
Acute high intensity interval exercise reduces colon cancer cell growth - prostoalex
https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/JP277648
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kaycebasques
A cautionary anecdote related to high-intensity exercise:

A few months back I did a bunch of negative pull-ups [1] in an attempt to
strengthen my pull-up muscles. The next day I was the most sore I've ever been
in my life. Two days later the soreness increased. My arms were stuck in a 50
degree angle. I couldn't bend them straight or curl them up all the way. I had
an intuition that something was wrong, checked the symptoms on Google, and saw
something about a weird condition called rhabdomyolysis [2] where your muscles
are so damaged that they start releasing damaging proteins into your blood
that can damage your kidneys. Again, my intuition told me to go to the ER
right away, which was unlike me because I'm your typical guy that usually
trusts that my body will heal on its own. The doctors thought it was highly
unlikely that I had rhabdo, but they ran the blood tests anyway, and were
surprised to find out that I had diagnosed it correctly. I was hooked up to IV
for 4 days after that, 24/7, pissing huge amounts of water every hour or so,
because the only treatment is to just flush the proteins out of your system.
If I hadn't gone to the ER that night, and had slept through it, I very well
could have destroyed my kidneys.

At the ER the doctors told me that rhabdo cases were on the rise because of
HIIT classes pushing people past their limits. From what I understand it's a
rare condition, I think only 1-5% of the population at risk of it, but it
doesn't hurt to know. The bigger lesson from this experience for me was to be
more careful about pushing myself past my limits. I'm only 29 and I already
see that my body can't take the beatings that I used to give it. Ironically
I'm exercising every day now but am much more mindful of putting extreme
strain on my body. I support high-intensity exercise, but I stop if I'm at the
point where my muscles are exhausted and I no longer am doing the exercises
with good form.

[1] [https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/negative-pull-
up](https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/negative-pull-up)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhabdomyolysis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhabdomyolysis)

~~~
jcadam
Wow, I'd never heard of rhabdomyolysis. I always thought the worst
overtraining could do to you is force you to take an extended (weeks/months)
break.

I'm pushing 40 now, and one thing I've learned is to recognize when my body is
telling me "you need to back off now." I don't recover the way I used to (I
can't lift 4 days a week anymore, for example, and squats and deadlifts are
right out due to back problems), so I need to be careful not to overdo it.
Because then I'll hurt myself and have to take a few weeks off -- and worse,
I'll be hobbling in to work for a week or more like an old, broken man, and
all the millennials will laugh at me :)

~~~
supermw
Can I ask what your back problems are and how they started? Were they from
doing the squats and deadlifts themselves or other injuries? I see plenty of
people past their 40s still doing squats and deadlifts so it's not like there
is a general age limit it seems.

~~~
jcadam
For the last five or so years, I've had more or less constant pain/stiffness
in my lower back, which is definitely aggravated by lifts like squats or DLs.
Heck, running too often aggravates it. At work, I have a sit/stand desk, and I
have to alternate between sitting and standing throughout the day, because
doing too much of one or the other starts to hurt.

It seemed to come on gradually. What initially caused it I don't know... I
played football in high school, I've lifted weights since I was a teenager
(only cutting out squats/DLs when they became too... risky), I was in the Army
for a bit, who knows... should probably get a doctor to look at it.

My father started having problems with his lower back around the same age
(30s), so maybe there's a genetic/hereditary issue. Though at least he still
manages to do squats in his 60s. I wonder if having a longer spine (I'm about
5 inches taller than him) would make my issues worse?

~~~
supermw
Do you stand on anti-fatigue mats?

~~~
jcadam
Yes, they do help.

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matwood
Another data point that shows what we all know. Daily exercise is good for
you. HIIT is an effective way to exercise, and appears to provide additional
benefits.

~~~
kiba
I am not disputing the benefit of daily exercise, but the sample size seemed
awfully small.

~~~
steve_adams_86
Am I mistaken or was it a study of 20 people (two slightly different groups of
ten, at that)?

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fxfan
Sincere question- assuming that '7 minute workout' is an HIIT - what kind of
warm up does something like that require and how long? I want to do the 7
minute workout but I'm worried it needs a warm up.

~~~
tootie
7-minute workout is mostly a myth. You can do a very intense and thorough
workout using the 7-minute routine but all the reported benefits involve
working yourself up to 3 repetitions of the 7-minute routine so it really
takes 21 minutes.

~~~
trainingaccount
Some of the research showed significant health improvements from 3 days a week
of 3 reps of 20 second standing bike sprints. So only 3 minutes per week.

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rscho
A far cry from its enticing title.

