Sudden long-term cessation of exercise

June 4, 2007 7:51 AM

I have heard that if a high-level bodybuilder suddenly stops all exercise, they will experience major health problems (possibly fatal). Is this true? If so, why?

I don't mean suddenly ending a workout, I mean changing their lifestyle overnight to become a couch potato.

posted by stammer to health & fitness (8 comments total)

I can't imagine that being true if you consider all the people who have managed to hurt themselves while working out and had to quit for some time to heal.

I did once read about a body builder who ate something like 8 to 10k calories a day to bulk up and had a hard time getting used to a 2k a day diet afterwards. If he would have kept eating like that I'm sure it would have been a problem. I think in the end he gained a lot of fat.
posted by damn dirty ape at 8:04 AM on June 4, 2007

I had a friend who got big into bodybuilding. His claim was that he could no longer eat small meals - there was a huge rush of insulin as soon as he started eating and if he didn't eat a lot, his blood sugar would drop really low. THis is what he claimed. So it may, as dda says, have more to do with weaning one's self off a high-calorie diet.
posted by GuyZero at 8:10 AM on June 4, 2007

I can't imagine that this is true, but then I'm not a doctor...
posted by ob at 8:26 AM on June 4, 2007

When Steve Redgrave stopped rowing there was a fair amount of mention in the media that he couldn't stop outright. This was less body building and more cardiovascular stuff though - something about lots of problems with his heart and fat - not sure whether it was fat building up around the heart or in the bloodstream though.

For example.
posted by edd at 8:30 AM on June 4, 2007

It's hard to fathom. Though, with all the varied dietary supplements and whatnot that bodybuilders use, lord only knows what that may have done to their body chemistry. Perhaps they might undergo something akin to withdrawal?

And then there is all that muscular body-mass that will slowly atrophy without the high-level training and nutritional support.

This is actually a pretty thought-provoking question.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:33 AM on June 4, 2007

i'd find it hard to believe, although as stated above, the diet would have to change to avoid the problems of being overweight.

it's possible that without stretching and staying limber, having so much muscle mass might make you really stiff (and i shudder to imagine what a charley horse would feel like).

death? nah.
posted by thinkingwoman at 8:57 AM on June 4, 2007

Well I can believe it to be somewhat true (i.e. dangerous but I'm still not sure about fatal) for a rower, a cyclist or someone who is an athlete but that's because they've trained thier cardiovascular system (enlarged heart due to training and if atrophy were to ensue I can see that as being serious) but for a bodybuilder, I'm not so sure...
posted by ob at 9:00 AM on June 4, 2007

Not true. For example, the fairly popular lifting program HST indicates a completely exercise-free "deconditioning" week every few months.
posted by rxrfrx at 11:43 AM on June 4, 2007