 times is recommended.

Please note that static stretching exercises may acutely reduce power and strength, so it is recommended that flexibility exercises be performed after other exercise and sports where strength and power are important to performance.

Reference: Riebe, D., Ehrman, J. K., Liguori, G. & Magel, M. (Eds.). (2018). American college of sports medicine: Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription. (10th, ed.).

Healthy Eating

Download and print healthy plant-based recipes from our Dietary team below. Learn more about the benefits of a plant-based diet.

Additional Resources

Please see below for a list of even more websites with resources you may find helpful for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Click on any of each of titles to navigate to the corresponding webpage.

TMH Foundation Update

When people are passionate about a cause or recognize a need, they naturally want help. That is why so many donors have made amazing things possible through gifts to the TMH Foundation.

The Tallahassee Memorial Heart & Vascular Center, including Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation, provides world class care to people in our region, but did you know that many of the special touches are made possible by generous donors?

Just a few of the items provided for the Heart & Vascular Center in the past year through donor gifts include:

NuStep exercise machine located in the Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation Center.
TMH CareLink telemedicine connectivity, now available for Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation.
Upgrading modems for the entire fleet of Leon County EMS trucks to send EKGs to the hospital as a patient is in route.
Advanced technology ultrasound machine enabling state-of-the-art imaging for diagnosing heart and vascular issues.

If your life has been touched by the life-giving care at the Tallahassee Memorial Heart & Vascular Center, please consider learning more about the TMH Foundation and how you can get involved.