Does this scare you - exercise kills.

Machoman121

http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/lif ... 264a987f10 - regarding Dean Mercer (Aussie triathlete).

imposter2.0

Just to be clear - your username is 'machoman' and you're worried about exercising?

fenix

We've all got to go one day !

cooldad

To be fair he seems scared of any training.

viewtopic.php?f=40121&t=13085738&p=20233069#p20233069

keef66

2 posts to date, one asking if a turbo is safe for a 54 year old, and one linking to a dead triathlete?

Troll or ergophobe?

Alex99

Machoman121 wrote:

http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/lifestyle/why-did-fit-former-ironman-dean-mercers-heart-fail/news-story/d8b3debc78b34de1d3cbc5264a987f10 - regarding Dean Mercer (Aussie triathlete).

From what I've read and heard, heart issues are a real concern, particularly for older endurance athletes. Arrhythmias are quite common, and it's somewhat down to luck whether you get a dangerous one, or just an annoying one. I had one event last year, got checked out and have largely carried on, although with greater awareness. No issues again so far, but it's likely to happen again at some point. I personally know two other masters-aged long term athletes who have frequent but non-life threatening heart issues. Check out the report from Leonard Zinn for more on this. There is a podcast interview which is worth checking out (The Time Trial Podcast).

With all that said, if you're sensible and listen to your body, don't let it stop you from doing some training.

sloppyschleckonds

keef66 wrote:

2 posts to date, one asking if a turbo is safe for a 54 year old, and one linking to a dead triathlete?

Troll or ergophobe?

Using a turbo could make you braindead

rick_chasey

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

keef66 wrote:

2 posts to date, one asking if a turbo is safe for a 54 year old, and one linking to a dead triathlete?

Troll or ergophobe?

Using a turbo could make you braindead

Cause or effect?

burnthesheep

I've been curious as to what level these experts feel it would transition from the bleeding edge of healthy stress to unhealthy damage. Casual rider doing some centuries each year. A Cat III racer. A low level master's racer?

As in......if your ftp is 150 to 200, no issue whatsoever. If it's under 300, ok. But if it's over 300 and you're over 40 years old, then you may need to slow it down some. What level or what distance and stress level corresponds? The data is there, I'm sure these elite folks are on Trainingpeaks or some other service that tracks the training stress.

And that stress is probably 10x more than what I do.

I mean, what about this guy? The 105 year old Frenchman doing hour records in his age group?
At 100 years old he did almost 17 miles. I know of people in their 30's who couldn't do 17 miles in an hour in the flats if they tried.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/105-yea ... d-gallery/

fat daddy

its becoming more apparent that endurance exercise isnt great for the older athlete. ...... but you really have to define endurance.

1hr on a turbo, isnt endurance ... either is a 5 hour ride where you stop in the middle for lunch and spend at least 30 mins eating cake and chattind whilst pottering along at 15mph

keef66

On the balance of probability, I'd say that lack of exercise kills many more people than exercise ever will.

Worrying about it and not exercising as a result is likely even more lethal.

But as was pointed out already, we're all going to die, just that not many of us will know exactly when.

I'm determined to live as long as possible just to annoy the b@stards who will be paying my pension.

Alex99

oxoman wrote:

No it doesn't however inactivity, boredom and dementia do. Having seen the Big D with a family member up close i can honestly say inactivity and boredom are a major cause of it. So stop worrying about it get moving and thrash the turbo into the ground. PS turbos are for wimps that cant handle rollers, rollers are the way forward.

And rollers are for wimps who are scared of the dark.

Seriously though, I agree, we shouldn't shy away from some vigorous activity. But, how much is too much, is a fair question. The answer is going to very individual, and there are still a lot of unknowns. However, you can probably take "anything to the extreme is bad for you" as a first pass.

Alex99

keef66 wrote:

On the balance of probability, I'd say that lack of exercise kills many more people than exercise ever will.

Worrying about it and not exercising as a result is likely even more lethal.

But as was pointed out already, we're all going to die, just that not many of us will know exactly when.

I'm determined to live as long as possible just to annoy the b@stards who will be paying my pension.

We also shouldn't muddle up "exercise" and "training". I don't think it's suggested that exercise is risky. More like hitting your max heart rate three times a week for 20 years on the trot. Normal guidelines for exercise say that you should be able to hold a conversation!!! So, nothing above Z2 folks.

Alex99

burnthesheep wrote:

I've been curious as to what level these experts feel it would transition from the bleeding edge of healthy stress to unhealthy damage. Casual rider doing some centuries each year. A Cat III racer. A low level master's racer?

As in......if your ftp is 150 to 200, no issue whatsoever. If it's under 300, ok. But if it's over 300 and you're over 40 years old, then you may need to slow it down some. What level or what distance and stress level corresponds? The data is there, I'm sure these elite folks are on Trainingpeaks or some other service that tracks the training stress.

And that stress is probably 10x more than what I do.

I mean, what about this guy? The 105 year old Frenchman doing hour records in his age group?
At 100 years old he did almost 17 miles. I know of people in their 30's who couldn't do 17 miles in an hour in the flats if they tried.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/105-yea ... d-gallery/

Someone might study a metric such as chronic training stress and correlate this with cardiac events. There might be a correlation. But then it might be related to time spent at >95% max heart rate or some other metric. No to mention genetic and lifestyle factors.

veronese68

Life kills, it's probably best avoided if you're worried about this kind of thing.

bonk_king

If there was a load of evidence that pointed to a large % of ex pro riders all dying prematurely of heart conditions because they absolutely beasted themselves during their careers then maybe they'd be on to something. Ex pro riders would be the benchmark. But saying that, how many of us train like pro riders. I think my 5 or 6 hours a week of tootling along are doing me more good than bad.

trivial_poursuivant

Exercise regularly and there is a small chance you could die .

Or

Sit on your arse all day and get fat, drinking and smoking and generally doing nothing and there is an elevated chance you will die.

I think I’ll take my chances with the former.

veronese68

Trivial poursuivant wrote:

Exercise regularly and there is a small chance you could die.

No, you're definitely going to die. ;-)
You will probably live a longer, healthier and happier life though. Like you I know what I'd rather do.

Alex99

bonk king wrote:

If there was a load of evidence that pointed to a large % of ex pro riders all dying prematurely of heart conditions because they absolutely beasted themselves during their careers then maybe they'd be on to something. Ex pro riders would be the benchmark. But saying that, how many of us train like pro riders. I think my 5 or 6 hours a week of tootling along are doing me more good than bad.

Not sure on this. Not too many pro's hammering it past 40. Also, they tend to also have the rest thing sorted and don't have the stress of day jobs in the mix. Absolutely agree with your 5-6 hours being more good than bad.

frisbee

Ex pros are far less likely to have heart conditions and live longer than average:

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cycling/pro-cyclists-live-longer-report-20130903-2t3ka.html

Alex99

frisbee wrote:

Ex pros are far less likely to have heart conditions and live longer than average:

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cycling/pro-cyclists-live-longer-report-20130903-2t3ka.html

The concern is with masters athletes. Not retired pro's, and not with exercise.

reacher

It's a very misleading headline, it's research that's been done on the effects of the ever increasingly popular ultra endurance events and what happens when you do sustained long periods of training which quite a lot of athletes are doing, not on training or age. Some of these people are doing huge volumes of training in particular retired people who have time on their hands, some of the conclusions of this research are worth a read if your into these events. The people who do this research all point out that exercise is good its the volume and intensity they are looking at.

cooldad

The OP seems to have left the building...

cougie

I think machoman wasn't....

tubaonwheels

Mmmmm, I'm 64 and have been an endurance athlete on and off since my late 30's. Still at it and not too concerned about any scare stories. When it's time to go it's time to go. I look at sedentary people of my age and have a good idea my occasional lengthy jaunts don't seem to be doing me too much harm.

Also I tend to feel crap when not able to excercise for longish periods.

Machoman121

i've written in another forum so this might sound repetitious if you've read it elsewhere - i have a story. My uncle, a doctor - told me he had a friend come over for dinner one night and he commented how healthy and fit he looked. The friend told him he's training to run a marathon. 2 days later after a morning run, the friend slumped over his desk and passed away.

I think the heart is like any muscle it can be over used and damaged. I believe as we move on we will begin to see a pattern of heart damage from too much exercise. Sure if you're overweight exercise will do more good but for those that don't have a weight problem......then we might have to exercise with caution.

Moderation is the key - only problem is I love cycling too much.

Going forward i will try to ensure there's adequate rest between rides/exercise. Listening to your body is critical here.

jgsi

I can think of worse ways to go.
I'll carry on getting nowhere in vet races... and getting nowhere (literally) in Zwift.

cougie

Your uncle is a doctor and that's the only advice he has ? A bloke who was training for a Marathon popped his clogs ?

I run Marathons and none of my Marathon running pals has popped their clogs. Colleagues who weren't Marathoners have died at an early age though.

It's the luck of the draw. You need to exercise to be healthy both physical and mentally. I'd much rather have adventures outside than live life cautiously and live longer anyway.

imposter2.0

Machoman121 wrote:

My uncle, a doctor - told me he had a friend come over for dinner one night and he commented how healthy and fit he looked. The friend told him he's training to run a marathon. 2 days later after a morning run, the friend slumped over his desk and passed away.

N=1.

surfercyclist

Actually machoman has a point, endurance athletes are prone to arterial fibrillation in the long term. Plenty of medical evidence and articles to support this. However, should we stop cycling etc? No, just don't push yourself to the max every single time and ensure adequate recovery. Unfortunately we're all different so what works for one doesn't mean it works for another.

diy

I see this two fold.

On the one hand you've got the risk of life-long elite sports and the wear and tear that places on your body. Then you've got the born-again fit people, those who have come late in life and are trying to undo early years of abuse, excess body weight etc.

Too much of anything is bad and being a life long elite sports person is no different. You will wear yourself out even if you have a very low risk of common risk indicators. I see it a bit like a Nike tick.. Fat/unfit on one side and elite at the other. There will be a bit in the middle where the risks are low and there will be those at the extreme performance end who have high risks. You are still generally better being super fit than super fat.

For the born-again fit people, I think those folk carry the most risk, particularly those who've smoked. A lot of bad lifestyle choices including stress do irreversible damage. You can't take up endurance cycling as a morbidly obese person and push your heart to 200bpm, trying to haul your fat a*** up the nearest hill.

We all have to reset our goals as we get older and adjust.