“A Futile Fitness Disaster”

This guy is peddling some sort of fitness fad, but he does have a provocative thesis with a blog post headlined, “The Cardio Myth Exposed!”

He begins with:

Endurance exercise is a futile fitness disaster…

Endurance exercise – the universally touted “cardio” – is not the key to health and fitness. Quite the opposite. Cardio is a myth that is not only unhealthy and potentially dangerous, it is completely unnatural.

No doubt you’ve heard otherwise from countless health “experts” who urge you to pound the pavement or jump on the treadmill for hours at the gym. But your body wasn’t designed for long, repetitive exercise. Worse, it can make you more vulnerable to disease.

And runners are singled out…

Our ancestors didn’t run marathons or jump around for an hour doing aerobics. And they didn’t sit in front of computers or the television the entire day. They moved around a lot at a low level of exertion. And then every once in a while they exerted themselves at nearly 100% of their capacity – hunting prey or escaping from it.

This pattern of brief intense movement, followed by rest, and lots of low level activity is hardwired in your genes. Your muscles, bones and organ systems are reflections of this genetic design. The way they work together is the formula for strength, vitality and long life.

He quotes one researcher who examined marathon runners and said, “Their hearts appear to have been stunned,” adding, “Your body doesn’t know whether you’ve run a marathon… or been hit by a truck.”

I’m suspicious of all advice that we exercise like cavemen, or run like the Tarahumara, or go on the Paleolithic diet. Nor am I interested in hunting wildebeests bareassed with a spear or hitting women over the head with a club and dragging them away by their hair… although I suspect we’re fast approaching the point where someone will market the latter on the Internet as the ancient secret of picking up chicks.

I’m sorry if you don’t agree. Just don’t fling poo at me.