Getting Fit “not fat”, Even if It Kills You
Over the past decade, CrossFit has spread across the country and become the next raging fad, culminating in the most recently televised competition on ESPN. From toddlers to adults, CrossFit has become a cult-like obsession with gyms popping up all across the country. For those new to CrossFit, this regime combines resistance weight training with aerobic conditioning. Controversially, CrossFit has surfaced in the New York Times discussing the possible dangers involved when relatively inexperienced athletes participate in these physically stressful workouts. In the article, “Getting Fit Even if It Kills You”, the author discusses Greg Classman’s near death experience during his first CrossFit workout. After finishing his workout, he drove home in extreme pain, later to be diagnosed as rhabdomyolysis. This condition results from rapid muscular cell death, whose contents are then rapidly dumped into the bloodstream and causes kidney toxicity. Many critics speak about other health risks due to injury from strenuous exercise where speed is emphasized over proper form and technique. Despite these dangers, many different groups of people have been flocking to these types of workouts from financial analysts, former Olympians, to scientists. Although there are apparent risks with these workouts as if with most physical exercise, the US public needs cult-like fads such as “Cross-fitting” to combat many rising health epidemics. For example, the overwhelming majority (66%) of the US population are either overweight or obese and over a third of population do not participate in leisure exercise (36%) according to a US consensus conducted between 2007-2008. These new trends in fitness where small factions of people aim to push themselves to their physical limit seems to be a necessary balance for an increasing inactive population. Even without proper technique, most of these CrossFit routines require small weights (
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Cooperman, Stephanie. “Getting Fit, Even if It Kills You”. Nytimes.com. New York Times, 22nd Dec. 2005. Web. 23rd October 2011.
U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2012 (131st Edition). Health and Nutrition: Health Risk Factors. Washington, DC, 2011;
I find it interesting that people feel the need to work out so hard that they make themselves sick, that is counterproductive as working out is supposed to be something that increases fitness and makes a person feel better. While scanning the internet and talking to health professionals I have found that the best recommended activity for health is simply walking every day. Instead of going to a gym and killing yourself the best way to stay healthy is just to take your dog for a walk to the park for 30 minutes every day. Other recommended activities are swimming, biking and jogging; all of these activities are better for your health than strenuous exercise, much less strenuous exercise that pushes you past your limits. I find it interesting that so many people go and do activities that are actually detrimental to their health instead of just working out to stay healthy.
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ReplyDeleteI find it counterproductive to exercise at a level your body is not acclimated to. Those that are mostly sedentary are so sore after they workout hard they are unable to exercise for up to two weeks; it would be very hard to get into shape with this sort of routine. I feel people should ease into their workout routines, especially the morbidly obese. Even healthy athletes can have negative consequences of workouts too intense for their bodies to handle. Twelve football players at the University of Iowa were hospitalized last year due to intense off-season workouts. They were diagnosed with myoglobinuria, a condition very similar to rhabdomyolysis. It appears to me that working out at a level your body is not used to or above its tolerance threshold doesn't do much good.
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Witosky, Tom, and Bryce Miller. "12 Football Players Hospitalized; Symptoms Likely Related to Workouts." Hawk Central | Iowa Hawkeyes News, Scores, Stats, Schedules, Videos. 25 Jan. 2011. Web. 04 Nov. 2011. .
Daniel is completely correct that it is counterproductive to exercise at a level the body is not acclimated to. Being a personal trainer, I have implemented CrossFit work-outs into some clients' routines...that is, the clients who are already in remarkable shape and can handle the exercises. While building muscular strength and endurance is important, CrossFit is not an adequate source of cardiovascular exercise and health. (My friend Nat did CrossFit all summer, and when it came time to take his Air Force Physical Fitness Assessment, he maxed the push-ups and sit-ups but failed the run!)
ReplyDeleteIt has been shown that strenuous exercise can cause apoptosis, a type of cell death (Quadrilatero, Alway, and Dupont-Versteegden 2011). Generally, acute overexercise is associated with a proapoptotic phenotype and increased DNA fragmentation. Conversely, regular exercise training is associated with an antiapoptotic environment and reduced DNA fragmentation in skeletal muscle.
I think people too often want to just look good and go to ridiculous measures to get a supermodel body, when really we all should just exercise regularly to stay healthy.
Citation:
Quadrilatero, JoeView Scholar Profile; Alway, Stephen E; Dupont-Versteegden, Esther E. (October 2011). Skeletal muscle apoptotic response to physical activity: potential mechanisms for protection. Department of Kinesiology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada, 36(5):608-617.