Bodybuilders and longevity

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theycallyoumister
theycallyoumister Posts: 222 Member
in Chit-Chat
Generally speaking, have you ever noticed that "yesterday's" bodybuilders' life span is no greater (and often shorter) than average people? You would think that working out and eating all the right things would make them live much longer than they actually do....even breaking records for old age. Isn't promoting healthy living what we're trying to do? Things that make you go "Hhmmmm...":ohwell:

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  • Josh_H
    Josh_H Posts: 1,151
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    Yea but their bodies aren't small lean muscle. they are huge bulky dudes... when they get older their heart still has a big huge body.. plus all the stress they put on their body' all those years... and no telling what some of the supplements they take do.
  • Mavrick7a
    Mavrick7a Posts: 1,353
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    @OP - present day bodybuilders are very unhealthy and may spend too much time and energy into making themselves appear better than their competition.
    Common problems:
    1. drug use.
    2. saline injections.
    3. dehydration
    4. tanning, creams to darken their skin.

    I am not a bodybuilder, but have many friends that compete. Most unhealthy sports, people have died as a result of the problems mentioned above.
  • Cp731
    Cp731 Posts: 3,195 Member
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    Determining the extent of the damage that bodybuilders inflict on themselves is difficult, in part because there is little interest in financing studies on such an extreme group, and because bodybuilders are not always honest about what they take. That is why a case study published last month by a top kidney journal is generating interest in the nephrology and bodybuilding communities. It is among the first to assert a direct link between long-term steroid use and kidney disease

    Lifting weights in the gym is “extremely healthy for you,” said Kenneth Wheeler, a former elite bodybuilder known as Flex. “But if you want to be a bodybuilder and compete at the highest level, it has nothing to do with health.” A relatively rare form of kidney disease forced Wheeler to retire in 2003 at age 37, and he needed a kidney transplant later that year.
  • deemartin2
    deemartin2 Posts: 168 Member
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    Yea but their bodies aren't small lean muscle. they are huge bulky dudes... when they get older their heart still has a big huge body.. plus all the stress they put on their body' all those years... and no telling what some of the supplements they take do.

    exactly. And not to mention that in the short time before show and competitions they practically dehydrate themselves to make definition/ striations as visible as possible. Things like that take a huge toll.
  • RunnerInVT
    RunnerInVT Posts: 226 Member
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    You are so right and how about ultra runners?
    But the Legendary Joe Weider was 93...
  • skinnylynnie74
    skinnylynnie74 Posts: 154 Member
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    Exercise creates free radicals, which promote oxidative stress and inflammation in all systems. Read anything authored by Dr. David Phillips, who is an Ironman triathlete. He has done research about the cellular damages of exercise, and explains it better than I ever could. It has numerous benefits, but exercise DOES stress our bodies.
  • MiamiKid305
    MiamiKid305 Posts: 357
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    Exercise creates free radicals, which promote oxidative stress and inflammation in all systems. Read anything authored by Dr. David Phillips, who is an Ironman triathlete. He has done research about the cellular damages of exercise, and explains it better than I ever could. It has numerous benefits, but exercise DOES stress our bodies.

    There's a huge difference between a bodybuilder and a triathlete.. Bodybuilding isn't entirely healthy, a bodybuilder on the off season consumes an unhealthy amount of food and God knows if they're on drugs comp prepping, we get down to insane bf percentages that aren't healthy at all.
  • reztib
    reztib Posts: 151 Member
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    Is this taken from an actual study or something?
  • Ed98043
    Ed98043 Posts: 1,333 Member
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    Jack Lalanne lived to be 96. I've always assumed that the bodybuilders and pro wrestlers who die young can generally be blamed on steroids.
  • MiamiKid305
    MiamiKid305 Posts: 357
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    Jack Lalanne lived to be 96. I've always assumed that the bodybuilders and pro wrestlers who die young can generally be blamed on steroids.

    There are no actual studies that steroids are the cause of death for these people

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