Chronic cardio is forcing your body to kill you

Apeck87

Before reading theism please be advised I am not the author of this post. I found it here ( http://crossfitmeanstreets.com/2010/09/08/chronic-cardio-is-forcing-your-body-to-kill-you-and-how-you-can-save-yourself/

And I thought it would be fun to share and get others point if view.. Read on!


Some of you may have looked at the title of this article and balked, “What? I just ran the LA Marathon and I feel great! I’m the fittest person I know!” Just by that statement alone, you would do well to read on. The fact of the matter is that popular culture has fundamentally altered what “fitness” really means, and in doing so has created the exercise world’s equivalent of the obesity epidemic: chronic cardio. This article will attempt to explain what I’m talking about, why it is such a problem, and what you can do to improve your lot.

First, you may be wondering what I mean by “chronic cardio.” I actually borrow this term from Mark Sisson, whose book “The Primal Blueprint” is a foundational work for this article and a must-read. Basically, what he and I are talking about is the concept of sustained moderate to high heart rate for long periods of time and its deleterious effects on the body both in the short and long term. As we have evolved over millions of years to the form we are today, our species had to survive some pretty nasty stuff, like faster, stronger predators, and the wrath of Mother Nature, among other things. We are still largely governed by the same mechanisms that kept those ancient humans alive all those years ago. The only issue is we don’t really have to worry about lions roaming our office hallways or waiting out a food-scarce winter anymore. We also don’t have to hunt our food or walk vast distances to find things like water, shelter, and fuel. This is an issue mainly because your body, despite all that is going on around you, still thinks and acts like you do.

This is where the endocrine system comes into play. Without getting too much into detail, it is the system of hormones that regulates basically everything your body does, from growth to death, and it is very finely attuned to the external cues your conscious actions provide it. But since the endocrine system itself is not consciously aware of its surroundings, it doesn’t know that you went to Starbucks and got a double grande mocha or that you just ran 26.2 miles for fun. All it sees is the final product, the chemical processes within the body at the microbiological level that really determine your health and well being at all times. And when it comes to running, the endocrine system doesn’t think, “oh lovely, he’s training for a marathon, good for him”, it thinks “oh ****, I’m being chased by a lion” and acts accordingly.

The body’s most appropriate response to a bout of running is to freak out. Among other processes, most important to this article is the release of a boatload of cortisol, a stress hormone, into the blood stream. This hormone causes a process called gluconeogenesis to occur, which in layman’s terms boils down to “your body eats your muscle to create glucose.” This is because long duration activity utilizes the oxidative metabolic pathway primarily, which requires quite a bit of glucose to function. Normally if you are simply running away from something a short distance, the glucose hit won’t be unmanageable. But say you run 10, 20 miles, even a marathon. Your body will be so strapped for glucose that it will burn anything and everything it can get its hands on, including muscle tissue and fat. Hence why, physically, runners look both lean and emaciated; their bodies have simply scrapped them for parts. It also has a whole host of other nasty side effects that all boil down to your body making a short term sacrifice for maximum short term performance in the interest of survival (if you’re interested in the list, the Wikipedia article on cortisol should be enlightening). The problems emerge because there is no way to forewarn your endocrine system that you’re going to go running, so it automatically thinks you are being chased by a lion every single time (because it has no idea why anyone would willingly go running for no reason) and goes into life saving mode every single time. If you are a logical human being, at this point the pieces may be starting to come together. If not, I can lay it out for you: doing something that is mildly detrimental a lot will make it a lot more detrimental. You take a process that is designed to save your life in a pinch, and turn it into a multiple times a week occurrence. You, the chronic cardio person, are basically tearing yourself apart from the inside out in the name of fitness, and you’re not even getting fit while doing it (Don’t believe me? Ask an Olympic marathoner to do a pull up).

So at this point you may be asking yourself, “Well now that I’ve wasted years of my life, what can I do to change it?” and the simple answer is take advantage of your body’s own way of making itself fit. This process, also endocrine related, is fully (and, in my opinion, best) covered by the Crossfit program. The name of the game is intensity. In the same way that chronic long duration, low intensity running triggers your body to freak out, short to medium duration, high intensity workouts trigger that same endocrine system to move into kick *kitten* mode. This is the level at which the endocrine system thinks “damn that was hard” and produces hormones to build muscle, physical capacity, blood vessels, and so on, all with the intent on making you stronger so the next time you are just a little bit better than before. Do this enough times with a large enough variety of things, and you will arrive at a level of fitness most people currently living on this planet only dream about. That is the essence of Crossfit, and it works. So get off your treadmills, tell Gold’s Gym to suck one, and head over to your local Crossfit affiliate. You’re welcome for saving your life.

darwinwoodka

Something's gotta kill you. Running, crossfit, obesity, whatever. Pick your poison. ;^)

Apeck87

I think if people truly believe that we would all do drugs and be fat obviously we want to deter death as long as possible isn't tht why we are here?

MelsAuntie

This is nothing more than an ad for Crossfit.

Gwyn1969

Considering the number of SLAP tears, achilles tendon tears, and cases of rhabdomyolysis that crossfit enthusiasts incur, I find this article ironic.

tachyon_master

So...Basically an advertisement for Crossfit?

Right. Humans have evolved. While tens of thousands of years ago our bodies may have thought we were being chased by lions or whatever else...We've adapted. Certainly we don't adapt or evolve overnight, but over thousands of years? Yes.

I'm calling BS on this article.

MelsAuntie

So...Basically an advertisement for Crossfit?

Right. Humans have evolved. While tens of thousands of years ago our bodies may have thought we were being chased by lions or whatever else...We've adapted. Certainly we don't adapt or evolve overnight, but over thousands of years? Yes.

I'm calling BS on this article.

Yup.

SlinkyAndHerAmazingBunsOfSteel

Kill it before it kills you!

neandermagnon

Interesting that palaeo/primal diet people can get palaeoanthropology so wrong.

It's believed that Homo erectus ran the equivalent of marathons in order to hunt meat. Running/cardio does *NOT* equal being chased by a lion!!!

Here's how homo erectus probably hunted... (some homo sapiens hunter-gatherers hunt this way, only with much more sophisticated weapons, which would mean that Homo erectus would have had to run longer as they only had rocks and pointy sticks as weapons, so would have found it a lot more difficult to inflict an injury on an animal it was hunting from a distance.)

You find a herd of animals, and start chasing one of the weaker ones. It runs away, and you can't catch it because humans can't run fast enough. (and you think if a lion started chasing a human they'd get away? LOL no. A human can't outrun a lion. The best chance it has against a lion is to fight it and kill it with a spear or for the other humans to intervene and throw rocks to chase the lion away). The animal escapes, but Homo erectus can track it down, following footprints and so on... it finds where the animal is hiding/resting, and chases it .... tracks it... chases it... tracks it.. chases it... (alternating jogging and sprinting for hours, in other words...) in modern Homo sapiens hunter-gatherers who have projectile weapons such as throwing spears, bows and arrows etc, this hunt lasts hours and they run the equivalent of a marathon or more. Homo erectus would have had to run longer to compensate for the lack of weapons other than stones and pointy sticks. This kind of hunting in modern hunter-gatherers is done at midday in the intense heat of the savannah, because humans can stay cool much more effectively than other mammals, due to having very little body hair and sweating over the whole body. The animal eventually is chased to the point that it dies of heat exhaustion, while the human has managed to stay cool. Homo erectus lived on the African savannah, so would also probably have hunted at midday.

This explains why humans have much less hair than other mammals and also why we're so good at endurance cardio. The fact we can run marathons is due to this. We evolved as long distance endurance runners and as persistence hunters. The fact that people can continue to do so much cardio while eating very few calories, is because this is how early humans hunted, so the body evolved to carry on doing lots of running even while the body starved (up to a point, because the body can only take so much starvation before breaking down) in the hope that running would lead to finally catching an animal and getting a decent amount of fat and protein to eat.

If there's an increased level of heart disease in people who run marathons and do loads of running, I'd question whether they have accounted for the fact that so many people do so much cardio while not eating properly, and those people are confounding the statistics. Maybe marathon runners should eat meat after they finish, so their body thinks they're succeeding at hunting and not failing.

The idea that "when you run long distances your body thinks you're being chased by a lion" is silly though. A lion would catch a human within a minute. If you're running long distances, your body thinks you're hunting.

The_WoIverine

I just wasted a couple of minutes of my life reading this crap.

fitnessfreddie

Thankfully I stopped reading as to not waste all of my time, but what time was wasted I would like back.

Cait_Sidhe

;tldr

But I disagree.

cerexflikex

Ok I wish I didn't read that. In the end it's just saying oh you can do Crossfit. Yeah no thanks.

Elf_Princess1210

sounds like an advertisement for Crossfit.

mum212

too much cardio can put a strain on your body, the most athletic of people have had a heart attack but that's because they pushed them selves too hard even when they had a cold they didn't take a break from it, if your happy doing what your doing keep doing it but if you don't feel right all of a sudden then stop don't keep going x x
this is how I learned while I was ill and still excersising I didn't feel too good after and I was worse the next day

MissMormie

Funny that running kills you according to that article.

As runners get older on average than people who don't. Next to a whole list of other positive effects of running.

So I pasted the first google result of why running is good for you, but there's plenty of research on how running is good for you. Not killing you
http://www.active.com/running/Articles/10-Reasons-Running-Is-Good-for-You

QueenGyn

Funny but I don't buy it. :noway:

sandi117

Interesting that palaeo/primal diet people can get palaeoanthropology so wrong.

It's believed that Homo erectus ran the equivalent of marathons in order to hunt meat. Running/cardio does *NOT* equal being chased by a lion!!!

Here's how homo erectus probably hunted... (some homo sapiens hunter-gatherers hunt this way, only with much more sophisticated weapons, which would mean that Homo erectus would have had to run longer as they only had rocks and pointy sticks as weapons, so would have found it a lot more difficult to inflict an injury on an animal it was hunting from a distance.)

You find a herd of animals, and start chasing one of the weaker ones. It runs away, and you can't catch it because humans can't run fast enough. (and you think if a lion started chasing a human they'd get away? LOL no. A human can't outrun a lion. The best chance it has against a lion is to fight it and kill it with a spear or for the other humans to intervene and throw rocks to chase the lion away). The animal escapes, but Homo erectus can track it down, following footprints and so on... it finds where the animal is hiding/resting, and chases it .... tracks it... chases it... tracks it.. chases it... (alternating jogging and sprinting for hours, in other words...) in modern Homo sapiens hunter-gatherers who have projectile weapons such as throwing spears, bows and arrows etc, this hunt lasts hours and they run the equivalent of a marathon or more. Homo erectus would have had to run longer to compensate for the lack of weapons other than stones and pointy sticks. This kind of hunting in modern hunter-gatherers is done at midday in the intense heat of the savannah, because humans can stay cool much more effectively than other mammals, due to having very little body hair and sweating over the whole body. The animal eventually is chased to the point that it dies of heat exhaustion, while the human has managed to stay cool. Homo erectus lived on the African savannah, so would also probably have hunted at midday.

This explains why humans have much less hair than other mammals and also why we're so good at endurance cardio. The fact we can run marathons is due to this. We evolved as long distance endurance runners and as persistence hunters. The fact that people can continue to do so much cardio while eating very few calories, is because this is how early humans hunted, so the body evolved to carry on doing lots of running even while the body starved (up to a point, because the body can only take so much starvation before breaking down) in the hope that running would lead to finally catching an animal and getting a decent amount of fat and protein to eat.

If there's an increased level of heart disease in people who run marathons and do loads of running, I'd question whether they have accounted for the fact that so many people do so much cardio while not eating properly, and those people are confounding the statistics. Maybe marathon runners should eat meat after they finish, so their body thinks they're succeeding at hunting and not failing.

The idea that "when you run long distances your body thinks you're being chased by a lion" is silly though. A lion would catch a human within a minute. If you're running long distances, your body thinks you're hunting.

CristinaL1983

Interesting that palaeo/primal diet people can get palaeoanthropology so wrong.

It's believed that Homo erectus ran the equivalent of marathons in order to hunt meat. Running/cardio does *NOT* equal being chased by a lion!!!

Here's how homo erectus probably hunted... (some homo sapiens hunter-gatherers hunt this way, only with much more sophisticated weapons, which would mean that Homo erectus would have had to run longer as they only had rocks and pointy sticks as weapons, so would have found it a lot more difficult to inflict an injury on an animal it was hunting from a distance.)

You find a herd of animals, and start chasing one of the weaker ones. It runs away, and you can't catch it because humans can't run fast enough. (and you think if a lion started chasing a human they'd get away? LOL no. A human can't outrun a lion. The best chance it has against a lion is to fight it and kill it with a spear or for the other humans to intervene and throw rocks to chase the lion away). The animal escapes, but Homo erectus can track it down, following footprints and so on... it finds where the animal is hiding/resting, and chases it .... tracks it... chases it... tracks it.. chases it... (alternating jogging and sprinting for hours, in other words...) in modern Homo sapiens hunter-gatherers who have projectile weapons such as throwing spears, bows and arrows etc, this hunt lasts hours and they run the equivalent of a marathon or more. Homo erectus would have had to run longer to compensate for the lack of weapons other than stones and pointy sticks. This kind of hunting in modern hunter-gatherers is done at midday in the intense heat of the savannah, because humans can stay cool much more effectively than other mammals, due to having very little body hair and sweating over the whole body. The animal eventually is chased to the point that it dies of heat exhaustion, while the human has managed to stay cool. Homo erectus lived on the African savannah, so would also probably have hunted at midday.

This explains why humans have much less hair than other mammals and also why we're so good at endurance cardio. The fact we can run marathons is due to this. We evolved as long distance endurance runners and as persistence hunters. The fact that people can continue to do so much cardio while eating very few calories, is because this is how early humans hunted, so the body evolved to carry on doing lots of running even while the body starved (up to a point, because the body can only take so much starvation before breaking down) in the hope that running would lead to finally catching an animal and getting a decent amount of fat and protein to eat.

If there's an increased level of heart disease in people who run marathons and do loads of running, I'd question whether they have accounted for the fact that so many people do so much cardio while not eating properly, and those people are confounding the statistics. Maybe marathon runners should eat meat after they finish, so their body thinks they're succeeding at hunting and not failing.

The idea that "when you run long distances your body thinks you're being chased by a lion" is silly though. A lion would catch a human within a minute. If you're running long distances, your body thinks you're hunting.

QFT

Boogage

This is nothing more than an ad for Crossfit.

As a logical person I was thinking the same!

jenilla1

Is this another damned ad? :explode:

(Edited for typo.)

lauraleighsm

There was so much fault in that article, not including the fact he references Wikipedia!

nikilis

cardio. proudly bringing the apocalypse.



news flash... a new disease is sweeping the world, its being called at this early stage

BradHallFitness

This is nothing more than an ad for Crossfit.

^This, couldn't agree more.

mudmonkeyonwheels

Um obviously the author of this article has no idea how the endocrine system actually works. Fear, i.e. being chased by a lion, begins in the brain. Your brain is clever enough to know the difference between lion and exercise and can regulate cortisol release accordingly. Obviously, anything that causes stress leads to cortisol release, but for many people who run frequently, or exercise frequently, exercise is a means of stress reduction and can help to reduce excess cortisol. Yes, people who run marathons are likely to have less muscle, not because they are killing their bodies but because they train for maximum cardio efficiency and only do minimal strength training because strength training does not help with their goals.

Glad to see that people on here have not been sucked in by this. Always be skeptical

road2peachtree

I just wasted a couple of minutes of my life reading this crap.

^^^ This ^^^

Velum_cado

This process, also endocrine related, is fully (and, in my opinion, best) covered by the Crossfit program.

Oh, it's a commercial. I get it.

I'm going for a job later, who's in?

myofibril

This process, also endocrine related, is fully (and, in my opinion, best) covered by the Crossfit program.

Loooooool.

No wait.

Loooooooooooooooool.

Ok, I'm done.

The article has a kernel of truth in it however, just a kernel. It is true that long duration, steady state cardio at a low heart rate (the "fat burning zone") can turn your hormonal environment catabolic.

The Tremblay study on exercise duration on steroid hormone responses in men showed that this is more likely (although not necessarily will happen) around the 80 minute mark.

So what's the take away: be careful if your steady state session lasts more than 60 - 80 minutes (but lets not forget that if you are running outside where the terrain varies - hills anyone? - whether you actually fall into that will be questionable)

If it does last more than that time consider carb / glucose supplementation.

TavistockToad

This is nothing more than an ad for Crossfit.

it was an interestign read till i came to the part where crossfit saves the day....

pinkraynedropjacki

This is nothing more than an ad for Crossfit.

This.

StarrySkiesYvaine

I think if people truly believe that we would all do drugs and be fat obviously we want to deter death as long as possible isn't tht why we are here?

I'm going to ignore the (very lengthy) ad for Crossfit.

But taking the above point, just because something is going to kill us eventually it doesn't mean everyone would want it to be by drugs or obesity!

Wanting to deter death is futile, none of us know how long we have and life can end at any time, with or without warning. Wanting to live a happy life, whatever it is that makes that happiness (such as with MFP either getting fitter or losing weight or both), is very worthwhile.