When “healthy” athleticism turns on you

[Hans]

How frequently do you hear people associate fitness with health? Low heart rate, low body fat,...low testosterone...all signs of fitness.

"Healthy" fitness equals low testosterone (and other health issues) » TESTONATION

“But he’s so fit!” “His heart rate is 40bpm!” “He can run a mile close to 4 minutes!” “He’s done over 10 marathons!” “He is below 10% bodyfat!” “How could something like that have happened to someone so fit and healthy?” This is the typical reaction most people give when someone, who’s known for...

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[Highserotonin90]

How frequently do you hear people associate fitness with health? Low heart rate, low body fat,...low testosterone...all signs of fitness.

"Healthy" fitness equals low testosterone (and other health issues) » TESTONATION

“But he’s so fit!” “His heart rate is 40bpm!” “He can run a mile close to 4 minutes!” “He’s done over 10 marathons!” “He is below 10% bodyfat!” “How could something like that have happened to someone so fit and healthy?” This is the typical reaction most people give when someone, who’s known for...

men-elite.com

So in summary, bodyweight and weight training should only lead to positive consequences?

 

[PolishSun]

I made that mistake as well.

 

[Hans]

So in summary, bodyweight and weight training should only lead to positive consequences?

Not necessarily no. It can also be overdone. There's a quote I really like from a sprint coach: "When in doubt, do less. And we're always in doubt."

Obviously you still need to give your muscle a certain amount of stimulus for adaption, but that amount of stimulus is often less than expected. But the quality of the stimulus also plays a big role.
The whole point here is that, doing something stressful chronically does lead to health issues. Some argue that these athletes recover completely after training or after a season, but if issues start occuring after a few decades, then the body hasn't been healing and there is "scar tissue" in the metabolism.

 

[cjm]

Not necessarily no. It can also be overdone. There's a quote I really like from a sprint coach: "When in doubt, do less. And we're always in doubt."

Ray "William Blake" Peat, PhD, sprint coach: “Reason isn’t the same that it will be when we know more"

 

[Beastmode]

How frequently do you hear people associate fitness with health? Low heart rate, low body fat,...low testosterone...all signs of fitness.

"Healthy" fitness equals low testosterone (and other health issues) » TESTONATION

“But he’s so fit!” “His heart rate is 40bpm!” “He can run a mile close to 4 minutes!” “He’s done over 10 marathons!” “He is below 10% bodyfat!” “How could something like that have happened to someone so fit and healthy?” This is the typical reaction most people give when someone, who’s known for...

men-elite.com

"We are maximally healthy when we are euthyroid. A few measures for being euthyroid include, normal cholesterol (180-200), around 70-80bpm heart rate, around 98.6F (37C) core temperature during the day, proper and thorough digestion, fast transit time, well-formed stool that passes easily, good skin health, Achillies tendon reflex (R), lots of deep sleep during the night, mood stability during the day, etc."

None of this could describe my most "fit" years in my teens and early 20's....ha.

Nowadays, 20+ years later, I can actually check those boxes above. Crazy how backwards I had it.

I associate the capacities of being "fit" with our capacity to survive. Hence, being able to do more than your competition, push yourself to a high level, operate on less calories, etc.

I hope more people realize this, especially in times like now.

 

[Hans]

Ray "William Blake" Peat, PhD, sprint coach: “Reason isn’t the same that it will be when we know more"

Care to elaborate/specify what you mean?

 

[Hans]

"We are maximally healthy when we are euthyroid. A few measures for being euthyroid include, normal cholesterol (180-200), around 70-80bpm heart rate, around 98.6F (37C) core temperature during the day, proper and thorough digestion, fast transit time, well-formed stool that passes easily, good skin health, Achillies tendon reflex (R), lots of deep sleep during the night, mood stability during the day, etc."

None of this could describe my most "fit" years in my teens and early 20's....ha.

Nowadays, 20+ years later, I can actually check those boxes above. Crazy how backwards I had it.

I associate the capacities of being "fit" with our capacity to survive. Hence, being able to do more than your competition, push yourself to a high level, operate on less calories, etc.

I hope more people realize this, especially in times like now.

Great to hear you got your health back. :)
Were you also doing proper diet, sleep and lifestyle stuff to minimize stress and maximize recovery?
Also, what cardio work were you doing?

 

[cjm]

Care to elaborate?

Sorry, too much pith in my joke. I was making those statements agree. We are always in doubt because reason changes when we learn things. I was thinking about how arrogant medicine is even after it pledges to "first, do no harm." Yes, do no harm, but be humble and honest about knowledge so that everyone can learn.

 

[Hans]

Sorry, too much pith in my joke. I was making those statements agree. We are always in doubt because reason changes when we learn things. I was thinking about how arrogant medicine is even after it pledges to "first, do no harm." Yes, do no harm, but be humble and honest about knowledge so that everyone can learn.

Haha np. I deduced something like that, but just wanted to make sure before jumping to conclusions lol. Totally agree.

 

[Beastmode]

Great to hear you got your health back. :)
Were you also doing proper diet, sleep and lifestyle stuff to minimize stress and maximize recovery?
Also, what cardio work were you doing?

Definitely not and would love to have experienced playing sports at a high level while treating my body properly with diet, lifestyle, etc.

Cardio wise during those days was mostly high intensity. Always a sprinter by nature and gravitated towards sports that used that kind of energy system more. I did do some triathlons and a few mud race type events. Those really revealed to me, in my 30's that I had some metabolic issues worth addressing. I already knew of Peat's work, but I didn't go "all in" until late 2016.

 

[cjm]

Haha np. I deduced something like that, but just wanted to make sure before jumping to conclusions lol. Totally agree.

Lol, I can appreciate that! I resonate a lot with the subject matter here and appreciate you drawing attention to it. Increasing my protein intake with casein powder has been huge in making a switch out of catabolism. My body temperature is higher and more consistent since adding just 20g a day. Supplemental thyroid also seems to work better with the added protein. I'm starting to sweat a lot more and this feels good.

Who is the actual author of that quote, by the way?

 

[76er]

Great article Hans.

I've personally implemented a high carb diet with minimal anaerobic weekly exercise.

## Hypertrophy

Push day (1 set each movement):

- Chest Press - X3 bar and band
- Pec crossover - X3 ""
- Deficit push ups
- Military Press - X3 ""
- Split squats (both legs) - X3 ""

Pull day (1 set each movement):

- Dead lift - X3 ""
- Ring pull ups

I take 72 hours rest and then 96 hours rest on the next session. So
Monday(pull)/Tue.(push) then Thurs(pull)/Friday(push). I move up in
weight/bands after being able to do 15 reps of a given movement. I did
low-carb/intermittent fasting for a while and my workouts were awful. Since
high carb and more rest I regularly break PRs.

Total time would be ~1.75 hours per week for hypertrophy training.

## HiiT

Monday and Thursday are 8x 30-yard barefoot sprints (after significant warm
up). Rest is one minute. In the Winter, box jumps and backyard ice hockey
replace sprints.

Total time per week would be about 50-60 minutes.

## Diet

I try for 40-45% carbs (low starch), 30-40% fat and 20-30% protein. I'm
averaging ~3200 daily kcals daily but sometimes go to 4K calories w/o gaining
weight. Diet is Peaty and I daily strive to get my carbs over the 300g mark.
I pretty much hit the my micro RDAs with exception to the usual suspects.

## Results after ~6 months

My body fat goals are to stay between 15%-18% and I'm currently at ~17%. I'm
6' & 205 lbs. Sexual function is good @ 3x per week (IMO for 49 yrs old?)
week w/ regular morning wood. Hypertrophy growth has been solid.

Anyway, keep up the great articles – very informative!

 

[Uselis]

I've experimented with lots of different movements and can say that very intense prolonged labour has net positive results on me at least short term (who knows down the road).

The harder and longer it gets in a sense that sweating unavoidable the better I feel. My current work place has me moving heavy objects at decent pace so mix of endurance and strength stuff. Poor mans crossfit I call it lol.

There is afterglow that always involves confidence, ease and stress free mind that no other regimented exercise ever gave me. Plus I get paid lol.

Perhaps it's a case of riding high on stress hormones, like runners high or smth but man do I look forward a day that one of my collegues decides to take day off and I'll have do twice as much as I usually do.

I work on two days on two days off schedule and on second day off I already starting to itch. But for whatever reason anytime I introduce light workout outside job my body shuts down. Like it understands difference between exercise and lifestyle that requires me to move.

Also all elders that made it past 80 in relatively good shape here been working either on farm or some other type of manual labour most of their life. There are lots of broken back stories as well but it always involves hard labour lifestyle in combination with alchohol and junk food.

 

[equipoise]

I've experimented with lots of different movements and can say that very intense prolonged labour has net positive results on me at least short term (who knows down the road).

The harder and longer it gets in a sense that sweating unavoidable the better I feel. My current work place has me moving heavy objects at decent pace so mix of endurance and strength stuff. Poor mans crossfit I call it lol.

There is afterglow that always involves confidence, ease and stress free mind that no other regimented exercise ever gave me. Plus I get paid lol.

Perhaps it's a case of riding high on stress hormones, like runners high or smth but man do I look forward a day that one of my collegues decides to take day off and I'll have do twice as much as I usually do.

I work on two days on two days off schedule and on second day off I already starting to itch. But for whatever reason anytime I introduce light workout outside job my body shuts down. Like it understands difference between exercise and lifestyle that requires me to move.

Also all elders that made it past 80 in relatively good shape here been working either on farm or some other type of manual labour most of their life. There are lots of broken back stories as well but it always involves hard labour lifestyle in combination with alchohol and junk food.

Yeah hard labour definitely feels much much different to a gym session, not to mention the strength you get from it is quite more applicable to real world situations than gym. Strong grip, forearms.

 

[Hans]

Lol, I can appreciate that! I resonate a lot with the subject matter here and appreciate you drawing attention to it. Increasing my protein intake with casein powder has been huge in making a switch out of catabolism. My body temperature is higher and more consistent since adding just 20g a day. Supplemental thyroid also seems to work better with the added protein. I'm starting to sweat a lot more and this feels good.

Who is the actual author of that quote, by the way?

That's great about the protein man. It's Tony Holler.

 

[Hans]

Great article Hans.

I've personally implemented a high carb diet with minimal anaerobic weekly exercise.

## Hypertrophy

Push day (1 set each movement):

- Chest Press - X3 bar and band
- Pec crossover - X3 ""
- Deficit push ups
- Military Press - X3 ""
- Split squats (both legs) - X3 ""

Pull day (1 set each movement):

- Dead lift - X3 ""
- Ring pull ups

I take 72 hours rest and then 96 hours rest on the next session. So
Monday(pull)/Tue.(push) then Thurs(pull)/Friday(push). I move up in
weight/bands after being able to do 15 reps of a given movement. I did
low-carb/intermittent fasting for a while and my workouts were awful. Since
high carb and more rest I regularly break PRs.

Total time would be ~1.75 hours per week for hypertrophy training.

## HiiT

Monday and Thursday are 8x 30-yard barefoot sprints (after significant warm
up). Rest is one minute. In the Winter, box jumps and backyard ice hockey
replace sprints.

Total time per week would be about 50-60 minutes.

## Diet

I try for 40-45% carbs (low starch), 30-40% fat and 20-30% protein. I'm
averaging ~3200 daily kcals daily but sometimes go to 4K calories w/o gaining
weight. Diet is Peaty and I daily strive to get my carbs over the 300g mark.
I pretty much hit the my micro RDAs with exception to the usual suspects.

## Results after ~6 months

My body fat goals are to stay between 15%-18% and I'm currently at ~17%. I'm
6' & 205 lbs. Sexual function is good @ 3x per week (IMO for 49 yrs old?)
week w/ regular morning wood. Hypertrophy growth has been solid.

Anyway, keep up the great articles – very informative!

Great stuff. Glad to hear you're getting such good results!

 

[Sefton10]

I despair now thinking back to the days when I would be buzzing when my RHR was 38 or 39. I thought I was the epitome of health

 

[Momado965]

Awsome article @Hans! Are you gonna write a follow up article discusing how recovery should be done?

 

[Nimo]

How frequently do you hear people associate fitness with health? Low heart rate, low body fat,...low testosterone...all signs of fitness.

"Healthy" fitness equals low testosterone (and other health issues) » TESTONATION

“But he’s so fit!” “His heart rate is 40bpm!” “He can run a mile close to 4 minutes!” “He’s done over 10 marathons!” “He is below 10% bodyfat!” “How could something like that have happened to someone so fit and healthy?” This is the typical reaction most people give when someone, who’s known for...

men-elite.com

But AMPK dont block or decrease glucose oxidation but it just increase lipid oxidation when glucose is not avalible very well (sleep) it actualy can help with sleep, because if lipid oxidation during sleep is increased, your body dost use that much liver glycogen and then u dont wake up on empty liver glycogen no ? AMPK increased during training can be benefical if still eating alot carbs during day. AMPK give signals to body to better utilize carbs to glycogen storages