I'm kind of tired of the articles everywhere that take lifelong pro cyclists or late to the sport guys who are now master's elite level racers and apply a broad stroke to anyone competitive in endurance sport.

They always fail to tell you that he average TdF rider, for example, still has a longer life expectancy than the general public.

Having the guy die in Paris Roubaix didn't help recently either.

FWIW, the cycling statistics at the pro ranks prior to maybe 2015 or so is probably pretty grayed by doping. Particularly deaths that may have had a link to blood doping.

I guess it's time to hang up the bike and go grab a 24 pack of beer and case of Ho-Ho's after my lunch out at Bojanges.

Obviously the doctor is taking advantage of the interview to promote his hospital and sell his book, but he doesn't say much that is controversial other than possibly his recommendation that no one over age 40 do intense exercise. I don't know if most cardiologists would agree that the risks outweigh the benefits. It is usually recommended that anyone over age 40 who hasn't been exercising regularly visit a cardiologist before starting to do intense exercise.

burn, the doctor doesn't mention the longevity of cyclists in the article.

Seems pretty level headed to me and consistent with my understanding of the literature (eg cardiac events usually intensity related).

The title is misleading.

Dr. Barry Franklin, PhD. has confusing and conflicting advice in this article. See below.

Maybe his free seminar and new book "The Heart-Healthy Handbook." will clear things up.


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Advice: But people who consistently run 15- to 20-miles as often as three to five days a week

might be doing more harm to their hearts than good


Conflicting advice: "It's not the duration generally or the frequency of exercise that gets

people in trouble. It's the intensity. I would err on the conservative side and say I’d rather

see you exercising at more moderate intensities and ... exercising more frequently or days

per week or for longer periods."
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Advice: The relative risk increases more than a hundred-fold in sedentary people who

go out and do unaccustomed high-intensity exercise.


Conflicting advice: "The person who benefits the most from an exercise program is

the one who currently falls in the least fit, least active cohort, or what we call the bottom 20%," he said
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Advice: "I don't recommend, do not recommend, that middle age people or older go out

and do high-intensity interval training, where you’re sprinting" for a short time, followed by

a recovery period and then sprinting again, Franklin said.



Conflicting advice: Franklin seconds the recommendation of the

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which suggests 150 minutes of moderate

exercise each week or about 60 to 70 minutes of vigorous exercise weekly for adults.
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Advice: Slow walking is a harbinger of death in middle and old age.

You might want to pick up the pace the next time you go for a walk.



Conflicting advice: "It's not the duration generally or the frequency of exercise

that gets people in trouble. It's the intensity. I would err on the conservative side

and say I’d rather see you exercising at more moderate intensities and ...

exercising more frequently or days per week or for longer periods."
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Advice: (On interval training) "If you’re 20, 25 years of age and you’ve got

no risk factors, that’s fine,"


Conflicting advice: (On risk factors): "Everybody who develops heart disease

doesn't always have risk factors. The vast majority do, but just because you

don't have risk factors doesn't guarantee that you can't have underlying heart disease.
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I took it a little too far. You're right, it doesn't.

I think the article just hit the "endurance athlete" pet peeve in regards to intensity and I went back to some of the other stuff I've heard in the past.

It has an extra "m" from mine, but nice last name!

NY Slim, good points. Does vigorous = intense? From what I've read concerning the quoted guidelines, I interpret running at any speed to be considered vigorous exercise.

burn, I occasionally share your last name when others are spelling it. ;)

The doctor may be right that it is safer for us old guys to avoid going hard, but as many have written in this forum, we don't race to live longer.

No, it's talking about two different things. First is the risk of a cardiac event during exercise or physical activity. Basically the less fit you are the more at risk you are of having a cardiac event and the more intense the activity the more likely it is to happen (for anyone, fit or unfit).

The second is about overall health benefits from exercise which are the greatest when you go from being sedentary to becoming a regular exercise (walking 30 minutes 5 or more days a week). It takes relatively little exercise (and intensity) to get most of the benefits, you quickly reach a point of diminishing returns. IOW, a marathon runner isn't nearly as likely to be all that much healthier than the person who just walks around their neighborhood most nights of the week as most people think, but both are likely to be whole lot healthier than the sedentary person.

The biggest issue is that sedentary people read articles like this and miss the point. All they read is “exercise is bad”.

I have people tell me all the time that running is bad for me and they usually cite the article that came up on men’s health a couple of years ago.

While marathoning may not put me at greater risk, if I did not train for a marathon or race I probably wouldn’t run for just the enjoyment.

I don't see a conflict, he is suggesting the bottom 20% of people exercise, but that does not mean they should be participating in high-intensity exercise.


As to the article:
1. The advice for anyone over 40 not to engage is high-intensity exercise may be medically sound, but it suggests that no one over 40 should strive for athletic excellence. High intensity exercise has been found by many studies to be essential for masters athletes. What to do, what to do? I'll be 61 this year, and as a lifelong endurance athlete, I will ignore Dr. Franklin.

2. "Deer hunting can put you at higher risk for heart attack". What I read sounded more like this - the type of people who tend to dear hunt often have risk factors for heart disease that are exacerbated by the sport itself. I don't deer hunt, so next ...

3. "...being sedentary is worse." The only takeaway you need here.

4. "That final mile is a doozy." This I can buy...aka Chris Gleason, Ironman, age 40, died 1/4 mile from the finish of the 2011 Philadelphia Marathon. If you are older and have anything left in a marathon or an ironman, throw it down before the final mile in a slow, steady increase in effort as opposed to a kick in the last 200 yards.

5. "Slow walking is a harbinger of death in middle and old age." Yep, that's why I'm still running.

Thanks for that post (I mean it). You really helped me understand and put this article into perspective. Now I feel like I can run again.

Given point #3 they'd have to be idiots :)

Haven't read the article, just the comments here, but -

I'm 51 years old. It's been a good 51 years, except for the time a car hit me and I almost died (really). I have to die at some point. And if I die of a heart attack while doing what I love to do (run or bike hard) that doesn't sound so bad. So I'm going to continue to ignore all advice that tells me that vigorous or intense exercise at my age can cause heart problems.

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Citizen of the world, former drunkard. Resident Traumatic Brain Injury advocate.

You missed the point completely. Extreme fitness and non-fitness lifestyles increase your risk factor for cardiac problems. Pretty simple and true. Generally everything in moderation is a good rule of thumb as good advice. He doesn’t say no HIIT is allowed, but limited to 60-70 minutes a week. I’m my opinion those are threshold workouts. Seems reasonable. More base miles mixed in with some HIIT. I probably need to re-evaluate my balance. I love HIIT, moreso than mind numbing volume.

A lot of folks are addicted to exercise. I see people doing a marathon and then an Ironman a week later. That’s on the pointy end of an extreme fitness lifestyle. Some people really struggle with balance and recovery. It can get to a point where people are pushing limits beyond what is normal and healthy.

HIIT is threshold? I don't think so....

I was under the impression that HITT could be perceived as threshold. Perhaps that’s not the case.

I thought the common meaning was short and very intense intervals with short recovery.

im under the same impression

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http://www.PatGriskusTri.com USAT Certified Race Director
2024 Races: USAT State of CT Age Group Championship/State of CT HS Champs/ CT Club Championship - Sat June 15th (Oly/Du/Sprint) Hopkins Vineyard Tri at Lake Waramaug Saturday July 13th http://www.HopkinsVineyardTri.com

One time I had uncontrollable internal bleeding. HTC went from mid 40s to 24 in the span of 5 hours, and my BP when they finally stopped the bleeding was 60/30. Had I been a normal person I'm convinced I would have died.... Think about that.