[Hand em their arse]

This stuff scares the crap out of me, I've done two marathons and try to run about 25-30 miles a week but who the hell knows what works nowadays????

[Mr. K]

I know what you mean- I tend to do what I enjoy and the heck with what the 'experts' say- everything in moderation, you know what's really not good for you, your body tends to crave what it needs...

Like last week I had a craving for a two pound live lobster and a half a stick of butter. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

[ironman]

"about the point where experts say the body ceases burning carbohydrates and begins burning muscle tissue.
"

That's pretty darn wrong. When you hit the wall essentially you've burned up the carbohydrates in your body. Fat metabolism is the primary fuel for endurance athletes, but it doesn't burn well without carbohydrates. During a marathon I would not recommend solid fuel. Try using PowerGels or Gu instead, which are liquid concentrated carbohydrates.

[BluH2o]

I've done two marathons and try to run about 25-30 miles a week but who the hell knows what works nowadays????

I'm impressed ... I walk approx. 1.5 to 2 miles a day at a pace of 120 steps per minute. Don't run because of an old knee problem that jogging only serves to exacerbate. Anything that gets the heart rate up (without overdoing it) for 30 plus minutes a day will go a long way to promoting health and longevity. There will always be exceptions ... but a regime of moderate exercise will almost always put you on the winning side ...

[Musket]

IMHO people are just over doing it. Would primitive man run for 3 hours straight? Or a solid hour or more every day or every other day? I don't think so. I tried the running lifestyle when I was younger. It didn't take me long to get shin splints and sleepless nights because my heart wanted to jump out of my chest. I decided then that - regardless of what the so called "experts" were saying - this can't be any good for me. Oh I still exercise when I feel the need - usually to address a specific muscle problem with lifting and streching, but not to the ridiculous prolonged extremes that most modern exercisers do. Just my 2 cents.

[ovrtaxt]

Look up the condition that killed Blum, the reporter in Iraq, last year. It's a heart condition of some type.

Last month, a 19 year old girl in my church died from it. She was a star basketball player, extremely healthy, and going to college on a basketball scholarship. The coroner called her dad and was asking him for all kinds of info about her training habits and so on. They are looking for the cause- still a medical mystery.

[duckandcover]

Not to worry. Power Bar founder, like famous runner Jim Fixx, probably didn't believe in taking vitamins and minerals on a regular basis (there's a difference between "power" i.e. carbs and minerals - i.e. non-metallic plant based). According to Dr. Joel Wallach, athletes sweat out much more minerals (which the body needs to make 95% of its enzymatic reactoins) than they could possibly take in without supplementation. That's why so may athletes die each year of so-called "heart problems." Lack of magnesium causes the heart not to beat, resulting in death, among other things.

So get a copy of Dr. Wallach's "Dead Doctors Don't Lie" and find out what's going on.

Listen to the FDA and you'll end up DOA.

[Twinkie]

Moderation in anything is probably wise. I've seen
some runners on the side of the road who do not look
at all happy. Who knows? The health thing is driving
me nutty, too. My mother-in-law is in her 80's and
has barely walked to the bathroom and back for her
daily exercise, eats butter and sugar and is doing
quite well. Oh, well.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Your Question:"...but who the hell knows what works nowadays????"

Response: A good set of genes!