Bodybuilding and Health Risks

[chris.tan]

Hey guys! I've got a room mate that is very fitness oriented in that he runs, cycles, and eats very well. We throw a lot of fitness talk back and forth and I am on a completely different spectrum than him. He eats light with high veggies and low protein. He also does a lot of cardio-centric exercise. I on the other and eat heavy, often, and full of red meat. I also lift as heavy and hard as I can.
So I got to wondering about what kind of health risks I may be setting myself up with my lifestyle. I eat a lot of red meat, and while studies are somewhat inconclusive, I still wonder about the general concensus that this can lead to cancer and cardiovascular diseases. I also lift heavy and wonder if Im setting myself up for terrible joint pain as I get older. Im 24 and wont be invincible forever...hell, my knees already suck.
Yes, I've watched Longevity.

You older guys, and maybe not so old guys, could you share any health related issues you've stumbled upon as a result of your bodybuilding lifestyle?

[syssstem]

Hey guys! I've got a room mate that is very fitness oriented in that he runs, cycles, and eats very well. We throw a lot of fitness talk back and forth and I am on a completely different spectrum than him. He eats light with high veggies and low protein. He also does a lot of cardio-centric exercise. I on the other and eat heavy, often, and full of red meat. I also lift as heavy and hard as I can.
So I got to wondering about what kind of health risks I may be setting myself up with my lifestyle. I eat a lot of red meat, and while studies are somewhat inconclusive, I still wonder about the general concensus that this can lead to cancer and cardiovascular diseases. I also lift heavy and wonder if Im setting myself up for terrible joint pain as I get older. Im 24 and wont be invincible forever...hell, my knees already suck.
Yes, I've watched Longevity.

You older guys, and maybe not so old guys, could you share any health related issues you've stumbled upon as a result of your bodybuilding lifestyle?

I am not a body builder, I squat bench and deadlift.

Anything I say will be pure speculation as I am not familiar with any of the literature. The only thing that I am confident in speculating about is the lifting heavy and having terrible joint pain with age. I don't think this is true. I am only 23, but as of now, I feel I will be fine and dandy by the time I am 34 or 44.

2 years ago until about 6 months ago I had very sore, and constantly injured hips, knees, wrists, and a weird sensation in my left shoulder / pec, all brought on through heavy squatting, benching, and deadlifting. I fucked my hip and lower back up bad when I was younger squatting 3x a week on ripptoes program and actually had to go to emergency twice because I couldn't walk. I thought it was all down hill from there.

Recently, PTAron suggested I re-asses my stretching form and start taking it more seriously. Also, some members around here suggested more frequent deloads. I began "over analyzing" (as some people around here call it) my training programing, stretching regime, warm up protocol and muscle balances (refer to skips longevity dvd where he touches on most if not all of these principals). I changed everything and have never felt better. I am close to hitting all time PR's and my body has never felt this good. On top of that, with the help of Sammich I stumbled across www.mobilitywod.com. My hips and knees have never felt better. Now I know how olympic lifters can squat 3x a week. that guy on mobility wod has them doing an insane amount of preventative work.

I know the other guys on this board are probably going to say that with age comes beat up joints and unexpected injuries. This makes sense and I know it is somewhat unavoidable. However, doesn't research suggest working out strengthens muscles and tendons? shouldn't this also make your joints stronger and more stable? combined with proper stretching, balance, and mobility work, shouldn't this optimize joint health over time?

Here is a question to all the big lifting vets on this board, and I don't mean to steal the thread, I simply mean to encourage one line of potential discussion from the questions you raised:

Have any of you literally been 99.9% consistent with warm ups, stretching, proper programming, and deloading, since you were in your early 20's? For those of you who have been, how do you feel today?

Correct me if I am wrong, but I feel like most of the vets on this board kind of pioneered the road and paved the way for us young guys. You took a beating through trial and error, busting your ass to find the most efficient methods. You have now created a community where you can spread this knowledge to the younger crowed in hopes that they start where you guys left off. I know that without this community, I would have 2x destroyed hips, a really wounded back, a torn left pec, a really poor shoulder, and a useless right wrist, all by the age of 21.

Is it really that impossible that an athlete can make it until their 50's, 60's, or even 70's without feeling beat up? Is it possible to actually strengthen and improve joint strength and mobility well into your 50's and 60's if you take the proper route?

I feel like I am hearing left and right how beat up every good body builder, or successful powerlifter / strongman is. does this have to be the case?

Watch me herniate a disc in 2 months after posting this lol.

edit:

by no means am I saying I figured it all out and I can assure you all that I will get some minor tweak or pain in the next few months that I will be posting inquiries about. However, without you guys, those little tweaks could turn into long term injuries. With your help and preventative strategies I think it could add up to a stronger healthier body in my later years!

[Carlito Gambino]

There's an inherent risk with lifting heavy fucking shit for reps, no doubt about that.

But as long as you're doing all the prehab work, maintaining (but preferably, improving) your flexibility, strengthening weak areas, paying attention to balance in your routine and doing some form of conditioning (yeah this seems like the odd one out but gotta keep that heart healthy, especially when you get heavier) you'll be alright. Most of the mistakes or injuries I had (luckily never any really bad ones) could've easily been prevented by focusing more on weaknesses (I remember having shoulder problems, now that I do a lot of shoulder mobility work and more scap retraction, I never have shoulder issues), and especially working on my mobility. I think that's the biggest case nobody really focuses enough on. I'm in my 20s and I'm glad I learned from a lot of smart guys (not necessarily just on IM, but on lifting boards in general and certain blogs as well) that you gotta focus on that mobility work.

Sammich's post the other day about warming up should really hit home for a lot of guys. I remember talking to a guy in the gym the other day about the fact that I usually take around 15 minutes to warm up (I foam roll, do dynamic mobility work and I always do enough warm up sets), and he asked me why I did all that seeing as I wasn't injured. I told him it was to prevent the issues (namely a bad shoulder) he had.

[LG1]

Chris, excellent topic IMO. From not such an old guy (37 a/o this month), something I just learned of: http://www.cushings-help.com/csr.htm

[mister69]

I am not a body builder, I squat bench and deadlift.

Anything I say will be pure speculation as I am not familiar with any of the literature. The only thing that I am confident in speculating about is the lifting heavy and having terrible joint pain with age. I don't think this is true. I am only 23, but as of now, I feel I will be fine and dandy by the time I am 34 or 44.

2 years ago until about 6 months ago I had very sore, and constantly injured hips, knees, wrists, and a weird sensation in my left shoulder / pec, all brought on through heavy squatting, benching, and deadlifting. I fucked my hip and lower back up bad when I was younger squatting 3x a week on ripptoes program and actually had to go to emergency twice because I couldn't walk. I thought it was all down hill from there.

Recently, PTAron suggested I re-asses my stretching form and start taking it more seriously. Also, some members around here suggested more frequent deloads. I began "over analyzing" (as some people around here call it) my training programing, stretching regime, warm up protocol and muscle balances (refer to skips longevity dvd where he touches on most if not all of these principals). I changed everything and have never felt better. I am close to hitting all time PR's and my body has never felt this good. On top of that, with the help of Sammich I stumbled across www.mobilitywod.com. My hips and knees have never felt better. Now I know how olympic lifters can squat 3x a week. that guy on mobility wod has them doing an insane amount of preventative work.

I know the other guys on this board are probably going to say that with age comes beat up joints and unexpected injuries. This makes sense and I know it is somewhat unavoidable. However, doesn't research suggest working out strengthens muscles and tendons? shouldn't this also make your joints stronger and more stable? combined with proper stretching, balance, and mobility work, shouldn't this optimize joint health over time?

Here is a question to all the big lifting vets on this board, and I don't mean to steal the thread, I simply mean to encourage one line of potential discussion from the questions you raised:

Have any of you literally been 99.9% consistent with warm ups, stretching, proper programming, and deloading, since you were in your early 20's? For those of you who have been, how do you feel today?

Correct me if I am wrong, but I feel like most of the vets on this board kind of pioneered the road and paved the way for us young guys. You took a beating through trial and error, busting your ass to find the most efficient methods. You have now created a community where you can spread this knowledge to the younger crowed in hopes that they start where you guys left off. I know that without this community, I would have 2x destroyed hips, a really wounded back, a torn left pec, a really poor shoulder, and a useless right wrist, all by the age of 21.

Is it really that impossible that an athlete can make it until their 50's, 60's, or even 70's without feeling beat up? Is it possible to actually strengthen and improve joint strength and mobility well into your 50's and 60's if you take the proper route?

I feel like I am hearing left and right how beat up every good body builder, or successful powerlifter / strongman is. does this have to be the case?

Watch me herniate a disc in 2 months after posting this lol.

edit:

by no means am I saying I figured it all out and I can assure you all that I will get some minor tweak or pain in the next few months that I will be posting inquiries about. However, without you guys, those little tweaks could turn into long term injuries. With your help and preventative strategies I think it could add up to a stronger healthier body in my later years!

Thats great u recovered.

No surgery required?

Sent from my DROIDX

[steel1970]

I think lifting safely and not doing too many "ego" lifts will help alot....I have had my share of injuries, though none have been catastrophic....bad joints, bad back, little nagging injuries have made my training harder to get done over the last year or so. I think you can remain active training into your 50's and 60's, but have reasonable expectations about your moving parts.....yes, tendons and such may get stronger by lifting, but repetitive work under heavy loads is simply not good on the joints....the longer you are at it, the more apt you may be to experience some aches and pains IMO....

[thedunhill225]

Well the only thing I've ever seen that's ever really been shown to extend life is being under weight. Now I don't know if that means being over weight "must" shorten lifespan....but I honestly don't think holding excessive amounts of weight is good for the human body.

[btech]

Well the only thing I've ever seen that's ever really been shown to extend life is being under weight. Now I don't know if that means being over weight "must" shorten lifespan....but I honestly don't think holding excessive amounts of weight is good for the human body.

I have heard the same. However, here's a portion taken from Mel Siff's Facts and Fallacies of Fitness (page 66);

1. Cardiovascularly fit, fat men had a risk of death which was about half that of unfit, lean men of comparable age.

2. Lean, unfit men had about three times the risk of suffering from heart disease than fit, lean men. Here lean men were defined as those with bodyfat below 16.7%.

3. Leanness at any level offered very little protection against cardiac disease

4. Being fat and unfit increased one's death risk by 33%.

I for one am not knowledgeable about this subject, just rehashing what I've read.

[SAHD]

I think other factors come more into play, I work shift work and we have a work health insurance program. A rep comes out and says because of the shift work we will die 5-10yrs earlier than we would have....... he talked about smoking, drinking, being overweight and height. He had no stats on being muscular and lifting weights.

This sort of says it's not an issue or they would have figured out the dollar value as with the other things.

[thedunhill225]

I think other factors come more into play, I work shift work and we have a work health insurance program. A rep comes out and says because of the shift work we will die 5-10yrs earlier than we would have....... he talked about smoking, drinking, being overweight and height. He had no stats on being muscular and lifting weights.

This sort of says it's not an issue or they would have figured out the dollar value as with the other things.

They didn't? Wait I thought they had stats for being "overweight"? I don't think they are checking body fat %'s.

[SAHD]

They were just using BMI I believe, making most of us on this site Obese or worse.

They took my blood pressure and I had just done deads and they were a little worried till I explained what I had just been doing.

[Daniel7908]

Sammich's post the other day about warming up should really hit home for a lot of guys. I remember talking to a guy in the gym the other day about the fact that I usually take around 15 minutes to warm up (I foam roll, do dynamic mobility work and I always do enough warm up sets), and he asked me why I did all that seeing as I wasn't injured. I told him it was to prevent the issues (namely a bad shoulder) he had.

That thread is indeed an excellent load of advice to help us all make the most of our training and minimize our chances of getting seriously injured.

On Chris Tan's comment about eating a ton of red meat and higher risk of cancer, I've read about studies that indicate that red wine consumption can block the action of carcinogens.

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/10/us/study-hints-that-grapes-and-red-wine-may-inhibit-cancer.html

There was once an article in The Economist about the same topic, which I haven't found on the web now and which, from what I remember, mentioned more conclusive results about the effect of the reservatrol found in red wine on the carcinogens found in red meat.

[Doberman]

You might be interested in reading some of John Meadows nutrition articles as well. He dispels a lot of myths about diet as well. Namely that Cholesterol is bad. He eats organic read meat, eggs (I think raw), and coconut oil and has great cholesterol numbers. I'm interviewing him today and will try to get a little of his insight.

[Doberman]

Oh, but I sort of agree with dunhill. Being heavier has got to play into things. Even if it is muscle over the long haul our hearts have to work harder. If you think about it your heart doesn't know if it's working that hard to pump to 200 lbs of fat or muscle. Just a thought, no research or anything.

[Proud_Virgin]

IMO excess caloric consumption is probably the biggest risk/detriment to our health.

BBing certainly isn't a healthy endeavor, but the risks can be minimized. Eat as clean as you can, & do your damn cardio!

Considering the average junk-food eating, no-cardio doing, fat-ass American makes it to 80 or so, I figure us BBers can't be that far off...