Endurance sports may cause heart damage

[Mozzy]

On the other hand - Tour de France riders live longer so who do you believe?

If someone could prove to me that doing lots of exercise would kill me at at 80, or I could veg out and die at 90, I would choose the burning out option rather than the fizzling out alternative! I watched both my parents slowly weaken and die; it's not a good way to go. I'd rather die much more suddenly than that!

"It's better to burn out than to fade away."

 

[yello]

Come on now, cut the knee jerk, the report doesn't say "don't do it". If you want to burn yourself out at 80 (and I doubt I'd get to that age if I took the 'burn out' path! )then they're giving you a way to do it!

The research looks at possible consequences of over training (something I suspect that most of us here, myself included, do not get anywhere near). The report's conclusion makes suggestions for preventing damage, they do not recommend against the exercise.

They stress that their findings should not be taken to mean that endurance exercise is unhealthy.
In most athletes, a combination of sensible training and adequate recovery should cause an improvement in heart muscle function, they say.

 

[ColinJ]

If you want to burn yourself out at 80 (and I doubt I'd get to that age if I took the 'burn out' path! )then they're giving you a way to do it!

I would consider dying at 80 as burning out to a premature death since my parents got to 84 and 86 without much exercise in later life or a 100% healthy diet, and many other members of my family got to 90, 95 or even 100+!

I'd like to think that in 25 years time I will have about the level of fitness that I have now. I intend to significantly improve my fitness over the next couple of years, but then, as ageing really begin to take hold, slowly slip back to my current level and (hopefully) burn out before I drop much below that.

Join me on a slow, hilly 60 mile forum ride in 2037?

The research looks at possible consequences of over training (something I suspect that most of us here, myself included, do not get anywhere near). The report's conclusion makes suggestions for preventing damage, they do not recommend against the exercise.

The point that I was making with the Tour de France rider survey was that it came to the opposite conclusion. I'm sure that many of those riders pushed themselves to the point of overtraining and they certainly did not get adequate recovery on their Tours!

 

[the_mikey]

I expect the only time I get anything close to 80% mhr is when I'm struggling up a hill, and even then I'll probably stop before I even get to spend a minute at that rate, since I'm lazy, even when I'm on a bicycle going up a hill...

 

[ColinJ]

I expect the only time I get anything close to 80% mhr is when I'm struggling up a hill, and even then I'll probably stop before I even get to spend a minute at that rate, since I'm lazy, even when I'm on a bicycle going up a hill...

I hit 199 bpm going up this beast into a headwind once!

 

[Andrew_P]

That Second pic looks really great how long is the climb and where is it? I would be wearing my lungs after that one!!

 

[fossyant]

Young althletes, footballers and and soldiers have been known to drop dead because of pre-existing thinning of the heart wall that burts when the wall gets stretched, it's very a dangerous thing if it's not spotted and it is now something they screen for so the study is most certainly based on fact, it makes sense that they would look for long term dangers as well.

Most amateurs don't get screened though. Fortunately I didn't drop dead as a youngster, even when trying to hold onto the wheel of a clubmate (who was faster than me) up Chapel by-pass doing TT training - when the HR went over 200 and rising I knew I hadn't long left

 

[ColinJ]

That Second pic looks really great how long is the climb and where is it? I would be wearing my lungs after that one!!

It's not a long climb (about 1.25 km total with two easy sections totalling about 0.4 km), but it is steep! It is here - between Colne and Hebden Bridge. If you use Streetview to track the climb, turn left after the cattle grid.

 

[Acyclo]

"what do you all think?"

It's junk science, ignore it. Don't get health advice from the 'popular' press. The BBC is beyond contempt for continually propagating this type of nonsense as though it was reliable science.

 

[Zoiders]

"what do you all think?"

It's junk science, ignore it. Don't get health advice from the 'popular' press. The BBC is beyond contempt for continually propagating this type of nonsense as though it was reliable science.

It's not junk science.

Lads have died from it in the short term due to pre-existing thinning of the heart wall, they are looking at long term effects on those without that defect.

I know it's real science as they started this study in late 90's, one of the groups they monitored was my intake in the army as they had the abilty to track people who did a full 22 year hitch.

 

[colly]

Even if it true at least you would be fit and healthy when you shuffled off.

Join me on a slow, hilly 60 mile forum ride in 2037?

I'll have to check with HI but I should be free.

 

[jdtate101]

"the researchers also stressed that more analysis/research is required and that they didn't want to put anyone off exercise" . That's the key sentence...it's a fishing article used to drum up money for more research (ie to keep those researchers in jobs, or the lab on a regular income). These sort of things regularly come up where they state some headline grabbing factoid, then quietly slip in it's not verified and they need more cash to do the work, and funnily enough if they do get the cash the end result is nearly always biased towards whomever stumped up the cash.

 

[MissTillyFlop]

Haha, this is balls. I have right ventricluar hypertrophy, (Or athletic heart syndrome) which is what the article seems to be talking about and I'm fine. I get a bit out of breath from time to time, but if I slow down a bit I'm all good. Basically my heart pumps out blood with less oxygen than it should. But no biggie, most athletes have this anyway.

 

[Tynan]

We were outrunning bears, wolves, sabretooth tigers, mammoths and Roman legions not so long ago. Total & absolute b*****s.

and we had a life expectancy of about 38 years

 

[ColinJ]

and we had a life expectancy of about 38 years

That's because we got tired and the bears, wolves, sabretooth tigers, mammoths and Roman legions caught up!