# Too much exercise bad for you?



## bluekitdon (Dec 19, 2012)

Ran across this new study on too much exercise being unhealthy. Considering when I'm training I tend to run a minimum of 30-40 miles a week, it got me thinking, am I actually hurting myself? Thoughts?



> One long-term study of 54,000 Americans, published last year, found the lowest rates of death among people who ran 5 to 20 miles a week. People who ran more than 25 to 30 weekly miles, on the other hand, lived no longer than people who were inactive.


http://news.discovery.com/human/health/how-you-can-be-fit-but-not-healthy-140328.htm


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## skycloud86 (Jul 15, 2009)

Too much of anything is generally bad, and over-exerting yourself will just lead to short and long-term damage being caused.


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## the_natrix (Aug 10, 2011)

I'm guessing those who ran more negated the health benefits due to the extra stress. Now if you could properly recover while doing those sorts of miles then I don't see the harm. 

What are you training for?


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## Scruffy (Aug 17, 2009)

Running on pavement is murder to your joints long-term, and intense weight lifting is also bad on the joints. I'll agree with Sky here, too much of anything is detrimental.


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## bluekitdon (Dec 19, 2012)

the_natrix said:


> I'm guessing those who ran more negated the health benefits due to the extra stress. Now if you could properly recover while doing those sorts of miles then I don't see the harm.
> 
> What are you training for?


Third Tough Mudder, basically a half marathon muddy obstacle course. This may be my last year. Of course I said that the last two years but got sucked back in by the team each time.
Mud Run | Obstacle Races | Tough Mudder


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## the_natrix (Aug 10, 2011)

bluekitdon said:


> Third Tough Mudder, basically a half marathon muddy obstacle course. This may be my last year. Of course I said that the last two years but got sucked back in by the team each time.
> Mud Run | Obstacle Races | Tough Mudder


Cool beans, but I don't think that 30-40 miles/week is terribly necessary. I did 13 miles at a relatively good pace with relatively minimal training. What other training are you doing? How many and what type of obstacles are there? Also, is it a competitive ordeal?


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## bluekitdon (Dec 19, 2012)

the_natrix said:


> Cool beans, but I don't think that 30-40 miles/week is terribly necessary. I did 13 miles at a relatively good pace with relatively minimal training. What other training are you doing? How many and what type of obstacles are there? Also, is it a competitive ordeal?


Um...yeah it's necessary with a decent team if you want to keep up. Unless you don't want to move for a month or want to walk it.


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## the_natrix (Aug 10, 2011)

bluekitdon said:


> Um...yeah it's necessary with a decent team if you want to keep up. Unless you don't want to move for a month or want to walk it.


Ok, so how much training time do you have?


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## bluekitdon (Dec 19, 2012)

the_natrix said:


> Ok, so how much training time do you have?


The past two I've trained for anywhere from an hour and a half to three hours a day for about six months. 30-40 miles running a week is only like 5 or 6 miles a day, pretty easy to do after you've done it a bit, generally takes less than an hour from the time I lace up my shoes to being back in the house. Usually run & work out after kids are settled down for the evening.


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## the_natrix (Aug 10, 2011)

bluekitdon said:


> The past two I've trained for anywhere from an hour and a half to three hours a day for about six months. 30-40 miles running a week is only like 5 or 6 miles a day, pretty easy to do after you've done it a bit, generally takes less than an hour from the time I lace up my shoes to being back in the house. Usually run & work out after kids are settled down for the evening.


Sounds like you have it under control. At any rate you really won't have to worry about it shortening your life if you're just going to do one more. Personally though I wouldn't do the three hour workouts, unless of course they're more of a skill based workout.


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## Purrfessor (Jul 30, 2013)

Emotions are further up on the totem pole of survival. Care of muscles is literally at the bottom. If this much exercise is making you happy then it's a worthy trade. Those are my thoughts on the issue.


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## Splash Shin (Apr 7, 2011)

You would know if you were doing too much. You're Central nervous System would be giving countless signs, one being a staggering loss of motivation, even if you usually love to do the activity.

As long as your nutrition and rest are adequate for your level of exertion(which can include sleep, massages if necessary ect), it is very hard to over train, and by hard I mean forcefully difficult.

I wouldn't take that study too seriously. 40 mile a week is very manageable. Serious competitors are doing even more than that.


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## Sonny (Oct 14, 2008)

bluekitdon said:


> Ran across this new study on too much exercise being unhealthy. Considering when I'm training I tend to run a minimum of 30-40 miles a week, it got me thinking, am I actually hurting myself? Thoughts?


My step-sister ended up in hospital a couple of years ago after collapsing during a run, she was resuscitated by people around her and taken to hospital with what initially looked like a heart attack, she was around 30 years old. It seemed unfathomable that someone who was so health conscious could be at risk, she's a marathon runner and pays a great deal of attention to what she eats so from all external points of view, should be healthier than most. 

It was myocardial fibrosis.

I wanted to understand "why" because it made no sense so read up on marathon runners and myocardial fibrosis, what I read was concerning, they have tested men from the 100 club (those who have run over 100 marathons), and found a connection to myocardial fibrosis:

"An unexpectedly high prevalence of myocardial fibrosis (50%) was observed in healthy, asymptomatic, lifelong veteran male athletes, compared with zero cases in age-matched veteran controls and young athletes. These data suggest a link between lifelong endurance exercise and myocardial fibrosis that requires further investigation."
Diverse patterns of myocardial fibrosi... [J Appl Physiol (1985). 2011] - PubMed - NCBI 

There are other studies out there showing similar results that should be taken into consideration when deciding what the appropriate level of endurance activities are for you:

Cardiac Arrhythmogenic Remodeling in a Rat Model of Long-Term Intensive Exercise Training 
*Conclusions:* In this animal model, we documented cardiac fibrosis after long-term intensive exercise training, together with changes in ventricular function and increased arrhythmia inducibility. If our findings are confirmed in humans, the results would support the notion that long-term vigorous endurance exercise training may in some cases promote adverse remodeling and produce a substrate for cardiac arrhythmias. 

Exercise-induced right ventricular dysfunction and structural remodelling in endurance athletes
*Conclusion:* Intense endurance exercise causes acute dysfunction of the RV, but not the LV. Although short-term recovery appears complete, chronic structural changes and reduced RV function are evident in some of the most practiced athletes, the long-term clinical significance of which warrants further study.


I personally dislike running when I can ride a bike, it doesn't interest me so I can't fully appreciate it, but for my step-sister and those she runs with it's a passion, they do it because they love it and while exercise is generally healthy for your heart and lungs, doing endurance sports can come with risks that should be weighed up. This should not stop you from running especially not if you enjoy it, however be informed and educated on the topic. Just because other people run and say they're fit and healthy, doesn't mean they haven't caused themselves harm and are unaware. 

My step-sister is back running again which her doctors are not thrilled about, however she is limiting it a lot due to the condition she has, nothing will ever stop her running if she is physically capable as she loves it so much and she knows is was so very lucky she was around fellow runners who were paramedics when she needed help. The message isn't to stay away from running, simply be aware that they have seen a link to endurance running and heart issues so overdoing it can move past the point of increasing health to being detrimental to ones health. As to what that limit is and what other factors need to be considered? Dunno, but if you're concerned, read up on it.


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## bluekitdon (Dec 19, 2012)

I'm not too concerned just thought the article was interesting. Basically sounds like a u shaped curve on exercise, there's a sweet spot between not enough and too much when it comes to the health benefit. Which does actually make sense when you think about it.


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## Uriahan (Jun 3, 2014)

bluekitdon said:


> I'm training I tend to run a minimum of 30-40 miles a week, it got me thinking, am I actually hurting myself?


 It is famous saying " Excess of everything is bad" and its true.. if you workout too much than it would harmul for your health.. But as you said you try to complete 30 to 40 miles in week i think its quite normal and okay nothing to worry because its not over workout


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## LadyO.W.BernieBro (Sep 4, 2010)

The science aside l think, that at different times your body may respond in a way you don't expect and you can't be sure why, so perhaps people effectively overdo it without being told they are or having reason to believe that.

l seemed to respond in a way l haven't responded in the past to my current routine, so l'm decreasing it a bit. Maybe being at one extreme (l was extremely low in energy and lacking and kind of...anything, muscle wise) triggers something strange in the other direction.


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## Ubuntu (Jun 17, 2011)

According to what I've read more than 90 minutes of strenuous exercise a day is bad for your health. 

I do an hour of light aerobic exercise everyday (2 separate 30 minute sessions of jumping jacks) and anaerobic exercise (push-ups, crunches and squats) every other day (I always wait at least 48 hours between sessions for my 'muscles' to heal but less than 72). I don't know if that's good, I'm not a fitness expert. In the past year I haven't gone a single day without exercising.


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## Wonszu (Sep 25, 2013)

The thing is not so long ago we didn't had to exercise. Normal working around house was enough for every man and woman to be healthy and fit and we all know that overworking isn't healthy.

Now everything are doing machines and technology - we don't have to wash anything by hands, we have cars, computers, phones, vacuums, water is delivered by pipes, we don't need to gather wood so it could be warm or have a light... There is not much psychical working anymore. Even cooking today is mostly reheating a ready made food. That's why we need to exercise - to maintain stability. On the other hand just like to much of physical word is more hurting than helping the same can be with exercising. In a sense exercising is not really natural.

If you eat healthy food and you have a healthy back (for example I can't run apparently, because I' have a scoliosis and running could deepen it) then moderate exercise won't hurt you. Don't push yourself to the extreme though, because just like overworking will hurt you.


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## Astrid Von M (Jun 16, 2014)

too much physical activity can burn out the metabolism and you can bonk big time i see it all the time. don't overtrain, people! - you can get some serious metabolic damage and then you can kiss your fitness goodbye! 30-40 miles is not okay for everyone - you have to look at the series of facts like i.e. how long did it take you to build up your fitness? stress levels in your life? caloric intake (if you're not eating enough you might damage your system badly)? tempo (jogging lightly or sprinting)? get a garmin to calculate your miles per minutes! also having good running shoes - good cusioning is crucial! also THE DIET? what are you eating? are you loading up on salt, meat and fats? high carb low fat vegan is the key to successful and briliant fitness level!.... as you can see lots of stuff to think about before thrashing your metabolism completely by not having good information.


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## Jetsune Lobos (Apr 23, 2012)

Shut up and drink that protein shake.


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## aef8234 (Feb 18, 2012)

bluekitdon said:


> The study was not saying that exercise was not healthy. It was saying that there was a sweet spot with just enough exercise where too little or too much were pretty well the same as far as heart health benefits. Too much meaning extreme training like ultra or marathon training not a jog around the block. When I wrote this I was in training doing several hours of exercise 6-7 days a week. I've since dialed it back, probably too far, and am working on the balance again.


And the study for coffe implies caffine is correlated to something, and so on and so forth.


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## bluekitdon (Dec 19, 2012)

aef8234 said:


> And the study for coffe implies caffine is correlated to something, and so on and so forth.


So...don't studies generally have a focus? The article I posted was just one of many studies on this particular subject that have all pretty well came to the same conclusion. Not enough exercise is not healthy in the long term, too much is also not healthy. Most people don't have to worry about doing too much though because the average person doesn't exercise enough.


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## aef8234 (Feb 18, 2012)

bluekitdon said:


> So...don't studies generally have a focus? The article I posted was just one of many studies on this particular subject that have all pretty well came to the same conclusion. Not enough exercise is not healthy in the long term, too much is also not healthy. Most people don't have to worry about doing too much though because the average person doesn't exercise enough.


 Which is irrelevant for the people who will twist the logic into some retarded concept.
But *sure*, keep flailing at an irrelevant topic to anything.


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## wanderlusts (Dec 15, 2014)

K I haven't read any above posts but I will say that daily activity is good. Only relying on the elliptical at the gym or anything at the gym on a daily basis can be bad because after a while you build tolerance. For instance, when you first start to do it, you'll shed pounds, after a while your body will just expect it. You're better off just keeping active on a day to day basis. Go for a walk


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