Robert said:
Please don't think that running events will kill you. It is very much the opposite. The exercise runners do actually saves and/or prolongs many lives, because of the health benefits from this type of exercise.
Of course! God forbid! ANY kind of exercise in our era of couch potatoes is highly beneficial!
I've only a small remark here: few know that, actually, resistance training (i.e. weight training) is highly helpful in maintaining the heart in proper working order too. The reason being, weight training, esp. with heavy weights, makes the heart walls thicker and more elastic at the same time, in effect, it trains the muscle itself.
In my view, the perfect training workout would be one combining strength, flexibility and endurance training. This is exactly the "natural" way people were "training" when they used to live a more normal outdoors life. My grandparents used to wake up early, walk long distances, lift heavy objects, hunt for hours, work the fields and do all essential daily labors, day in, day out. They were lean and strong in their youth and beyond, survived a couple of world wars, raised several children and died at a very old age.
What we try to do is simulate the effect of this kind of lifestyle going to the gym or exercising outdoors. Nutrition is an important parameter also.
This also reminds me of my years of martial arts training. We were doing "internal styles" where there is not much physical training involved; no weight lifting or such things. They are not in the curriculum, so to speak. The "secret" was, of course, that the ancient monks that developed Tai Chi or Ba Gua, used to "workout" for 12 hours a day, doing chores for the monastery! No wonder they didn't need more "artificial" exercising. But we do.
Sorry if this got too long, just trying to state the obvious I'm afraid.
