Too Many Marathons Could Be A Bad Idea

Some Doctors are now saying that TOO MANY marathons may kill you.

Some people may be reading this thinking, “I train for marathons every year, I am a healthy weight, so what are the doctors talking about? Surely getting off your butt and exercising, even if to a marathon level, is better than being obese?”

Of course, being active compared to being sedentary yields massive health benefits. However, running marathons requires a huge commitment for the training and the event itself is a significant strain on the heart. As a Personal Trainer who’s sole interest is helping people achieve a healthy weight and healthy lifestyle, could this latest research push me towards discouraging regular marathons for my clients. Well in one word – YES!

Over the last 10 years I have had several clients who have had the life long dream of completing a marathon and it has been great to help them achieve that goal. Thankfully, as far as I know, none of them have gone onto running marathons year after year. There is now convincing evidence that repeatedly asking the heart to pump “massive” volumes of blood, for hours at a time, can lead to an array of problems. Some cardiologists are now saying that these include overstretching of the organ’s chambers, thickening of its walls and changes to electrical signalling. These could trigger potentially dangerous heart rhythm problems.

Dr James O’Keefe and Carl Lavie, from St Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, and the Pennington Biomedical Research Centre in Baton Rouge, US, say the heart is only designed for “short bursts” of intense activity. “If one really wants to do a marathon or full-distance triathlon etc, it may be best to do just one or a few and then proceed to safer and healthier exercise patterns,” they advise.

Please click here to see the full story on the Telegraph Online.

It is my job as a Personal Trainer to let my clients know of not only all the great things that exercise can bring but also that some exercises carry a certain risk. Clearly a lot of research is now getting attention in regards to marathons and in the very least, as professionals, it is our responsibility to inform our clients of these risks and ideally push them to better solutions for their overall health and fitness.