Top 10 Reasons Exercise Is Bad For You
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 12:45PM This guest post is by Ben Greenfield of Ben Greenfield Fitness.
There are people who need to exercise, and who absolutely benefit from exercise.
Exercise has rescued obese individuals from a sedentary lifestyle, saved men and women from being ravaged by cardiovascular disease, and allowed for athletes to train their body to perform above and beyond normal capacity.
But exercise also has a dark side - dangerous disadvantages that affect thousands of people each day, and those disadvantages can be summed up in these top 10 reasons exercise is bad for you.
10. Exercise is addictive. Consistent exercise causes the body to produce endorphins, which are hormones secreted by your pituitary gland to block pain, decrease anxiety and create feelings of euphoric happiness. But endorphins are chemically similar to the drug morphine, and so for many people, compulsive exercise can be psychologically addictive. For regular exercisers, and especially for bodybuilders, triathletes, cyclists or marathoners, reducing or stopping exercise suddenly - or even missing one single workout - can result in depression, stress and anxiety. This "mouse on a wheel" attraction to exercise can result in overtraining, missing family obligations and social gatherings because of an intense "need" to exercise, and a worry that fitness will be lost or weight will gain with a day of missed exercise. The pursuit of exercise turns from a way to experience the beauty of nature or spend time with friends to a feeling of going to work or being stuck in a rut.
The Fix: Include at least one day per week in which you do not exercise or your exercise involves no structure (such as playing a new sport). Unless you are paid for your physical performance, if your exercise ever begins to feel like a job, then switch to something new and fresh. Finally, engage in alternate ways to satisfy your brain, including cooking, wine tasting, music, new books, social events, and sex. If you do find yourself addicted to exercise, consider cognitive behavioral therapy, neurofeedback, and in severe cases, pharmaceutical interventions to break the addiction. Exercise addiction is not worth destroying your body and relationships.
9. Exercise Hurts The Heart In one study, British researchers examined 12 runners and rowers with an average age of 57, who each had completed a total of 43 years of consistent training and 178 marathons, 65 ultramarathons, and 4 Ironman triathlons. Half of the athletes showed signs of fibrosis, or scarring of heart tissue, compared to none of age-matched "non-exercising" controls. In addition, wear and tear of years of heavy-duty workouts or lifelong endurance exercise can weaken heart muscles - predisposing you to a condition called "ventricular arrhythmia" in which the heart beats erratically. This is probably due to damage to the right chamber of the heart, which can disrupt normal heart rate and rhythm, and this has literally put an end to the career of several pro endurance athletes, who engage in the type of training necessary for this problem to occur.
The Fix: Avoid excessive exercise, especially a combination of high intensity and high volume workouts. If you do find yourself in this situation, such as during the build-up to an Ironman triathlon, then engage in good warm-ups and proper cool-downs after each workout, and include at least one total recovery day. As much as possible, try to avoid competing in events such as an Ironman triathlon or ultra-marathon more than once per year.
8. Exercise is associated with body perception disorders. Body dysmorphic disorder is a psychological disorder in which you are excessively concerned about a perceived defect in your physical features, such as your arm or leg muscles being to small or your waistline not being thin enough. This can result in heavy, often socially isolated exercise to "repair the defect". Typically, this type of activity can begin in adolescence or early adulthood, but can stay with you your entire life as you strive to achieve or maintain the "perfect body". You may turn to bodybuilding, marathoning, cycling or any other activity which uses the same muscles over and over again to try to hammer away at your perceived defects, even when it comes to the detriment of your joints or health. If you don't have the time to exercise and address what you perceive to be a significant body issue, this can result in depression, social anxiety, and even social phobia, or complete avoidance of being in public, especially where your body might be exposed. Often, you might justify your behavior by believing that you are a serious athlete who can never work too hard or too long at your sport, and this can often lead to excessive and addictive exercise in an attempt to control or lose weight, or sometimes to gain muscle or "sculpt" a body part.
The Fix: Learn to accept yourself for who you are, and understand that you are your own worst critic. Unless you're an actor or a model, most other people really don't care what your body looks like, so there's no reason to be embarrassed. Striving for a perfect body is an uphill battle that will always result in failure at some point, probably when you're 60, 70 or 80. There's nothing wrong with looking good, but don't become obsessed about it unless your income depends on it.
7. Exercise can break up families. In 2010, The Wall Street Journal published the article "A Workout Ate My Marriage", describing how couples become increasingly conflicted as a spouse becomes obsessed with a particular exercise goal, such as extreme weight loss or an Ironman triathlon - to the detriment of time spent with family. Often, since the exercise goal can be justified as "noble", it is difficult for a spouse or family member to negotiate with the over-exerciser to spend more time with family.
The Fix: If your goals require you to exercise "excessively", then at least attempt to include family in exercise. Join a gym with free childcare so you and the spouse can exercise together, get a jogging stroller and bicycle trailer, and train indoors with the kids at home so a spouse can go enjoy free time.
6. Exercise can cause diabetes. In my book "Holistic Fueling For Ironman Triathletes", I discuss the propensity for endurance athletes to spend lots of time at coffeeshops and bakeries, engaging in daily chronic consumption of scones, big "healthy" muffins, baked goodies, bagels and artisan breads. Later in the evening, post "long training day", they're back to pastas, lasagnas, spaghettis, pizzas, and more carbohydrate laden foods. And in between these meals is a constant, steady intake of sugar packed energy bars, energy gels, energy drinks and energy chews. Not only do these constantly surging blood sugar levels cause sugar addiction and damage to blood vessels and nerves, but they vastly increase risk for Type II diabetes as the cell surface receptors for insulin eventually become less and less sensitive to elevated insulin levels attempting to shove all the extra sugar into the muscles.
The Fix: Break the sugar addiction. Go two weeks on a low carbohydrate diet, even if it means that exercise levels are decreased. If you're addicted to exercise, changing to a lower carbohydrate intake can be near to impossible, so often, you must FIRST break the exercise addiction and then break the sugar addiction. This may require something as dramatic as an extended vacation to a place where A) you only have access to healthy food and B) do not have your bike, your gym, your swimsuit and goggles, and your running shoes.
5. Exercise destroys diets. Whether you are trying to eat a diet lower in inflammatory compounds to manage an autoimmune disease or cancer, trying to eat a lower calorie diet to lose weight or teach your body to eat less, or trying to switch to a low carbohydrate diet as mentioned earlier, it is very hard to accomplish these nutritional changes while you are engaged in heavy exercise patterns. This is often what causes people to stop healthy lifestyle changes: they get excited about changing their daily routine, eating better, and exercising more, but heavy exercise volume causes food cravings that make it impossible to adjust to a healthy diet, the individual becomes discouraged, and simply quits altogether.
The Fix: In my "REV Diet" book, the first phase (Reboot) involves precise instructions for reducing calories and detoxifying the body, but a key component of that phase is limited exercise significantly while the body learns to burn more fats, use less sugar as a fuel, and become accustomed to the dietary changes. One very good substitute for exercise during this time is yoga, which doesn't burn a significant number of calories, and can be done without derailing the diet.
4. Exercise causes inflammation. Endurance exercise can increase oxygen utilization to over 10 to 20 times the resting state, and all this extra oxygen consumption then increases production of free radicals, which are produced as the oxygen is used to convert energy into ATP for muscle contractions. This enhanced free radical generation causes oxidative damage to muscles and other tissues, and although regular physical exercise can build the antioxidant free radical defense system, intense and high volume exercise can overwhelm these defenses and cause significant free radical damage. Oxidative stress from free radicals damages cellular proteins, membranes and genes and leads to a state of chronic, systemic inflammation. Chronic inflammation is implicated in diseases such as cancer, heart disease, strokes, MS, Alzheimer¹s, Parkinson¹s, premature aging and almost any debilitating, degenerative condition you can name.
The Fix: You can certainly put a band-aid over the problem by consuming a full spectrum antioxidant, but you can only eat so many berries, nuts and dark leafy greens before your stomach gets full. Eventually, you must give your body a break from free radical damage and simply stop exercising so much. Since endurance, aerobic exercise is the biggest culprit for free radical damage, try to limit this type of training. Even in an Ironman build-up, I personally avoid doing anything more than 1 long bike, 1 long swim and 1 long run each week - and everything else is short intense bursts or high intensity interval training, which you can read about in my article "Why You're Wasting Your Time With Long, Slow Aerobic Workouts", which explains why interval exercise can cause lower blood sugar, increased hormonal response to exercise, lower insulin levels and increased fat burning with much, much less time spent exercising.
3. Exercise is stressful. The adrenal glands are two thumb-sized glands sitting atop your kidneys. They produce hormones like norepinephrine, cortisol and DHEA, which allow your body to respond and make adjustments to physical or emotional stress. If the intensity and frequency of the stres becomes too great, then the adrenal glands can begin to become exhausted, and the hormones that they produce can become depleted, resulting in serious imbalances that can cause issue like estrogen dominance in women or testosterone deficiencies in men. The end result is a tired, chronically fatigued individual who has disrupted sleep, low libido, worn-out looking eyes, a set and stressed jawline, and a "skinny fat" body look no matter how much exercise they do. Sound familiar? I just described 90% of the marathoners and Ironman triathletes out there.
The Fix: In addition to incorporating the other fixes I've described such as lowering exercise and enhancing focus on recovery, you can pull yourself out of adrenal exhaustion with complete rest and recovery, avoiding caffeine and central nervous system stimulants, and also by incorporating stress-fighting and cortisol-stabilizing compounds like maca root powder and phosphatidylserine supplements.
2. Exercise damages the joints. I was playing on the trail with my boys yesterday and a man ran by with a scowl across his face. Perhaps his sour disposition was due to the knee brace on his right leg, the exercise strap above his left IT band, and the compression sleeve on his elbow. Despite his body falling to pieces, he was limping along the trail, trying to push his body through a run. Since exercise is addictive, you'll often see endurance athletes trying to push through and continue their chronic repetitive motion training no matter what, often to the continued detriment and breakdown of the body's worn and tired joints. I worked with a sports medicine physician for 3 years, and most endurance athletes that came in were trying to figure out how they could still do their marathon or triathlon even though they had plantar fasciitis, IT band friction syndrome, or shoulder tendonitis. They'd be miserable during their event, but would still do it. While you can certainly be "patched together" with braces, bands, sleeves, and cortisol shots to complete your event, you can end up taking years off your joints. If you like the idea of knee replacements, hip replacements, and not being able to play in the backyard with your grandkids without teeth-gritting pain then strap on that brace and head outside to run through the pain. Otherwise, just stop.
The Fix: Run on a wide variety of running surfaces and terrains, and avoid only exercising in one plane of motion (running, cycling and swimming are typically only "front-to-back" activities). Instead, choose side-to-side motions like tennis, basketball or soccer, and attempt to address a wide range of musculature with your exercise patterns. Know when to identify whether you're just pushing through pain because you simply must exercise, and find something else to do, like read a book.
1. Exercise causes premature aging. In 4 Easy Ways To Ensure Your Skin Doesn't Look Like A Wrinkled Elephant From Your Outdoor Exercise Habits, I describe how to make sure your outdoor, sunny exercise doesn't end up giving you a face like a prune. But excessively wrinkled skin, which is vastly accelerated by the free radical damage mentioned earlier in this article, is not the only reason that people who exercise too much look worn and aged. The heart has a finite number of beats, the back has a finite number of bends, and the cartilage has a finite number of shock absorptions, and once you've reached your quota, your body begins to fail. Combined with a fibrotic heart, worn adrenal glands, and chronic, systemic inflammation, you have the perfect storm for a prematurely aged and broken down body.
The Fix: In my interview with Arthur de Vany, we discuss why an exercise program of sprint interval training and brief, heavy bouts of weight training is probably better for the aging individual. When this type of protocol is combined with very limited amounts of steady endurance exercise, goals like Ironman triathlon or marathoning can still be completed without excessive body aging.
So those are the top 10 reasons why exercise is bad for you. Please don't misinterpret me, because I believe that a lifetime of healthy physical activity is one of the best things you can do for your body and your brain. But a lifetime of indiscriminate, chronic repetitive motion exercise like a rat on a wheel is entirely another matter, and you ought to seriously reconsider your priorities if you are stuck in that rut.
Are you concerned that you may be exercising too much? Or do you think this is all blown way out of proportion? Feel free to leave your comments, questions and feedback below.
TrainingPeaks contributor Ben Greenfield, M.S. PE, NSCA-CPT, CSCS, is recognized as one of the top fitness, triathlon, nutrition and metabolism experts in the nation. To view Ben's available plans on TrainingPeaks, click here. For more information on coaching and training with Ben, check out his website.
Reader Comments (18)
Finally a good explanation for my divorce, old man knees and burning desire to ride right now... (gotta loose 12 more lbs).
I thought this was a most refreshing read and finally put forward a lot of very sensible and very real concerns that many athletes try to simply ignore or overlook. It's good to read something other than the constant diet of doing more, doing it harder, bigger miles, harder miles etc. Many should heed this article, I wonder how many will? Congratulations.
Too much of anything is bad and I think this can be applied even on exercises. I do get your point on each reason and I'm thinking that maybe it depends on how you manage your time and the routines you do during workouts that would make exercising a lot healthier.
Citing medical research papers without listing sources is just plain wrong.
Ben, this article hits all those areas that an athlete needs to consider when competing. If your main goal is to improve your health it is wise to consider all these issues. Very informative and useful information to consider when deciding on future health and fitness goals.
Wow...have to say that I find this post to be extremely disappointing and very much sensationalized.
Well it is new kind of information for me that exercise has many disadvantages. I was no aware with this information and i do exercise regularly but after reading this information i have learned lot of things. Thanks for sharing.
First of all I agree with the core line of Bens article.
I am just turning forty and after a life of predominantly strength sports from strongman, powerlifting etc I picked up cycling to balance out my capablities. It is addictive but so far Its a good addiction. Living in the Swiss alps makes it even more pleasurable to ride. I work the majorit of the time from home so my 1-2 hour daily (5 times per week) ride is my treat. I still hit the gym four times a week but my work outs are now solely with focus on the basic power lift and with the addition of a few favorites such as chin ups. I limit my time to 45-60 mininutes but the first exercise will take half that time as you take very long breaks 5 minutes or more between your 1-3 rep sets. Then its back home to change and do my ride. Because my work outs have a high peak force intensity I try to make my rides lower in intensity. I like to have two rides a week under 144bpm, two under 144 but with 156 intervals and one under 156bpm with some 169bpm intervals. I measure my pulse in the morning and ask my self some question about how I feel on training peaks if I am all clear I stick to my schedule if I am not feeling it that day I reduce the volume or and intensity. One trick that I use is to do the strength and rides in the same time frame. In effect my body is going through a 2.5 hours workout 4 times a week but then I rest at all other times. Instead of spreading it out over 7 days where your body is always working I work out 4 times per week but two sessions in one and then once a week one session. That means two days off a week but 9 sessions. Also in winter I will do shorter rides on my home traininer but will be doing nordic skiing, skiing or snow boarding which is great and involves the family. Summer I add a couple of swims. Mix it up, don't get to repetitive and enjoy your exercise high but make sure you enjoy your days off too!
This is the biggest bull crap article on training peaks i have ever read. Everything is bad for you if you do it to much. The key to all things in life is moderation.
This is an incredibly self-serving article, appears to be designed to sell the author's books and "holistic" approach. I am surprised to see it posted so prominently on Training Peaks since TrainingPeaks is promoted as the ultimate training and nutrition log designed to help motivated individuals and professionals achieve health, fitness and peak performance. I agree that TrainingPeaks does that.
But I disagree with almost every conclusion this author has drawn.
Exercise hurts the heart? Based on a study of 12 athletes? No one can make such a broad generalization based upon such a small sample size.
Exercise is associated with body perception issues? He says that exercise causes body perception issues but it would be more clear to say people with body perception issues use exercise inappropriately.
I won't try to debunk every point, I do think it should be done, but I am especially disturbed that he says that exercise damages joints. I've read multiple scientific papers that disagree. Exercise makes cartilage stronger. I'm not sure he even understands what he is saying as he goes on to describe tendon issues to support his contention of joint damage.
The number of people in need of exercise will always far exceed the number who are unhealthy because of exercise. I think the author should direct his sales toward that population and stop using pseudo-science to sell products to those of us who are actually pursuing healthy exercise.
Right, well perhaps it's significantly less bad as it appears to be, but new research actually proves that carrying out a bout of intense exercising, the body goes via a period of recovery where a number of nasty chemical interactions come about.
Let's get this straight right here at the beginning of the article, before everyone dates back to sit on all the couch. Exercise is important and vital for your general well-being and cardiovascular health. What we are talking about article are the after influences of exercise, and the things you can do to counteract them.
This is the worst article I've read on exercise. I was laughing until I realized it wasn't April 1st. TrainingPeaks moderators should remove this immediately, this is total junk. "You only get so many heartbeats in your life"??? That BS was debunked long ago. Exercise is good for you and makes you stronger. This guy is some kind of snake-oil salesman trying to sell his books and snare the weak or insecure to his cult of detoxification (also debunked) and shamanism. Hunter Allen you put up with this? Your name is associated with TrainingPeaks...get rid of this article.
I suppose some of these suggestions may apply to neurotic fitness freaks. Unfortunately we have an epidemic of obesity and diabetes in this country and a massive problem with the cost of health care. We have an immobile culture that wants an MRI and a pill for every new ache that results from lying on the sofa in improper positions...As a physician, I would much rather see a patient who suffers endurance addiction or is obsessive about finding a way to tape a joint to complete a goal, than see someone with an eating disorder, oxycontin addiction or the complications of diabetes. Keeping moving people!
I thought this was a good article at first I was getting a little angry because it was too descriptive of my life. But I now I'm happy I read this I think it's good to reiterated what we all know deep down that moderation in almost everything we do is the key to a balanced life.
Me 73 now and actually intended, same as I did four years ago too, to go on a four months long backpacking tour in India and SE-Asia. Including the Bangkok Marathon, Singapore Marathon and Mumbai Marathon.
But after reading this article I very discouraged now and at the time being thinking about to cancel the trip and better stick to watching TV, sleeping and eating.
Especially when considering my age.
If only there wouldn't be this Fauja Singh who just completed the Toronto Marathon. On April 1st 2011 he was 100 years old:-)
Great post.Thanks for sharing such a useful information with us.
The beneficial effect of exercise on the cardiovascular system is well documented. There is a direct relation between physical inactivity and cardiovascular mortality, and physical inactivity is an independent risk factor for the development of coronary artery disease. Thanks.
Regards,
hcg1234.com
As a 40 yr old former military guy thats been running distance pretty much my whole life I read this and thought "Oh man, I'm going to die" then I went to this guys website and saw that he also advises people to buy an "encoder bracelet" and take "memory water" to dramatically enhance athletic performance. Now I feel better, except I am reconsidering using training peaks if this is the type of advice they are peddling....