Reality speaks
for itself. (Well, a couple
will pics will not hurt . . .)
Posted on 11/30/2004 7:22:32 AM PST by ZGuy
[snip}"And you almost certainly haven't heard of Frederick Montz, David Nagey, or Jeffrey Williams, three brilliant physicians at Johns Hopkins University who died while running. The oldest of the three was 51."
[...]
"Dr. Thompson's studies and others show that the chances of sudden death are about one in every 15,000 to 18,000 exercisers per year. That comes to one death for every 1.5 million exercise bouts. Curiously, the most serious endurance athletes seem to be at the greatest risk. Here's how it breaks down, according to an often-cited 1982 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine:
One death per 17,000 men who exercise vigorously 1 to 19 minutes a week
One death per 23,000 men who exercise vigorously 20 to 139 minutes a week
One death per 13,000 men who exercise vigorously 140 or more minutes a week"
That is really interesting. Thanks for posting it.
Woo-hoo!! I'm gonna live for-ehhh-ver!!
hahahahah... I forgot to change the one I was addressing it to. *embarrassed*
FYI - thought you might be interested in reading this.
Ha ha! You're SO funny!!!
I was in the Dr.'s office for my physical and those charts were posted on the wall. I'm 6' 210lbs and I'd say I'm 10-15lbs overweight. The chart said that I should be 180lbs tops for a large framed 6'. Well that seemed so weird to me! I was 175 in high school! Now as an adult I have filled out an am bulkier because I move pianos for a living among other things, but I'm certainly not 30 lbs overweight. I'm just a bigger guy than those charts allow for. Right? :)
The more time one is ecercising the statistical greater chance they will die during a time they are doing that on average.
If someone watches tv 10 hours a day, on average, what do you guess is the likelihood they are going to die in front of the tube?
The statistical blip for the 1 to 19 minutes a week is probably the old guy who hasn't exercised in years going out and pretending its time to think hes 20... and winding up with a massive coronary... that or dying while shoveling snow.
I am just shy of 6', charts all say my large framed man of that height should be around 185. The lowest I have weighed in my adult life was right around 188... and yes I did look good then... but had to be very vigilant to keep that weight.
When I became less vigilant, my weight normalized around 215ish.
I don't buy into those charts, but by my own personal experience, I know if I was in peak physical shape, I would be at or about the weight prescribed by the chart. And I am working my way back to the 180s, and when I get there, not going to slack and go back up again.
Reality speaks
for itself. (Well, a couple
will pics will not hurt . . .)
Hey joanie, did ya hear?
...I'm immortal. :o)
I'm 5'11" 210lbs. and I'd like to weigh more. I like to lift and bulk up as much as possible. I was floored when I first saw that chart. It doesn't take extra muscle weight in account.
RE: Anecdotal Evidence
Stupid Theories And Observations
I can only handle so much second hand "knowledge"
BY Mark Collis
Excuse me while I get on my soap box again. I don't know about you, but I can only handle so much second hand "knowledge", wives tales, misinformation and outright fabrication. Here are just a few that have got me going over the last couple of months.
"You're too thin," or, "My, but you've lost an awful lot of weight."
I've heard this one a few times in September from people that I hadn't seen in over a year. It bothered me for a while, maybe I was "too thin". I had lost a few pounds because of the long runs in my marathon preparation schedule, but I didn't feel thin at all. In fact I felt healthy and strong.
While attending a Beer Run, as the food and drink was rapidly disappearing it was said to me "Where else will you see so many thin people eating like this?" And you know, they were right.
Just take a look around you. In spite of what the media would have you believe with their anorexic child models, your average North American is overweight.
So the question still is, why would my "thinness" be a concern to them.
I have come to believe that our society is not used to seeing fit, healthy people in the flesh. Even as the media tries to drive us toward an unattainable goal of unnatural thinness, the consumer society drives us to consume. "Normal" body shapes and sizes are not as common as TV and print would have us believe.
"Running will kill ya. Look at that Jim Fixx, he died while running."
People use Jim Fixx as an example of someone dying while running. On July 21, 1984, in Greensboro, Vermont, he had a heart attack while jogging. He'd only gone a short distance from his motel when he had a massive coronary. His autopsy revealed that one of his coronary arteries was 99% clogged, another was 80% obstructed and a third was 70% blocked.
What most people either don't know or conveniently forget is that Fixx had had three other attacks in the weeks prior to his death and refused to see a doctor about the pains in his chest.
What the fools also don't say is that is that while Jim Fixx died at the premature age of 52 of a massive heart attack, his father passed away at the age of 43. In fact his whole family had a history of extreme premature deaths due to heart problems.
The very fact that Jim Fixx ran probably helped extended his life for those extra nine years.
But then most of the doomsayers don't think that this information is important, only that Mr. Fixx died at a relatively young age while running. They know that this example is proof positive that exercise is bad for you.
"My grandpa didn't exercise, drank like a fish and was a three pack-a-day cigarette smoker and he lived until he was 93."
Those that don't want to acknowledge that they are living an unhealthy life style and or don't want to change always use this example. It might be a valid example of genetics winning out over environmental factors, but like Jim Fixx, this is the exception to the rule. That's because both examples are on the far sides of the bell curve.
There will always be exceptions to the averages. It's part of the fascination of statistics. There will always be examples of abnormal behavior. The abnormal helps define the normal, that's the way statistics work. The normal examples are firmly in the middle of the curve.
Then why don't we hear about Joe Average that smoked, drank and didn't exercise that kicks off at the age of 55? Because, it's not news, it's not different, it's not the exception. It's the same reason that Jim Fixx is used an example, it's an entertaining, ironic exception rather than the rule.
However, I can just about guarantee that the athlete that drops dead in a race has had an over all better quality of life and that they probably would have died sooner if they lived a "normal" sedentary life style.
How do you measure the benefit of being active, healthy and vital, verses being sedentary, ill and lethargic. Just think of the amounts of drugs being used to keep our elderly "healthy" that could be eliminated if only they had lived a more healthy and active life. Not to mention the people that survive a stroke, heart attack or serious accident because of his or her fitness level. Those people are merely exceptions on that bell curve of normality.
"I believe you only have so many heartbeats in a life time and I'm not going to waste any of them jogging."
That famous quote was made by Astronaut Neil Armstrong. It's probably one of the stupidest phrases that you'll ever hear as justification for not exercising.
Let's test this statement and use some basic math to see if it makes any sense:
The average non-runner's base heart rate is about 80 bpm.
That is a total of 115,200 heartbeats a day.
The average runner's heart rate is approximately 60 bpm.
That totals 86,400 heartbeats per day.
If you run for an average of forty minutes per day, raising your heart rate by 100 bpm, you will use an aerage of an extra 4,000 beats in each training session bringing your daily total to 90,400 beats.
That's 24,800 beats less per day that an average runner's heart uses.
So, by running, you are saving an average of 24,800 heartbeats per day by being more fit.
If the limited number of heartbeats statement is true then, there are some interesting extrapolations that can be made. Let's take this theory one step further:
So, given these parameters: The number of heartbeats for an average male for 40 years is 1,681,920,000 total heartbeats.
The total for the runners heartbeats is 1,319,840,000 over 40 years.
That is a difference of 362,080,000 heartbeats for the runner over 40 years.
That works out to a possible life span increase of 4,005 days or about eleven years. WOW!
So much for that stupid theory. By Mark G. Collis
Copyright © 2001. All rights reserved.
Revised: December 24, 2003
Stupid Theories and Observations ( http://www.gameboard.on.ca/OnTheRun/Articles/StupidTheoriesAndObservations.htm )
All things considered, it seems that while exercise is good for you, exercising may kill you!
Skeptical bump for later read.
I have been on that diet for about 9 months. Lost 35 lbs
I didn't have to buy a book, pay a trainer, ask my doctor. Just figured it out myself.
I look at exercise like this: 1 + 2 - 1 = 2 instead of 1 + 2 = 3
I walk every day 1.5 miles in the morning and have a small breakfast (no sugar cereal).
Instead of eating a super size large burger meal with soda for lunch (doesn't matter what chain, they are all the same) I order a burger and a unsweetened tea and eat it slowly.
Dinner time is normal and even indulge in sugar free ice cream once in a while.
E.I.E. Diet and cut the sugar out = Less of me!
I happen to know a really nice mountain, with valley view, fieldstone fenced, hardwood covered, evergreen sheltered, well-water supplied, propane energized, disconnected-from-society, heavenly haven where you can while away your immortality in joyful bliss. But methinks you may have already stumbled upon it.
~ mortal joanie :)
HA!!!!
Y'know I was wonderin' if you'd reply to my wise crack, but I wasn't prepared to be caught so damned flat-footed, again.
Leave it to an Aquarian like you, joanie girl.
You're sumthing else.
...know that? ;^)
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