Fitness News: Bodybuilding increases mortality?

Fitness News: Bodybuilding improves mortality?

This is a controversial new study: This is a 2016 study published by Gwartney et al. in the Journal of Urology, which investigates the mortality of male bodybuilders.

Research Methods

The researchers collected a list of 1,578 "professional" bodybuilders who competed between 1948 and 2014, and found 597 of them proof of death or survival.

Of the 597 people, 58 have died unfortunately. Comparing the death age of these late bodybuilders with the national average in the United States, we made the following findings:

If we enlarge the interval between 30 and 50 years old, we will find that the mortality rate of professional bodybuilders is almost much higher than the average, and two groups also achieved statistically significant differences ( * No. *).

The problem is that bodybuilders train weights and exercise aerobic exercise in the gym day and night. When they get home, they come with broccoli and chicken breasts. They don’t drink alcohol or stay up late, and they also swallow vitamins and fish oil as candies. How can so many healthy habits add up together, how can the mortality rate be higher than that of sofa potatoes?

Possible explanation

Author Gwartney pointed out that the drug abuse problem in the professional bodybuilding industry may be the main cause.

Androgenic hormones: such as testosterone, Nandrolone, and Stanozolol, are often abused ten times or even hundreds of times beyond the physiological range. Their illegal properties make the number of scientific research in this area scarce. Regarding existing observational studies, we know male hormones Abuse of the virus is related to low HDL and high LDL, which symbolizes the increased cardiovascular risk of the user. There are also cases reported that male hormone users have arrhythmia or even sudden death. In addition, oral androgens are almost hepatotoxic, and long-term use may cause liver damage.

In addition to drugs, some traditional practices of bodybuilding may also affect the health of their players:

Dehydration: Bodybuilding players will use extreme means to reduce the moisture content of subcutaneous tissue before taking the stage, which includes adjusting drinking water, salt, large amount of sweating, and diuretic use. Dehydration to a certain extent can cause harm to the kidneys! Although the kidneys of healthy people can successfully restore their functions after replenishing moisture, the accumulation of games in their careers of professional players will cause considerable damage to the kidneys.

Weight cycle: Traditional bodybuilding exercises have the so-called "weight gain period" and "Weight Loss Period", the academic community has not yet concluded the health impact of continuous weight gain and weight loss, but one school believes that such practices are harmful to the body in the long run

Mental health: Bodybuilding competition is a sport that determines the winning or losing by the player's appearance. Of course, the players must pay great attention to their appearance, which may also increase the risk of gluttony and anorexia.

Conclusion This article is not to persuade you to stop weight training. On the contrary, I think weight training is the safest and most healthy exercise, no one.

The real problem is drug abuse and several extreme preparatory methods that may harm health.

In addition, this is an observational study for "male professional players" with a relatively small scale. If you are not a professional player or are using "drugs", don't give up fitness because of this article