Chronic cardio is forcing your body to kill you

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  • lauraleighsm
    lauraleighsm Posts: 167
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    There was so much fault in that article, not including the fact he references Wikipedia!
  • nikilis
    nikilis Posts: 2,305 Member
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    cardio. proudly bringing the apocalypse.

    tumblr_mejmhlnm6D1rrkgt3o1_500.gif

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

    UgjF7c4.jpg
  • BradHallFitness
    BradHallFitness Posts: 152 Member
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    This is nothing more than an ad for Crossfit.

    ^This, couldn't agree more.
  • mudmonkeyonwheels
    mudmonkeyonwheels Posts: 426 Member
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    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
    road2peachtree Posts: 309 Member
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    I just wasted a couple of minutes of my life reading this crap.

    ^^^ This ^^^
  • Velum_cado
    Velum_cado Posts: 1,608 Member
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    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
    myofibril Posts: 4,500 Member
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    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
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    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
    pinkraynedropjacki Posts: 3,027 Member
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    This is nothing more than an ad for Crossfit.

    This.
  • StarrySkiesYvaine
    StarrySkiesYvaine Posts: 35 Member
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    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.
  • MeanSophieCat
    MeanSophieCat Posts: 200 Member
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    Maybe marathon runners should eat meat after they finish, so their body thinks they're succeeding at hunting and not failing.

    I've seen races where they give you a beer at the end. If they changed that to a beer and a BURGER, I'd run as many races as possible!
  • reztib
    reztib Posts: 151 Member
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    bump
  • RunnerElizabeth
    RunnerElizabeth Posts: 1,091 Member
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    Oh, I don't think this article was a waste of time. I laughed and laughed.

    But really, when I go running my body thinks I'm trying to out run a lion? At a 9 or 10 minute mile average? I'd be cub food for sure!

    Maybe I should try crossfit then.
  • quirkyone1
    quirkyone1 Posts: 78
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    ....well it is from a crossfit site so obviously they would be talking about crossfit. *mind blown* :huh:

    Sure, I do crossfit and absolutely love what it has done for me and my body but pre-cf I was a 30MPW runner. Not all of us subscribe to the silly "well if the cavemen did it" preaching.
  • socioseguro
    socioseguro Posts: 1,679 Member
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    Do you or anybody in your family owns a CrossFit Franchise ?

    You forgot to include your phone number for the registration. LOL
  • bkesecker
    bkesecker Posts: 163 Member
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    This is nothing more than an ad for Crossfit.

    Agreed
  • sullus
    sullus Posts: 2,839 Member
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    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.

    I want it to be drugs. I've always said that if I make it to 90, I'm going to pick up a heroin habit for the last couple years of my life.
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
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    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.

    Love it.
  • Lyerin
    Lyerin Posts: 818 Member
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    Crossfit saves everyone! Hooray!!

    LOL

    Look, crossfit is totally intriguing to me, and I would absolutely give it a go if it was an option. I also enjoy cardiovascular exercise and I'm not going to give it up because of some pseudo-scientific article.

    Running from lions. Really?
  • Doodlewhopper
    Doodlewhopper Posts: 1,018 Member
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    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.

    ^^^^ Yep, that's how I used to do it; run them critters down.

    BTW Only those with fast reflexes could take a step before the lion got him.