The recent deaths of two young and seemingly fit actors in Indonesia is alarming and needs urgent attention. They both suffered fatal heart attacks after sport, likely from overtraining.
The media and doctors reported in the press are surprised that these two young men passed away and are at odds explaining to the family and public how this could happen.
Malaysian actor Ashraf Sinclair, who was 40 years of age, died from a heart attack on 18th February at 4:51 am. Mr. Sinclar was a co-founder of a CrossFit club, called Crossfit Equator. Reportedly he had been at a workout session the night before, after which he began to complain of chest pains.
Indonesian actor and politician Adjie
A staffer commented;” he loves sports. We never think that he would die like this.”
Stress to the Heat.
Unfortunately, this is happening all over; we just don’t hear about it often. It’s not every day that high profile person dies from overstressing their hearts.
Overtraining is, however, a huge problem worldwide. People are doing it every day, young and old, fit and unfit. In general, sport is good for us, if it’s performed correctly and in moderation.
The fitness and health industry, coaches and personal trainers don’t like to talk about the risks of sports and overtraining. The goal is to push as many people as possible into a sport, or the gym, for financial gain. Many accidents and deaths could be prevented if these said gym owners, coaches, or trainers would educate people about their risks, and promote “
Cortisol, our Fight or Flight Stress Hormone.
The fight or flight stress hormone is a wonderful gift, and we all need it to survive. It serves as an early warning system that something is wrong and danger is looming. We are triggered to respond quickly to reach safety by either fighting the threat or fleeing. This warning system keeps us alive, pretty much every day.
Just think about it; if we didn’t have this warning system, we could be driving our car head-on towards another car, and thinking nothing of it.
With no alarm bells triggered, we wouldn’t care and crash right into the oncoming vehicle. This scenario would occur multiple times a day, and none of us would live very long!
Training too hard produces Cortisol, the Fight or Flight Stress Hormone.
Overtraining raises the production of Cortisol, which is triggered by stressful situations and pumped into our hearts, will, over time, cause heart disease. Playing sports, working out, or running are all such scenarios if performed at a high heart rate, in an anaerobic state.
It’s just not healthy to run at high speeds, perform high-intensity cross fit, football or tennis, for example, daily. People are pushing themselves with elevated heart rates, and are pumping Cortisol into their hearts. This habit will most likely cause long term heart damage, which can lead to an early death.
Sadly, the two gentlemen who recently passed away most likely caused this themselves by overstressing their hearts, resulting in a heart attack.
How to train safely and correctly, building heart health and minimizing the risk of heart attack.
I frequently write about the best ways to train and avoid overtraining, which is walking. Walking raises your heart rate to safe aerobic levels around 100 or 120 BPM. This heart rate keeps your body in the fat-burning zone, and your heart stress-free. Walk every day, 10000 to 15000 steps, and see how your heart and health improves.
Strength Training.
Two short sessions per week only, using mostly your body as your gym! Bodyweight movements, such as push-ups, pull-ups, planks, and squats, are all you need. Each session shouldn’t last longer than 20 to 30 minutes, reducing the time you are stressing your heart to a minimum.
Sprint Training.
If you enjoy high-intensity training, switch to sprinting. Here is how:
- Track Running
- Swimming
- Stationary Bike
- Steps Running.
- Elliptical
- Rowing
- Treadmill
Sprinting sessions raise your heart rate, close to your maximum; however, a spriting session with four to six reps will be over in less than 15 minutes. Sprinting minimizes the time stressing your heart, yet you are activating the fast-twitch muscle, which builds muscle faster, and burns fat intensively.
In summary.
Keep your high-intensity and strength training to a bare minimum of two to three times per week, with each session a maximum of 30-minutes.
Walk every day, aiming for 10000 to 15000 steps, keeping your heart rate in the aerobic zone. As a rule of thumb, take the maximum heart rate of 180BPM, minus your age, which is your maximum aerobic threshold.
I sincerely hope this article reaches many people so that together we can help people to get fit and healthy the right way and avoid premature death!
Thanks for reading, and please leave your comments or questions below and Sign Up to my Blog!
Rob
Rob Hourmont
Former Olympic Athlete & Certified Health Coach.
“It is my mission to educate people on how to lose weight, how to build a healthy, strong heart, body, and mind, supporting a longer life.”
rob@robshealthcrunch.com
IG: robhourmontcrunch
IG: robshealthcrunch
