It’s no surprise that muscle-head bodybuilders don’t get it. However, medical doctors should know this fact, raise awareness, and not promote overtraining.
An old newspaper headline made the rounds on Twitter. As usual, the gym rats’ response was mockery and denial.
The title from The Daily Mail, from 17th October 2017, reads:
“Too much exercise can kill you — especially if you’re a white man: Study finds that 7.5 hours of fitness a week DOUBLES your risk of heart disease.” Dailymail.co.uk
While the opening part of the title is genuine, the rest is not. It’s all about overtraining.
1 – Color or race has nothing to do with it. Every human being is biologically 98% identical.
2 – 7.5 hours per week isn’t that excessive — it depends on the intensity and duration of each training session.
I’ve read the article — what the “scientists” suggest:
“High levels of exercise over time cause stress on the arteries leading to higher coronary artery calcification — CAC.” University of Illinois at Chicago and Kaiser Permanente
That may or may not be the case. 3 vital subjects are not mentioned in the story, making it incomplete and inaccurate.
1 — What diet were the participants on?
Your food and drink intake are the most significant markers for plaque to develop in your arteries, or not. No diets shown in the study, in my opinion, invalidate it.
2 — Why are they only discussing stress but not cortisol?
Overtraining releases our warning and stress hormone, cortisol. Excessive cortisol release causes heart disease!
Stress releases your fight or flight hormone, our natural warning system of oncoming danger, forcing us to respond and avoid it.
Hard and heavy training sessions pump tons of cortisol in your blood that winds up in your heart and, over time, damages it.
You’d think an MD would know that. However, a popular Carnivore advocate and MD on social media doesn’t. Instead, he promotes daily heavy lifting.
That’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt! Eventually, this excessive training will catch up with him, as it does with almost everyone.
3 – 7.5 hours or far more exercise is no danger to your heart health as long you mostly remain in low to moderate intensity mode.
They also fail to mention the type of exercise the participants did, thus, again, making it invalid.
For example:
I can do 100 hours of low-intensity cardio exercise per week, which will only strengthen my cardiovascular system and not cause heart disease.
My weekly heart-healthy “fitness and movement” activities look like this and avoids any kind of overtraining.
- 2 to 3 fast-paced walks per day, clocking between 10K to 15K steps a day. Total time spent: 10.5 hours.
- 5 x 15-minute low to moderate-intensity cardio swims. Total time spent: 1.25 hours.
- 2 to 3 medium to intensive 15 to 20-minute bodyweight strength training workouts. Total time spent: 1 hour.
- 1 to 2 high-intensity sprinting sessions lasting only 10 minutes each. Total time spent: 20 minutes
- Daily mobility and stretching session for 15 minutes: Total time spent: 1.75 hours
Weekly total exercise and movement time: 14.70 hours.
The Magic Key 1: I only spend 1.2 hours weekly on high-intensity training, going hard. That short HIIT time doesn’t overstress my heart and keeps me healthy, fit, young, and, of course, handsome too!
The Magic Key 2: Walking and swimming are my hobbies, habits, and a pure pleasure to my body and mind.
According to the extremely vague study lacking vital information and elements, I should have heart disease or be dead.
I’ve followed my food and movement routine for nearly 8 years — I’m in excellent shape and health.
I don’t have plaque in my veins and no heart disease.
Final Thoughts and Clarifications
Overtraining is a hugely underrated and ignored subject in the fitness and sports industries.
The big players in these sectors don’t want their customers to know the risks they expose themselves to. They do not have your health in mind.
They’re only interested in selling their gear and subscriptions while overloading you with their marketing to make you buy more and train harder.
Please don’t be fooled by the quoted article title — it’s nonsense.
But also, don’t believe the sales hype by the big players in these industries to workout hard, often, and long.
That will lead to premature death.
Rob
MBA from Robert Kennedy College & University of Cumbria, UK.
Certified Nutritionist & Health Coach | Trainer | Blogger | Copywriter | Author
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