I always wondered why endurance athletes looked older than they should, I had a theory developed, and now I found someone who seems to agree with that theory. Mark Sisson, a former endurance athlete himself, wrote a great piece in his blog about pre-mature aging amongst endurnace athletes. Here are the cliffnotes:
- Carbohydrate metabolism is costly and inefficient. Your muscles and liver can only hold 500-600g of glycogen, which will only fuel about 2 hours of endurance activity at best. Therefore endurance athletes need to consume lots of carbs.
- Lots of carbs means lots of insulin, which means lots of inflammation.
- Chronic glycogen depletion means chronically high levels of Cortisol, which suppresses immune function, reduces calcium uptake, and reduces lean mass in addition to many other negative side effects.
- Beta-Oxidation of fats during training generates free-radical damage at a rate of up to 20 times what is possible at rest.
If you need further explanation of why all of these effects are bad, and how they add up to pre-mature aging, cancer, heart disease, and massive lean tissue degradation, read the entire article.
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2 comments:
Got any tips on how to break this news to an older family member who routinely trains and runs in marathons?
Unfortunately, it's a tough sell. This message isn't exactly flooding the market, so this article is contradictory to everything else they're being told about endurance exercise. I would start by showing them the article. If they are at all receptive, you've got a chance.
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