Professor X is obese guys, you heard it here first.
[quote]allNatural wrote:
Professor X is obese guys, you heard it here first.[/quote]
LOL.
I worked hard for that, man.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
ZEB wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Just an observation, but shouldn’t we be seeing thousands of skinny people living to be over 100 years old simply because they are skinny?
I think one could probably make a good case for that extreme not working to help a person live a long life either.
If you are going to claim that lifting weights and eating healthy natural foods is good, I agree.
If you are going to walk way out on a limb and claim that gaining a large amount of lean body mass will lead to a longer life you’ll have a very difficult time proving that (and I’m not saying that is your position).
In fact, there is far more evidence to indicate that caloric restriction leads to a longer life. And I’m not a caloric restriction believer.
My position is that the lifestyle of lifting weights, gaining lean body mass and doing regular physical activity with periods of regular cardio as necessary will lead to a very healthy high quality life. Discussing “length” of life alone is ridiculous to me because there are far too many variables involved that no one even seems to consider when these discussions come up.
Christopher Reeves wife died of lung cancer. She didn’t smoke.
Environment, life style and genetic factors all contribute to how long someone can live, not just “food intake” alone. I know that isn’t your stance, but it seems it actually is the stance of some others.
Two people with the exact same life style and eating habits could both die decades apart for no other reason than one deals with stress better than the other.
Things like that are why animal studies on this issue don’t directly apply to humans. We don’t live in a cage with a running wheel and water bottle.[/quote]
I would say that for the most part this is my position as well.
There are a multitude of factors that have so very much to do with how long a person lives that it’s probably counter productive to try to zero in on one thing without first looking at the totality of a persons life, right down to where he/she lives.
With that said however there are some things that have been proven to shorten life. And over consumption of food probably falls just short of making this list, in my opinion.
Perhaps how the person gains weight is more important than gaining the weight.
There are groups of very smart people who feel that certain foods produce more free radicals (Free radical theory of aging) and thus age the body faster. The more of these types of foods that are eaten the faster the person ages.
It’s one (among many) theories of aging which should not be blown off so quickly.
But then we are talking about what is eaten and how much, not how much the person weighs. But it stands to reason if the person gained weight from eating plenty of these radical producing foods that he or she might not have as long to live as someone who avoided such foods.
Of course free radicals are produced in a number of ways, certain foods are only one way.
The other side of that coin is that there are foods which counter act such free radicals and act as antioxidants.
Again, it’s one theory.
For those who are interested:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10433385&dopt=Abstract
http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~wilkins/writing/Samples/shortmed/nelson/radicals.html
One more:
[quote]ncscarface wrote:
The reason some NFL players die young is because of numerous concussions and other blows to the head (similar to boxers). If you’re receiving blows to the head while bodybuilding you need to try another approach[/quote]
fuck i’ve been doing it all wrong!
We’re all bodybuilding experiments - come back in 40 years and hopefully most of us will report back, and then you can take up lifting…seriously though, today’s recreational bodybuilders have potentially the best information and resources to test this theory to the max.
Your statement ‘shortens life’ - shortens it compared to what? Compared to calorie restriction, compared to yoga, compared to my beer swigging, processed food eating friends? See the problem here, what do you think you are going to do to make your life longer? If you can define that then maybe you can evaluate your statement in context.
I saw a documentary on the oldest people on the planet. I believe they were Japanese and had a diet low in calories. They worked on the farm and lived simple lives.
I think if you eat fresh whole foods moderately you will be closer to optimal health that a typical big eating bodybuilder or someone like me who eats shit loads and doesn’t gain much weight.
to qoute charles poliquin, “the number one predictor of longevity is maximal strength. The number two predictor is muscle mass” the bigger and stronger you are the longer you live.
I find the references to “just jogging” for “health” pretty ironic too since the people who do the most aerobic exercise (ie rowers) have been shown to have a greater risk of developing parkinsons due to the oxidative damage.
Not saying that just going for a jog now and then is going to kill you, but when you’re talking about what is going to prolong your life and keep you healthy, weight training kicks joggings fucking ass any day of the week.
[quote]Zack C wrote:
to qoute charles poliquin, “the number one predictor of longevity is maximal strength. The number two predictor is muscle mass” the bigger and stronger you are the longer you live.[/quote]
I’ve never read such a comment from Poliquin. If he did say that, he’s wrong.
Very good point. Extended aerobic activity leads to a great amount of oxidative damage which causes all kinds of health problems. I think it was Dr. Kenneth Cooper (the father of “jogging”) who stated that if you run more than 15 miles per week you are doing it for some other reason than health.
I think that says it all.
On the other hand, there are great health benefits for those who do the equivalent of those 15 miles per week.
Not true. That’s like saying that one vegetable is better than another. Each may carry with in it nutrients that you cannot get from the other.
Weight training and running, or some sort of cardio, are polar opposites in many ways. And that’s exactly why you need them both. They each do what the other cannot.
Naturally, if you are a competitive athlete your training must reflect the needs of your sport. But for those of us who are training for health purposes adding in some form of cardio will help improve a good many biomarkers of aging.
[quote]Zack C wrote:
to qoute charles poliquin, “the number one predictor of longevity is maximal strength. The number two predictor is muscle mass” the bigger and stronger you are the longer you live.
…[/quote]
I want to know where he comes up with this shit. My grandmother died 2 weeks short of her 100th birthday.
If she would have had a stronger bench would she have made it to 100?
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
Zack C wrote:
to qoute charles poliquin, “the number one predictor of longevity is maximal strength. The number two predictor is muscle mass” the bigger and stronger you are the longer you live.
…
I want to know where he comes up with this shit. My grandmother died 2 weeks short of her 100th birthday.
If she would have had a stronger bench would she have made it to 100?
[/quote]
stronger squat
[quote]Professor X wrote:
I doubt anyone cares if you stop lifting simply because you read that spider monkeys live longer by only eating soy leaves and less than 200cals a day.[/quote]
That’s the funniest shit I’ve read in awhile
I think he was referring to those that lose 40% of their muscle mass, this tends to coincide with death. i.e when you hit 40% of your previous healthy weight it’s just about over.
preventing this decline with strength training, may help you last longer
[quote]legend wrote:
I think he was referring to those that lose 40% of their muscle mass, this tends to coincide with death. i.e when you hit 40% of your previous healthy weight it’s just about over.
preventing this decline with strength training, may help you last longer[/quote]
I agree with that.
Certainly lifting weights bestows on it’s practitioners an abundance of good health if practiced over a period of years in the right manner.
In fact lifting weights can help shore up the natural muscle which is lost to age.
Sarcopenia (muscle loss) is a real problem for the elderly. Lifting weights and consuming protein can in fact forestall the effects of this muscle wasting in older folks. Those who are feeble probably die sooner than those who are not.
http://healthletter.tufts.edu/issues/2003-03/sarcopenia.html
With that said, there is zero proof that adding an inordinate amount of muscle, at any point in your life, is going to extend your life. And in fact some studies regarding pure bodyweight indicate that it might just shorten your life.
Again, I think at least a good part of longevity is about avoiding extremes.
Training your cardiovascular system by running is good. Running more than 15 or so miles per week might very well be bad for you, for a number of reasons.
Lifting weights if done properly is generally good for you. Gaining muscle is good for you too. Is gaining an inordinate amount of muscle good for you? My guess would be no. Not unlike the marathon runner, taking this stuff to extremes, while lots of fun 
is probably not going to improve your longevity. That’s my guess.
I’m with Aristotle on this one: “Moderation In All Things.”
Of course he couldn’t deadlift three times his body weight.