The correlation of strength with longevity is not entirely surprising.
The thread is closed so I cannot post, but I think this might be relevant:
http://www.escardio.org/about/press/...mortality.aspx
Original thread:
http://startingstrength.com/resource...ad.php?t=35372
The correlation of strength with longevity is not entirely surprising.
So what? Generally sick people are weaker than healthy ones and I bet almost none of those people trained with barbells. I don't see how it's relevant to whether or not the ACQUISITION of strength promotes LONGEVITY. Furthermore, we need to know if there is some threshold. Training with max weights everyday is obviously not good for your health, so there is definitely some cut off point. I wonder if elite athletes have increased or decreased mortality rates.
Yes, it's a standard correlative study.
In every sport I've ever seen studied, the average lifespan goes down for top level athletes. Which isn't quite the same thing as increased mortality rates, but it does tend to support the not at all surprising fact that being an elite athlete is bad for your actual health.
But it's reverse J slope, usually - risk of dying decreases with exercise to a point, and then starts increasing again.
I believe Practical Programming has a section that discusses watching how your body responds to the stress of exercise and adjusting to that. A lot of these issues would be moot with some common sense.