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Cardio fitness is a strong, consistent predictor of morbidity and mortality

bjsm.bmj.com

421–430 of 556 posts

Re: Cardio fitness is a strong, consistent predictor of morbidity and mortality

#421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you have actual mechanical problems with your joints or you're, as you said, heavy or out of normal BMI, then running is actually healthy for your joints. One caveat is the surface you run on. Running on softer surfaces than asphalt can be easier on your legs and feet. Most injuries from running come from repetitive motion overuse and are muscular. People go out way too hard then discover that their muscles ar…

I said jogging was hard on your joints, not running. Two very different mechanics there.

There isn't some hard and fast distinction between jogging and running that suddenly makes jogging bad for your joints and running not. "Jogging" just a name for a pace. The vast majority of people run "easy" pace runs at a jog. Jogging is running, but sprinting is not jogging. Sprinting and jogging are both running. Both are perfectly fine for your joints.

Re: Cardio fitness is a strong, consistent predictor of morbidity and mortality

#423
post #94

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That sounds like the sort of stuff you’d remember because it validates what you already want to believe

I remember when going through scuba diving certification, the instructor mentioned that smokers generally get more time out of a tank because their lungs absorb oxygen more efficiently or something like that. And she smoked a lot.

There is no advantage to smoking as a diver. Gas consumption rate in scuba diving has nothing to do with lung absorption capacity (unless you have some kind of serious medical condition). We're usually not exerting at anywhere near VO2 Max. The urge to breathe faster is driven mainly by stress and CO2 levels. New divers are often nervous and flailing around due to having poor trim and buoyancy control. Experienced instructors don't have that problem regardless of smoking status.

Re: Cardio fitness is a strong, consistent predictor of morbidity and mortality

#424

Are there cheap fitness bands or smart watches that can somewhat accurately track VO2 max?

You don’t need a watch. You can estimate VO2 max yourself by doing a max effort 1.5 mile run and applying a regression equation: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4795745/ That’s all the watches are doing anyway. Even if you do buy a watch, keep in mind you need to run regular max effort runs to get an accurate value.

Very helpful, thank you

Re: Cardio fitness is a strong, consistent predictor of morbidity and mortality

#425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been streak running (so running at least a mile per day with no exceptions, mostly 5ks during the week, 10-20k on weekends) for almost 8 years (2817 days). The single best tip I give to everyone is "slow down! run slow!" Of course, almost no-one adheres to it unless they are already well practiced. It's just deeply ingrained in peoples heads that "only if it's hard or painful it must work". Then people check out…

I definitely went on this journey with my running. At first I would run very short distances at very high pace(zone 4/5), but I fell out of it. I picked up running again last year and ended up more in zone 3/4, but for the last six months I've been aiming for zone 2 in most of my runs. I've had some knee pain recently so I've not been running much, focusing instead on knee strengthening exercise. On my last run I dis…

I've noticed that, too. This video is interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj9ZgQgQvBk and might explain some of it, but I also think that the kinematics of your legs works better at higher speeds (or at walking speeds) - jogging seems the worst for joints!

Re: Cardio fitness is a strong, consistent predictor of morbidity and mortality

#426

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do love running and indeed it's better to jog slowly for longer time... though, to avoid injuries - please do exercises before and after because you can easily injure your (lower-)back and knees (talking from experience, chronic lower-back pain after ~20y of running…)

Just a note to encourage you to see a physical therapist, before deciding that there's nothing to do. I've been a jogger since 1971, started having back pain all the time. A physical therapist gave me 15 minutes worth of exercises everyday. Pain gone. Good luck!

I have degenerated disk already so PT and exercises helps somewhat but it's not going away sadly...

Re: Cardio fitness is a strong, consistent predictor of morbidity and mortality

#427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do love running and indeed it's better to jog slowly for longer time... though, to avoid injuries - please do exercises before and after because you can easily injure your (lower-)back and knees (talking from experience, chronic lower-back pain after ~20y of running…)

There are no exercises that restore joints which are degenerating. Most likely you would have gotten 5-10 more pain-free years without the running, but it would have come anyway at some point. The increased cardio health and bone density does help sweeten the terrible deal though.

Yeah, that I know... though back exercises (keeping disk hydrated) could help with it a lot. But one knows about it post-factum sadly :-)

Re: Cardio fitness is a strong, consistent predictor of morbidity and mortality

#428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do love running and indeed it's better to jog slowly for longer time... though, to avoid injuries - please do exercises before and after because you can easily injure your (lower-)back and knees (talking from experience, chronic lower-back pain after ~20y of running…)

There are no exercises that restore joints which are degenerating. Most likely you would have gotten 5-10 more pain-free years without the running, but it would have come anyway at some point. The increased cardio health and bone density does help sweeten the terrible deal though.

btw are you aware of any research regarding joints/disc regeneration? Or which pages to follow in that area?

Re: Cardio fitness is a strong, consistent predictor of morbidity and mortality

#429
post #180

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What sort of workouts do you do? I've been trying to do the same thing, but I'm finding it difficult to get VO2max to go up consistently.

Full aerobics with no strength training. So far I only do cycling and running, averaging to about 110~ minutes per day (with weekends having longer times and weekdays shorter) 80% or more of it is spent at Zone 2/Endurance where I try to keep my heart rate below 145.

That’s pro level work volume. Congrats!

Re: Cardio fitness is a strong, consistent predictor of morbidity and mortality

#430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got a indoor bicycle trainer (with power readings) and do intervals in Zone 5. I created a custom "track" on TrainerDay and spend about 20 minutes 2-3 times a week doing this. It feels like dying - but I like being able to extract the most value out of the lowest time investment

> I like being able to extract the most value out of the lowest time investment Biking to work using Strava is like this for me. It gamifies exercise in a very addictive manner. Getting a PR, being quickest on a segment or becoming a local legend. There is always someone or something to beat.

Ha I had to stop tracking my bike commutes because I was going way too hard for Strava times on them. It got to the point where it was sorta dangerous... Love the app for my fun rides tho!
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