High Intensity Exercise may be Dangerous - Link to Article

[andtckrtoo]

I think people should do what they love. If running marathons and ultras is what they love, then by all means, they should do it. If working out in moderation is what they love, by all means, they should do it. The only thing I would say is that you do have to get out there and move in a way that makes you happy. It's about health, but it's not ALL about health. It's about joy, a sense of accomplishment and a sense of being all that one can be. As Jimmy Buffett says, "I'd rather die while I'm living, then live while I'm dead."

I take all of these studies with a grain of salt. I think we're all different. I have a friend who is 55 and thinks nothing of going out and running 80 miles at once. He's built to run. I am not. It's all cool.

[Sara1000]

I read recently (don't recall where - maybe someone here knows) about a study that showed waitresses who did not work out but walked all day at work were found to be more fit than people who did an hour of exercise most days and then sat all day. Don't know what kind of exercise they did.

[hotncmom]

Originally Posted by Sara1000

I read recently (don't recall where - maybe someone here knows) about a study that showed waitresses who did not work out but walked all day at work were found to be more fit than people who did an hour of exercise most days and then sat all day. Don't know what kind of exercise they did.

There are a lot of these studies coming out recently. I run across a new one just about every week now.

[Vintage VFer]

Originally Posted by hotncmom

Here is the Katy Bowman (Restorative Exercise Institute) take on it:
http://www.alignedandwell.com/katysa...lood-pressure/
http://www.alignedandwell.com/katysa...blood-physics/
http://www.alignedandwell.com/katysa...still-sitting/

You know, I think Katy is great. But, it must be really difficult to be her or be around her. She is so knowledgeable about everything one should do and should not do. (I feel sorry for her kid. "Stop slouching, you moron! Don't sit down! Quit slumping! Stretch you calves!!!")

[Sophie]

Originally Posted by hotncmom

And she's not saying "Don't run". She's telling people not be be under the illusion that running will actually make them healthier than walking, and to be aware that there are detrimental effects (turbulent flow due to release of stress hormones with an increased heart rate, wear and tear on the joints).

Katy is a very very interesting thinker and has really forced me to reassess my view on many things. Her statement here is in line with something Dan John says in his Intervention lecture: Health is not the same as fitness. This really made me sit back and pay attention to his definition:

Health (defined by Phil Maffetone) is the optimal interplay of organ systems.

Fitness is the ability to perform a task.

This fits in well with what Katy says, and both assert that you can work on both, but there's a point where one might compromise the other. IOW, you can train for your personal best running a marathon, or be a linebacker, or a Highland Games competitor (Dan John's background), and optimize your performance at those tasks. But in pursuit of those tasks, you may not actually doing what is best for optimal organ function. And both say that it's perfectly fine to work at that task, if it's what you desire. Just don't confuse those objectives.

I'm still thinking about it, but am finding this view increasingly persuasive.

Alta, simulposting. LOL!

[Sara1000]

At my age, 40 - 60% of maximum HR (if she means 220 - your age) is my resting HR, not moderate exercise.

[hotncmom]

Originally Posted by Alta-tude

You know, I think Katy is great. But, it must be really difficult to be her or be around her. She is so knowledgeable about everything one should do and should not do. (I feel sorry for her kid. "Stop slouching, you moron! Don't sit down! Quit slumping! Stretch you calves!!!")

LOL. I can only imagine.

It's really hard to talk to people about "Katy says" type stuff. Some of it is so counterculture that people really resist the ideas. She has a lot of information on how arterial plaque forms but since it's drawn from a field of science that no one has ever heard of, including many doctors, people just assume she's making things up.

She talks about the origin of the idea that running leads to optimal health. It came from a paper presented at a medical conference in the 1970's where one doctor had performed an autopsy on a famous runner and made the observation that his blood vessels were much larger than normal and he had no signs of heart disease. He drew this HUGE conclusion from a sample size of 1 person. The guy could've naturally had larger blood vessels from birth and it may not have had anything to do with running. But it caught on in the media and was all over the place for the next year. At the next medical conference another doctor presented evidence of heart disease in several runners he had autopsied and basically disputed the first guy's paper, but it was too late. His presentation was ignored by the media. The media and culture had already jumped on the meme that running was great for your health and lots of people started running.

[hotncmom]

Originally Posted by Sara1000

At my age, 40 - 60% of maximum HR (if she means 220 - your age) is my resting HR, not moderate exercise.

220 - your age is pretty old school, and not generally used because it has a standard deviation of 10-20 bpm at either end. I think there is are more complicated formulas that take your resting HR into account. For the majority of people, RPE is a better indicator of your individual limitation for what is "moderate". If you're into performance training, you would want to look into the other formulas so that you can gauge your progress.

[Vintage VFer]

Originally Posted by hotncmom

It's really hard to talk to people about "Katy says" type stuff. Some of it is so counterculture that people really resist the ideas. She has a lot of information on how arterial plaque forms but since it's drawn from a field of science that no one has ever heard of, including many doctors, people just assume she's making things up.

I respect a lot of what Katy has to say. I take out of it what makes sense and works for me.

Originally Posted by hotncmom

She talks about the origin of the idea that running leads to optimal health. It came from a paper presented at a medical conference in the 1970's where one doctor had performed an autopsy on a famous runner and made the observation that his blood vessels were much larger than normal and he had no signs of heart disease. He drew this HUGE conclusion from a sample size of 1 person. The guy could've naturally had larger blood vessels from birth and it may not have had anything to do with running. But it caught on in the media and was all over the place for the next year. At the next medical conference another doctor presented evidence of heart disease in several runners he had autopsied and basically disputed the first guy's paper, but it was too late. His presentation was ignored by the media. The media and culture had already jumped on the meme that running was great for your health and lots of people started running.

The death of runner Jim Fixx changed a lot of folks' opinions on running as a cure-all. I found an interesting article discussing the death of Fixx and what it means to fitness:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-r..._b_815943.html
.

[hotncmom]

Originally Posted by Alta-tude

I respect a lot of what Katy has to say. I take out of it what makes sense and works for me.


The death of runner Jim Fixx changed a lot of folks' opinions on running as a cure-all. I found an interesting article discussing the death of Fixx and what it means to fitness:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-r..._b_815943.html
.

Thanks for posting that article. I hadn't heard of Jim Fixx before, but the article does mention the pathologist Dr. Bassler, who is the physician Katy says presented the paper that running was the magic bullet to prevent heart disease. I just can't get over how arrogant and irresponsible it was for Bassler to make this assertion based on such a limited anecdotal "study".

And I agree with you. I agree with much of what Katy asserts, but that doesn't mean I'm going to throw Ballet Body or floorwork or yoga out of my fitness routine, because I enjoy doing them and they do use muscle. What I take away from Katy is that I need to do that stuff AND walk at least 10K steps a day AND limit sitting as much as possible AND work on stretching chronically tight areas for maximum force and blood flow to those areas AND work on my alignment.