i think running is actually bad for one's heart

This idea is too simplistic (like most of his ideas imho). It's what someone who is ignorant about this topic would come up with.

But even if it were true, the faster heartbeat during exercise would be completely compensated for by the slower rhythm during the rest of the day.

Mica True was an extreme ultrarunner. Jim Fixx was an X smoker with bad genetics, and Salazar was even more extreme than anyone.

I think it was James O’Keefe that came out with a very popular video on the dangers of running too much. However, there were serious questions on how he interpreted the data and subsequently much more data has come out stating that his concerns were overly magnified. Here’s a link to an article by Amby Burfoot. Also, Alex Hutchinson had done some deep dives into the topic as well finding that no, running too much aint gonna kill you.

runnersworld.com

Study Finds High Levels of Exercise Won't Kill You

Researchers studied 661,000 adults, including 4,000 who exercised the equivalent of about 50 miles a week.

Link:www.runnersworld.com/health-injuries/a...

As a side note, yes, I was very alarmed when O’Keeffe’s video came out and it is STILL getting tons of views even though much of it is questionable. I put in a lot of 100 mile weeks when I was younger. But now at 64, no heart problems, just lots of soft tissue injuries.

As a side-side note: as others have stated, a great percentage of our general health and longevity is due to genetics. Run all you want, you aint movin the needle as much as you think either way….

There is a consensus here that you can overtrain. But this thread on LRC does not qualify who is an expert or a quack on this thread! Everyone's situation is different, but exercise is good for you!

Who???

Please re-read this and use spell check or Grammarly in the future. We have no idea what you just said.

Competitive running and longevity aren't mutually exclusive. The key is striking a good balance.

Summer: stay moderately active but don't do anything too long or intense. Short-moderate hikes and easy runs are good.

Fall: ramp up the mileage

Winter: add in some intensity

Spring: taper and race. Take 2 weeks off after your last race

For what it’s worth I agree with you…

…but speaking of genetics, do you want to take your point of view over to the most recent thread concerning the impact ( or lack of it) that genetics has on running ability…stating that genetics will affect how long you live will absolutely blow the minds of the genetics deniers. 😂😂

FWIW, I'm sharing my heart health experiences so others can make a more informed decision on what to do about heart health.

Several years ago at age 71, I decided to take a proactive approach to heart health. I sought out one of the top cardiologists in my city, explained that I was an extremely competitive runner who did stupid-hard workouts... often alone... and needed to make sure that my heart could handle it. He smiled and set me up for a battery of tests. I've been seeing him twice a year since 2019.

Two years ago, one of the tests... arterial pulse velocity index, if I remember correctly... showed some inelasticity in my (brachial?) artery. He started me on a supplement (NEO40) and when I didn't show much progress, he switched me to Vascanox (it says Nitric Oxide support on the bottle). I improved, but not enough to his satisfaction so he added Arterosil (it says Endothelial Glyocalyx Support on the label) on my next appointment. I won't know how well they work together until my next appointment this winter. It's pricey, but I have the test results to show that Vascanox by itself gave some improvement.

Nah, I'm good. Stress is bad for the heart.

"A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still." If they want to believe that 1 + 1 = 3, they can be my guest.

Using Trump's assumption about limited heartbeats and some napkin math:

Sedentary person - average HR 70/bpm (100,800 beats per day)

Fit person - average HR 50/bpm (69,000 beats per day, 9000 beats during an hour of exercise @150 bpm = 78,000 beats per day)

Our fit person, despite getting an hour of solid aerobic exercise each day, produces 8,322,000 LESSheartbeats each year than the sedentary subject. Put another way,82 days LESS wear and tear annually on the ol' ticker. Extrapolate that out over a 70 year span and our fit person, in theory, should live an additional 15 years and 10 months before reaching their final heartbeat in contrast to someone that doesn't exercise.

So, keep exercising despite what our jacked 6'1" and ripped 215 pounds former POTUS says.

when one tries on purpose to be fairly tied to a chair it helps to be a rich person who can afford any healthcare he needs/requires for his lifestyle.

I am in my late 20s and have been running competitively since I was 7 years old and don’t really have any plans of stopping anytime soon. I ran 5 years of NCAA track and field. Obviously I’m far from an older runner but I feel like I’m somewhat knowledgeable on this subject since I’m also a pretty big fan of the sport.

I think Ryan Hall put it best when right before he retired he said that competitive running is a trade off sometimes, you often have to make yourself extremely unhealthy in other ways in order to be the best runner you can be. Personally for myself, I definitely feel that when I am running 60 plus miles a week with 2 hard workouts and a long run I’m definitely not the healthiest version of myself. I’m much thinner than I normally would be and my body is sometimes exhausted from the hard training. Since I’m still young I definitely want to keep grinding and get the most out of my body, but when I’m not training for anything serious I find that 30 mpw with a tempo run and some light lifting makes me the healthiest version of myself. I feel like that’s the perfect happy medium.

In a country where 700,000 people die each and every year from heart disease, I don't think running is the culprit.

It's easy to latch onto an anecdote and accept it as a rule. For example, my grandmother smoked a pack of cigarettes everyday and lived until she was 90. However, I doubt you'd put as much stock in that anecdote as the one you've selected here.

Perhaps you should look at the bigger picture. The evidence that aerobic exercise extends life is pretty overwhelming. The fact that your two examples are from 1984 and 2007, demonstrates that such cases are very rare.

You saying “I think” qualifies this as an opinion- to which you are entitled. But if you say your examples of people represent a solid argument on that opinion, then you are in a small minority.

Running is definitely bad for you. You should absolutely never exercise, EVER. Sit on your couch, order your DoorDash, watch CNN constantly, do not get fresh air and sunshine, and make sure you take your 8 boosters! I am begging you, please continue getting vaccinated. Do us all a favor. Thanks!

So why not “ease back” on the running? It possibly would have had the same effect…and been far cheaper. Why hammer away at something if you are concerned that it is negatively impacting your health in some way?

Amid all the speculation, it's nuts to still be into marathons knowing this.

"scarring" is permanent, no? In any case, if that's not bad for your heart, I don't know what is.

I just hope they don't find scarring from moderate-intensity middle distance workouts. Which happen to work the heart a lot harder than marathon pace, just not to exhaustion and fatigue

Running looks/feels healthy to me. An obese person's heart is beating at two to two and half times the rate as a regular sized person. That's unhealthy.

Each and every one of you is going to die. Many of you will never truly live during your time here.

Do what you enjoy - marathon, mile, ultra, 400, whatever. Experience it, learn from it, benefit from it. Everyone that worries about some new study claiming heart scarring or free radicals or some other negative thing that running might cause also forgets that they can be snuffed out by falling down a flight of stairs, breathing in some strange new virus in an airport terminal, or some genetic timebomb embedded in your DNA. Don't waste your life living in fear. That's not really living.