Mark Sisson seems to be right

Triathlon Forum
1

New support that Triathlon is shortening our lifespan and that long and superslow PLUS short and lightning fast (as advocated by MArk Sisson) are the way to go for a holistic healthy lifestyle:

John A Babraj, Niels BJ Vollaard, Cameron Keast, Fergus M Guppy, Greg Cottrell and James A Timmons. Extremely short duration high intensity training substantially improves insulin action in young healthy males. BMC Endocrine Disorders IN PRESS.
**
“A regular high-intensity, three-minute workout has a significant effect on the body’s ability to process sugars. This research shows that a brief but intense exercise session every couple of days may be the best way to cut the risk of diabetes.”
Prof. James Timmons from Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh, Scotland, investigated the effect of ‘high-intensity interval training’ (HIT) on the metabolic prowess of sixteen sedentary male volunteers.
What they have found is that doing a few intense muscle exercises, each lasting only about 30 seconds, dramatically improves your metabolism in just two weeks.

Current exercise guidelines suggest that people should perform moderate to vigorous aerobic and resistance exercise for several hours per week.
While these guidelines are very worthwhile in principle, Timmons suggests that a lack of compliance indicates the need for an alternative.

The low volume, high intensity training utilized in our study substantially improved both insulin action and glucose clearance in otherwise sedentary young males.

The subjects in this trial used exercise bikes to perform a quick sprint at their highest possible intensity. In principle, however, any highly vigorous activity carried out a few days per week should achieve the same protective metabolic improvements. Timmons added, “This novel approach may help people to lead a healthier life, improve the future health of the population and save the health service millions of pounds simply by making it easier for people to find the time to exercise”.

Just food for thought…

2

The excessive overtraining advocated on ST is only helpful for ironman participants. Otherwise it’s just ruining people’s bodies.

Workout smarter, not longer.

My 2 cents.

3

Probably not the best way to train for triathlons though. But training for triathlons is not the optimal way to train for health/longevity either. In agree with Sisson in principal.

Mike

4

Don’t really know. Did people ever try?

I had some good 1/2 races the summer I had a training “focus” on hiking and MTB-ing.
But I was way younger then and still had some “out of the pocket” youngster-speed.

I guess it gets harder the older you get, and then there is Genetics…

But sure, IM is a different beast. You certainly wouldn’t win your AG this way. Finishing comfortably? No doubt, if you structured it right.

5

Also check out his Primal Blueprint, as well as the Definitive Guide To Grains. As well as the Primal Compromises For Athletes. Im slowly cutting out grains over the next few days, hopefully I’ll be able to follow the Primal Blueprint starting next week.

6

Theres a lot more to going fast in triathlon than insulin action

and a lot more to health than insulin action.

this study investigates one of a billion parameters. I would conclude that we can conlude litter from this

except the already obvious “any excersize is better than no excersize”

7

Theres a lot more to going fast in triathlon than insulin action Really? What action are you thinking about? I think I have to be fast… mmmhh gotta think about that some more
and a lot more to health than insulin action.
And I thought a healthy lifestyle and going fast in triathlon would actually go together. Silly me! =this study investigates one of a billion parameters. I would conclude that we can conlude litter from this

except the already obvious “any excersize is better than no excersize” I am curious on how you would conduct a reasonably sized and designed study on this topic of “excersize” physiology (a spelling error made preferrably by non-native speakers). And no, we are not talking about a billion parameters. If you were a scientist, you would know. I am not affilated in any way with the study, but I think it is noteworthy and not “litter”. Let me just state the obvious: “Any data is better than no data”

8

so…i currently work out very little…like 1.5 hours a day or less…9 hours a week or less. i’m only aiming for sprint and olympic length tri’s.

am i shortening my life? am i setting myself up for sickness in my future? or does this study only apply to IM guys that work out much more than me?

9

New support that Triathlon is shortening our lifespan and that long and superslow PLUS short and lightning fast (as advocated by MArk Sisson) are the way to go for a holistic healthy lifestyle:

John A Babraj, Niels BJ Vollaard, Cameron Keast, Fergus M Guppy, Greg Cottrell and James A Timmons. Extremely short duration high intensity training substantially improves insulin action in young healthy males. BMC Endocrine Disorders IN PRESS.
**
“A regular high-intensity, three-minute workout has a significant effect on the body’s ability to process sugars. This research shows that a brief but intense exercise session every couple of days may be the best way to cut the risk of diabetes.”
Prof. James Timmons from Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh, Scotland, investigated the effect of ‘high-intensity interval training’ (HIT) on the metabolic prowess of sixteen sedentary male volunteers.
What they have found is that doing a few intense muscle exercises, each lasting only about 30 seconds, dramatically improves your metabolism in just two weeks.

Current exercise guidelines suggest that people should perform moderate to vigorous aerobic and resistance exercise for several hours per week.
While these guidelines are very worthwhile in principle, Timmons suggests that a lack of compliance indicates the need for an alternative.

The low volume, high intensity training utilized in our study substantially improved both insulin action and glucose clearance in otherwise sedentary young males.

The subjects in this trial used exercise bikes to perform a quick sprint at their highest possible intensity. In principle, however, any highly vigorous activity carried out a few days per week should achieve the same protective metabolic improvements. Timmons added, “This novel approach may help people to lead a healthier life, improve the future health of the population and save the health service millions of pounds simply by making it easier for people to find the time to exercise”.

Just food for thought…

Where does it say triathlon is shortening our life spans?

Where does it say short and fast is the way to go?

It says Current exercise guidelines suggest that people should perform moderate to vigorous aerobic and resistance exercise for several hours per week.
While these guidelines are very worthwhile in principle, Timmons suggests that a lack of compliance indicates the need for an alternative.

Which means that several hours a week is good but people are not doing it.

As far as I can see it doesn’t show short and fast is better.

10

I think the point he was making (which I tend to agree with) is that this is a very small piece of data which must be taken in context.

Any data is not necessarily better than no data if the data you’re dealing with lacks context.

11

New support that Triathlon is shortening our lifespan and that long and superslow PLUS short and lightning fast (as advocated by MArk Sisson) are the way to go for a holistic healthy lifestyle:

John A Babraj, Niels BJ Vollaard, Cameron Keast, Fergus M Guppy, Greg Cottrell and James A Timmons. Extremely short duration high intensity training substantially improves insulin action in young healthy males. BMC Endocrine Disorders IN PRESS.
**
“A regular high-intensity, three-minute workout has a significant effect on the body’s ability to process sugars. This research shows that a brief but intense exercise session every couple of days may be the best way to cut the risk of diabetes.”
Prof. James Timmons from Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh, Scotland, investigated the effect of ‘high-intensity interval training’ (HIT) on the metabolic prowess of sixteen sedentary male volunteers.
What they have found is that doing a few intense muscle exercises, each lasting only about 30 seconds, dramatically improves your metabolism in just two weeks.

Current exercise guidelines suggest that people should perform moderate to vigorous aerobic and resistance exercise for several hours per week.
While these guidelines are very worthwhile in principle, Timmons suggests that a lack of compliance indicates the need for an alternative.

The low volume, high intensity training utilized in our study substantially improved both insulin action and glucose clearance in otherwise sedentary young males.

The subjects in this trial used exercise bikes to perform a quick sprint at their highest possible intensity. In principle, however, any highly vigorous activity carried out a few days per week should achieve the same protective metabolic improvements. Timmons added, “This novel approach may help people to lead a healthier life, improve the future health of the population and save the health service millions of pounds simply by making it easier for people to find the time to exercise”.

Just food for thought…

The study says absolutely nothing about longevity, especially comparing the effects of any triathlon training program with the training method used in the study. What it does say (note the emphasized section above) is, essentially, “People don’t seem to be able to stick to the current exercise guidelines, so we need to come up with something easier for them to do.” The claim that this is “the best way to cut the risk of diabetes” is dubious at best, especially since it offers no comparison to other alternatives.

cramer

12

yeah, i just re-read it and noticed the part you quoted and bolded…also noticed this…

“The low volume, high intensity training utilized in our study substantially improved both insulin action and glucose clearance in otherwise sedentary young males.”

well shoot, i bet any exercise would substantially improve insulin action and glucose clearance for people that just sit on their ass all the time! lol

13

I’ll just leave it at: “My body feels much better when I do workouts under an hour with some high intensity” than super long workouts. I enjoy long rides and long XC skis, but they do leave me feeling depleted. I dont’ really enjoy running nor swimming long. I do feel good after short bouts of weight training. Maybe 25 years later I have come full circle…in high school, I sprinted, played team sports and lifted weights daily and maybe I am just gravitating back to what I started it off with!!!

14

I adhere to a lot of Mark Sisson’s ideology when it comes to nutrition. He’s really got a great understanding of the human body and how it uses the fuel you put into it. If I wasn’t a full-time triathlete, I would probably try to “go primal”, but due to the nature of my lifestyle grains are a necessary evil (grains in large quantities, too, unfortunately). I just try to offset it with tons of Omega-3s!

15

Workout smarter, not longer.

You forgot the last part: Race slower

16

I tend to struggle with maintaining weight even with standard base weeks. Looks like I’m making a lot of smoothies, and getting calories in wherever I can, but I hopefully I can pull it off.

17

so…i currently work out very little…like 1.5 hours a day or less…9 hours a week or less. i’m only aiming for sprint and olympic length tri’s.

am i shortening my life? am i setting myself up for sickness in my future? or does this study only apply to IM guys that work out much more than me?

Here on Slowtwitch 1.5 hours per day might be very little but in reality it exceeds what 99% of the population is doing and is more than enough to reap near 100% of the health benefits from aerobic exercise. More might make you faster, but it is doubtful that it will make you healthier. Once your volume reaches a certain point (where this is, I do not know) you may reach a point of diminishing and even negative health impact due mainly to the loss of muscle mass and over use injuries.

I do not believe that this is much of an issue for most triathlets though. It is primarily an issue for 15+ hour per week IM types.

18

**The excessive overtraining advocated on ST is only helpful for ironman participants. Otherwise it’s just ruining people’s bodies. **

Then wouldn’t it also ruin ironman participant’s bodies?

19

My take is that once you go beyond 10-12 hours per week you are crossing the line from healthy to fast and pushing your health (many of us do, some of us just do it knowingly, others believe those 20 hour weeks are making them more healthy). I am unsure if fast and health can really mutually coexist in the context of the age grouper life, cause typically once you are doing 15-20+ hour weeks, you are sacrificing sleep to get more training in.

Pros might be able to be fit and healthy cause that is their job. (Let’s say 20-30 hours per week of training and then business obligations on top totalling perhaps 40-50 hours). Age groupers will do 15 hours per week to get fast, spend 10 hours per week commuting to work on top of that and then spend 40-60 hours in the office…in the worst case this is 85 hours per week before you have time to do anything else aside from work and training. Add 50 hours of sleep to that and you’re at 135. There are only 168 hours in an entire week…does not leave time for much else.

Dev