This story is really what has inspired Primal Regeneration. It's one of my own personal journey , yet also highlights my evolving perspective on what IS wellness and how fitness fits that model.
In previous posts I have discussed that benefits of exercise for your wellbeing and I have been a lifelong advocate of being active. I have also discussed the risks of pushing the envelope too far , without sufficient recovery, and that too much exercise can be detrimental to your health. That fit doesn't always mean healthy. Yet I am learning that it all comes down to semantics. How we define fitness is central to this discussion; and my view has changed slightly.
Fit doesn’t always mean healthy
My research and examination into this was inspired by my experiencing atrial fibrillation (also known as AFib or AF) , a heart arrhythmia when I was at a very high level of fitness. I was doing CrossFit, running long mountain races , coaching HIIT classes, and surfing regularly. I equated fitness with health and so felt frustrated that this had happened despite my being so active.
I had experienced some irregular heart beats almost a decade earlier when training for a mountain marathon but these seemed to disappear.
In those intervening 10 years there had been no hint of issues despite regular CrossFit, HIIT training, cycling, running short distances (< 15km) occasionally and surfing . What changed was the long endurance runs , pushing my heart rate to sub-maximal levels persistently. My heart adapted to this by dilating more, my resting heart rate fell allowing for some weird escape beats to occur. . Other important factors predisposed me to the arrhythmia: my recovery was poor , working long hours and shift work with interrupted sleep cycles. I drank alcohol and lots of caffeine .
I had a long endurance exercise history- decades of distance swimming, cross country running, triathlon, nordic skiing and trail running. Yet I was never a light weight athlete- my heart had to work hard to get a fair amount of mass moving uphill.
Endurance history, male and the larger athlete
This is the common denominator for athletes who develop these type of arrhythmias. They have a history of endurance sport : cycling, running, triathlon etc. Elite athletes can develop these at the peak of their career , but generally it occurs at middle age . This training history, being male, being a "larger" athlete , and genetic predisposition all increase the risk.
Doing lots of endurance exercise increases the odds of getting this arrhythmia by about 16%. Some exercise protects you from getting it; too much exercise increases the risk again creating a u-shaped dose response curve of exercise and risk of the abnormal heart rhythm.
As stated by a paper from the American College of Cardiology: "The most compelling evidence for a dose- and intensity- dependent association between endurance exercise and AF comes from a long distance competitive skiing event, Vasaloppet, in Sweden. In >50,000 skiers, the strongest predictors of AF were the number of races completed and race times. A meta-analysis including six case-control studies corroborated these findings with a five-fold increase in the risk of developing AF among older endurance athletes than non-athletes."
Now let's go back to that intervening 10 years. The time between first noticing regular abnormal beats and when I developed AFib. No hint of abnormal rhythm despite lots of high intensity exercise with similar adverse lifestyle factors. What was going on there ? As I stated earlier, the key was the lack of endurance running.
Which brings me back to the definition of fitness and where it fits the spectrum of our health and wellness. Excess kilometers at high intensity, increases the risk of atrial fibrillation. and coronary arterial fibrosis. For the average athlete , high running kilometers also brings with it the risk of overuse musculoskeletal injuries .
If you do lots of long distance swimming , you might develop thoracic and shoulder overuse injuries.
Yet if you balance your fitness, do a mix of strength training, high intensity interval training and other broad based training you become more broadly fit AND stay well.
Let's make this clear, this is NOT MY WORK.
This has been my realisation through my experience but it models exactly what CrossFit founder Greg Glassman says about the illness- wellness -fitness spectrum.
Too specific with your training and you're not really the fittest. If you are fit in a broad range of modalities you are truly fit AND that fitness becomes "extreme wellness". It's how he and the CrossFit community see their model improving the health of so many people.
Done correctly , as prescribed by the designer of the concept, CrossFit is a fabulous model for wellness and fitness. Sure, you don't have to go to A CrossFit box to lift heavy things, sprint, stay flexible, balanced and coordinated but it's a package that makes it very easy.
Having detrained myself and then built back up very slowly, taken the prescribed medication , and turned around the negative lifestyle factors I have made my way back to CrossFit after about 5 years off: without any of the crazy heart rhythms . I am even running again- but shorter mileage. Returning to this broad fitness base I have been able to continue my fitness journey.
So the bottom line is that my new understanding of wellness and fitness mirrors the CrossFit ideology, and my own experience has led me to that .
No , you don't have to do CrossFit to be well and fit and avoid the negative effects of long endurance mileage. But to be the fittest you can be, as well as you can be , you need to follow a formula that's pretty close.
If you need any help achieving your health and fitness goals and want to keep skiing, surfing, hiking or snowboarding as you get older reach out to Primal Regeneration . I offer Health Coaching specialising in these areas . My background as doctor, Primal Health and Fitness Coach, CrossFit Trainer (OL-1), ski coach and surfer all contribute to my ability to help you on your journey.
Photo by Corey Young on Unsplash
