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Weightlifting and longevity


Guest xzebrasx
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Is it possible to get seriously big and strong while preserving - or developing - optimal health? Or is a) being big (as in "muscular"), b) eating a lot of calories and c) pounding heavy weights all the time detrimental in themselves? (also, maybe there are some other factors, which I haven't mentioned, that may possibly impair health?)

 

Let's say there's a guy (or a girl) who lifts heavy 3-5 times a week, eats only fresh whole foods (massive amounts of vegetables, fruits, berries, legumes, mushrooms and "superfoods" like chlorella, spirulina, cocoa, wheat grass, etc.), succeeds in managing his/her stress, gets plenty of sleep, fresh air, sunlight, positive emotions, etc. etc. - can such a person achieve great strenght while staying exceptionaly healthy?

 

What's your take on this?

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You can only get so big without adding harmful things to your body, such as anabolic steroids and stuff.

 

However, I think "naturally big" is a whole lot more attractive than a roid monkey with no neck and bulging veins everywhar.. Eeewie.

 

Even if a guy is muscular, with some body fat on him looks great to me. I like natural.

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Not sure about "big" but certainly weight training has been shown to be beneficial in strengthening bones and preventing potentially fatal fractures in old age etc, even if taken up for the first time in later life.

 

I personally think that excessive muscular size probably is just a little detrimental to longevity but as long as you also keep your heart (and other organs) healthy with a good vegan diet and regular cardio, it shouldn't be much of an issue. It's probably a good trade-off.

 

So far scientists have had the best age extension results from calorie restriction, so I think that if it's longeveity you're after, reducing calorie intake (rather than increasing it in order to gain lean muscle) may be a sound choice.

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You can only get so big without adding harmful things to your body, such as anabolic steroids and stuff.

 

Yes, but let's say our hypothetical guy/girl is natural

 

Not sure about "big" but certainly weight training has been shown to be beneficial in strengthening bones and preventing potentially fatal fractures in old age etc, even if taken up for the first time in later life.

 

True, there certainly are benefits to be had.

 

So far scientists have had the best age extension results from calorie restriction, so I think that if it's longeveity you're after, reducing calorie intake (rather than increasing it in order to gain lean muscle) may be a sound choice.

 

Yes, I forgot to mention this one. However, I wonder how much exactly cutting calories helps in this regard.

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My friend was telling me about how human growth hormone in the long run can shave years off your life, but this is something he might have read somewhere and it wasn't clear how much or for how long etc.

 

Yeah, I'd prefer a bit clearer data over urban myths and hearsay

 

One interesting thing I've found on the net while looking for info on improving insulin sensitivity:

 

I want to improve my insulin sensitivity just as much as I do my diabetics because insulin sensitivity is going to determine, for the most part, how long you are going to live and how healthy you are going to be. It determines the rate of aging more so than anything else we know right now.

 

So, it appears, improving one's insulin sensitivity might be at least as conducive to longevity as decreased caloric intake (and low caloric intake isn't practical for most lifters most of the time). That's good news, if you'd ask me

 

The article can be found here: http://www.healthdiaries.com/women/pcos/maddy/archives/2006/01/insulin_sensitivity.html

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Of course a good weightlifting program is good for health.

 

I seen serge nubret 65 years old on the web.Better than me at 20

from this web page

http://www.wannabebig.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75554

this picture at this link

http://body.builder.hu/imagebank/pictures/1071552478.jpg

http://body.builder.hu/imagebank/pictures/1071552478.jpg

 

The number of years is not important.This man at 65 is younger than many others at 30.

Thanks to his DNA,but also thanks to weightlifting.

This why,at 30 years old I want back to train and eat.

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Wasn't that calorie restriction research done on monkeys in captivity??? (very unatural conditions, and not even human)

 

Here are some recent findings from research done on actual people in real situations that show a few extra pounds leads to a longer life.

 

It makes sense that people to having a little extra weight insurance during illness or bad times helps them live longer.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090619/hl_afp/healthjapanlifestyleweight_20090619101433

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Wasn't that calorie restriction research done on monkeys in captivity??? (very unatural conditions, and not even human)

 

I've no idea. But if that IS true, it would probably invalidate the research, wouldn't it?

 

Here are some recent findings from research done on actual people in real situations that show a few extra pounds leads to a longer life.

 

It makes sense that people to having a little extra weight insurance during illness or bad times helps them live longer.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090619/hl_afp/healthjapanlifestyleweight_20090619101433

 

Yes, if you become ill and/or can't eat enough. But is that important for healthy people? Being extremely lean for long periods of time isn't healthy, that's for sure, but I don't see how "chubbiness" would be any healthier than being relatively lean.

 

Also, we're talking about muscular and lean individuals, so this doesn't really apply.

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Of course a good weightlifting program is good for health.

 

I seen serge nubret 65 years old on the web.Better than me at 20

from this web page

http://www.wannabebig.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75554

this picture at this link

http://body.builder.hu/imagebank/pictures/1071552478.jpg

http://body.builder.hu/imagebank/pictures/1071552478.jpg

 

The number of years is not important.This man at 65 is younger than many others at 30.

Thanks to his DNA,but also thanks to weightlifting.

This why,at 30 years old I want back to train and eat.

 

Dude, Serge doesn't have any special DNA sequence gifted to him alone. He is on steroids and probably GH. You can't look like that even if you are 20. Testosterone can tranform anyone into the hulk. The old timers seem to know what they are doing in terms of juicing safely. If you took testosterone at any age you would look better than anyone natural. The average healthy male makes about 70 mgs of testosterone a week. These guys are taking 2000 or more mg's a week, which is why they look the Hulk. That's the secret.

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Dude, Serge doesn't have any special DNA sequence gifted to him alone. He is on steroids and probably GH. You can't look like that even if you are 20. Testosterone can tranform anyone into the hulk. The old timers seem to know what they are doing in terms of juicing safely. If you took testosterone at any age you would look better than anyone natural. The average healthy male makes about 70 mgs of testosterone a week. These guys are taking 2000 or more mg's a week, which is why they look the Hulk. That's the secret.

 

Steroids,or not,weightlifting gave him health.

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Steroids,or not,weightlifting gave him health.

 

Actually overly muscular physiques, the juiced look, doesn't necessarily represent good health. Take for instance Ronnie coleman, all we know is the how he is on the outside, who knows what kinda meds he is on just to stay alive. There are many bodybuilders who have died or had organ failures and they looked awesome. It's not a good way of judginghow someone's inside looks like. Serge maybe on numerous meds for all we know. We don't know what these people are going through. I will say that some of the old timers that are still on juice appear to be healthier and most likely will live longer than the new group of bodybuilders, however, a person who has never used substances and is in good health with a slim body most definately has better organs and requires no medications to survive.

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Is it possible to get seriously big and strong while preserving - or developing - optimal health? Or is a) being big (as in "muscular"), b) eating a lot of calories and c) pounding heavy weights all the time detrimental in themselves? (also, maybe there are some other factors, which I haven't mentioned, that may possibly impair health?)

 

Let's say there's a guy (or a girl) who lifts heavy 3-5 times a week, eats only fresh whole foods (massive amounts of vegetables, fruits, berries, legumes, mushrooms and "superfoods" like chlorella, spirulina, cocoa, wheat grass, etc.), succeeds in managing his/her stress, gets plenty of sleep, fresh air, sunlight, positive emotions, etc. etc. - can such a person achieve great strenght while staying exceptionaly healthy?

 

What's your take on this?

really the timelife of a person could become longer eating little, this is scientifically proven. doing this the biological aging could be slowed or reversed. I don't remember exactly what are the reasons of this, however I seem that is worth of a reduced oxydative stress (food rich in antioxydants could be therefore useful), a greater metabolic efficiency and a lower cellular turnover. therefore it is probable that a ipercaloric diet (required to increase bodyweight) could increase aging processes and longevity could be lower.

however I am sure that physical exercise is healthy (especially if not too intense, but intense exercise is good too, at least I would believe!) therefore you live (and will live) better, I think.

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