Everybody’s talking about longevity.
I always strive to be a voice of reason. I try to offer a balanced and sensible perspective on most subjects. Drawing a hard line in the sand and using terms like always and never, as they apply to exercise selection and performance, is something about which we need to be cautious.
I want to respond in general to commentary that is currently popular among experts and thought leaders in the training and longevity realm. The title mentioned running, deadlifting, and stretching. You could actually include a very long list of all sorts of things people (most of whom are well-meaning yet not all-knowing) say you should never do or discontinue immediately if your goal is high health, functionality, and performance over the lifespan.
So let’s answer the question right off the bat. Should you, a Lifetime Athlete, stop running, deadlifting, or stretching if longevity is your goal? Probably not. But should you do any of those things exclusively, at extremely (key word) high levels, for decades? Again…probably not. Let’s discuss this a bit.
The premise that any exercise can actually be bad is where we should begin. I think it’s fair to say that there have been a few exercises invented over the years which could be called biomechanically incorrect (for humans), largely ineffective, and potentially injurious. But honestly they are few and far between. The majority of exercises can be considered safe and useful for most humans. To a degree. This is where the general concept of exercise selection comes into play. There are 3 contextual situations to consider.
First, in a majority of cases, the average or typical Lifetime Athlete (human animal) can choose a standard exercise and do it with no problem. This might be a squat, pushup, or any of thousands of other options. The human body is both versatile and durable and it is designed to do an impressive multitude of movements.
Second, however, is the situation when the chosen exercise doesn’t quite fit (optimally) the body being trained. When this occurs, a modification of the movement is usually indicated. Changing body position, range of motion, etc. usually solves the problem and makes the exercise efficient and comfortable.
But in the third scenario, the exercise just doesn’t work for the trainee’s unique anatomy. This can be related to genetic structure or acquired injury. Regardless, the exercise becomes inappropriate or contraindicated for the individual and we must omit it from the training program. Then we seek an alternative exercise that allows us to safely train the movement pattern or capacity we are targeting. There are many variations on movements and modes which can be utilized to keep a person highly fit and functional through life.
So, if almost no exercise is inherently evil, we must next give credence to how that exercise is performed by the Lifetime Athlete. Technique and workload are the most obvious factors.
Your technique, or the form and style with which you execute movement, is critical for successful training. Every exercise or movement pattern has a general form which makes it efficient, effective, safe, and comfortable for the trainee. Good exercise technique has a poetic, graceful, artistic flow to it that is sometimes hard to describe but it’s immediately recognizable. This approximate ideal technique usually has a set of basic requirements to which optimal movers add their refinement, or personal signature.
Moving with good form maximizes output in the form of force, speed, and economy. It also minimizes wear and tear on your joints. Compression and translation (spin, glide, roll) are normal and natural arthrokinematics during exercise and sport. But when those accessory motions become awkward or excessive, shear forces result and this is very hard on articular cartilage. Something a Lifetime Athlete needs to avoid. The consistent message with exercise is to use good form with few exceptions.
Workload is the product of volume and intensity in training. It describes the potential impact, or stimulus leading to adaptation (or breakdown but hopefully not) in the fitness enthusiast/athlete. Workload is dependent upon relatively gradual application and appropriate management of recovery intervals (time between the application of stimulus).
If we simplify the information we’ve reviewed so far, no matter what type of training you’re doing, you need to get 3 things right.
- Select exercise modes and variations that are consistent with your goals but also appropriate for your body.
- Learn and utilize good technique.
- Train smart by using intelligent programming and methodology which preserves systemic and orthopedic health.
If you pay attention to those principles, there’s not much you can’t do in the world of fitness and sports. That’s especially true if you become a student of your pursuit and you humbly approach your passion with a growth mindset.
Now let’s talk about the 3 specific forms of exercise we mentioned at the beginning.
Is running bad for you? Will it wreck your knees and shorten your healthspan? No. Technically, running, done reasonably, is good for your joints. It is also a normal component of human locomotion. An athletic trait that is genetically wired into the human body. If at all possible, it behooves every Lifetime Athlete to preserve their running ability through the lifespan.
But several nuances come into play regarding that last statement. Moderation enters the picture. What’s enough? What’s too much? What works for one person might not work for another. And what worked for you (or what you got away with) at 30 might not be right at 60. We must be aware that dedication can lead to stubbornness but the open mind always prevails.
Running works great for a body that doesn’t have mechanical dysfunction or prior history of orthopedic injury or pathology. I’m going to try and explain this point the best I can. If you don’t have any pre-existing conditions and you follow the principles we’ve been discussing, you can (and perhaps even should), run for your life (literally and figuratively). But if your joints are already in suboptimal condition, your bodyweight is excessive, etc., you should not run. Occasionally those issues can be addressed and you can safely get into running. But there are times when you can’t reverse the damage of life and running isn’t a wise choice. Essentially, if you don’t have any problems and you go about it intelligently, running won’t hurt you and it will offer many benefits. But running on an already damaged body is not a wise idea and probably should be avoided when longevity is the goal. You don’t want to outlive your joints.
How about deadlifting? Is the position and motion of the exercise just a horrible choice for a Lifetime Athlete? We mentioned the word extreme at the beginning of our discussion. It applies very well here. If you examine the stress-strain relationships and intradiscal pressures the lower back experiences with heavy (1-rep max) deadlifting, particularly over many years/decades – you can certainly make a case that a competitive powerlifting approach to deadlifting does not correlate incredibly well with a longevity focus. There’s data to support this situation. But that’s an extreme example which may not apply equally to the average workout aficionado.
Just like almost every other exercise, the deadlift has myriad variations. Straight versus trap bar. Stance width variations. Staggered stances. RDL’s. Jefferson curls. Strict hinge form versus patterns hybridized with squatting or even spinal flexion. Dumbbells, kettlebells, elastics, cables. If you are a competitive powerlifter, you mainly need to train with a straight bar and (very) heavy loads. That’s a part of the sport but that doesn’t automatically mean it’s good for everybody. It’s probably the only variation that is truly high risk. Again, that’s if you’re pulling maxes for years, possibly with suboptimal load progression and recovery.
But being able to hinge or bend over and pick something up is intuitively necessary. It is a property which much of life (actually more so than sport) requires and therefore should be trained and maintained. So you should deadlift all your life. Just do it in a way that helps and doesn’t hinder your long-term functionality.
OK…it’s time to consider stretching. We can use a lot of terms here such as mobility work, static versus dynamic stretching, yoga, etc. They are not all the same but they are close enough for the purpose of this discussion. Muscular flexibility is important but we want to think mainly about joint mobility. This is where the bell-shaped curve, or normal distribution, regarding mobility is most important for the Lifetime Athlete.
You need to at least be adequately mobile. This represents the threshold below which function is suboptimal. There will be a range (sometimes broad and sometimes narrow) for each unique body in which mobility is optimal. That’s thinking about longevity. Concerning general classifications for humans and specifically for your body, you want your mobility to reside somewhere within one standard deviation of the mean. You can be a little stiff, or a little loose, and still get by just fine in most cases. But more or less mobility than that can cause problems. Overly stiff (hypomobile) joints often relate to torn muscles and tendons. Excessively loose (hypermobile) joints shear and grind their way to osteoarthritis much sooner than those in the “normal” classification.
Certain sports demand more or less (we can call this athletic stiffness) mobility than others. Think of gymnastics and ballet. The mobility required to excel in these pursuits is generally recognized as hypermobile. Great in the moment when you are a young competitor but not so good for longevity. Think of the aforementioned powerlifter. He or she needs to be as stiff as possible for maximum force production, with only the bare minimum of mobility to get through the range of motion of the lift.
You usually see people whose traits (let’s call them gifts) match up with a sport’s demands to be a great fit and we often term them a natural athlete in the context of said sport. Flexible people are at the front in yoga class, or they become the instructor. Naturally stiff people can usually lift more or get hurt less when doing so. You can train in such a way as to make your body more or less mobile, but your ceiling for this change will always be governed by your genetics.
Some people aren’t mobile enough. These cats need to stretch more. Those who are “double-jointed” and display “circus-limberness” often benefit from refraining from stretching and concentrating on mid-range stabilization training. Injuries can make just one area of your body more or less mobile and thus you adjust your stretching to match your needs. Yes, Lifetime Athletes should stretch. But it’s a Goldilocks thing. Find the amount that keeps you moving and feeling your best. Working with a PT or performance coach helps a lot in this regard.
So there you have it. Lifetime Athletes don’t need to stop running, deadlifting, and stretching. We just need to go about those exercises, and other aspects of Training for LIFE…thoughtfully.