Mayo Clinic Debunks Heavy Weight-lifting and Power-breathing!
"Weightlifting doesn't cause persistent high blood pressure. But it can cause a temporary increase in blood pressure. This increase can be dramatic — depending on how much weight you lift.
Strength training exercises, such as weightlifting, had once been discouraged in people with high blood pressure. But this is no longer the case. Strength training can slow or reverse declines in strength, bone density and muscle mass as you age. It can also help control blood pressure.
If you have high blood pressure, here are some important tips for getting started on a weightlifting program:
Check with your doctor before starting any new exercise program. He or she can help you develop an exercise program tailored to your specific needs.
Learn and use proper form when lifting to reduce the risk of injury.
Don't hold your breath. Holding your breath during exertion can cause your blood pressure to spike to dangerous levels. Instead, breathe easily and continuously during each lift.
Lift less weight with more repetitions. Heavier weights require more strain, which can increase blood pressure. You can challenge your muscles with less weight by increasing your repetitions.
Listen to your body. Stop your activity right away if you become severely out of breath or dizzy or if you experience chest pain or pressure."
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weightlifting/AN00637
Edward R. Laskowski, M.D.
Dr. Edward Laskowski is certified by the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine. He is co-director of the Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center and a professor at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.
He has been on the staff of the Mayo Clinic since 1990 and specializes in sports medicine, fitness, strength training and stability training. He works with a multidisciplinary team of physical medicine, rehabilitation and orthopedic specialists, physical therapists and sports psychologists.
Dr. Laskowski is an elite-level skier and approaches sports medicine from the perspective of a physician and an athlete. In addition to skiing, he is an avid hiker, cyclist and climber.
In 2006, President George W. Bush appointed Dr. Laskowski to a two-year term on the President's Council on Physical Fitness.
Dr. Laskowski was a member of the medical staff of the Olympic Polyclinic at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and is involved in medical coverage for the Chicago Marathon. He serves as a consulting physician to the National Hockey League Players' Association and is a featured lecturer at the American College of Sports Medicine's Team Physician Course.
Dr. Laskowski, a Cary, Ill., native, has contributed to Mayo Clinic's CD-ROM on sports, health and fitness, a Web site guide to self-care, and hundreds of Mayo Clinic articles and booklets in print and online. He is a contributing editor to Mayo Clinic's "Fitness for EveryBody" book.
"There are many myths and misconceptions about exercise and fitness in general, and also many traditions that don't stand up to scientific scrutiny," he says. "My goal is to provide the most up-to-date and accurate information on sports medicine and fitness topics in a way that you can practically incorporate into your life."
The Mortal Dangers of Power-breathing and Heavy Weight-lifting
Breath holding is integral to power breathing, as taught it by Pavel Tsatsouline. The grind maneuvers instructed you to hold breath against a closed glottis ("Valsalva Maneuver"). This is specifically contra-indicated for those with high blood pressure, and has been proven to increase blood pressure. The negative health effects over time are being researched, though the early deaths of bodily destruction of its pundits should be proof enough to stay away from such poor form.
The article does not disclaim low-rep lifting, but specifically eschews the dangers of higher actual weight, and suggests lower weight and higher volume in its stead.
Additionally, some try to be apologists for power-breathing with heavy weight saying that some air is forcefully blown out in a tssssssssst fashion. However, it is not the absence of exhalation but the pneumatic pressurization which increases intra-abdominal, intra-thoracic and intra-cerebral pressure, and as a result blood pressure.
With the number of deaths, and the proven research against pneumatic pressurization through breath holding (or even 'powered' breath leaking), it's unlikely that anyone will find willing subjects to test how little exhalation is required for safety: "Okay, so we're testing to see how little breath you can tssssst out before you die. Volunteers please step forward." This individual may be a candidate though:
http://my.break.com/media/view.aspx?ContentID=197822
The Difference Between Hypothesis and Proof:
Case Examples of George Eiferman and Jón Páll Sigmarsson
This photograph has been held up by one individual as an "argument proving power breathing."
It depicts the late International Federation of Bodybuilding Fitness Hall of Famer, 1942. Mr. America George Eiferman.
As Dave Draper writes he was accomplished with the trumpet, and was fond of this "trick" (his own words), and would often do it at parties hefting would be damsels overhead while busting out a tune.
However, let's be serious...
1. This is a stunt - a "trick". I'm sure everyone would agree that no one has ever used as a training modality lifting weights with a trumpet in one's mouth.
2. Playing the trumpet does not equal "power breathing" - a specific technique of increasing pneumatic core pressure in order to lift extremely heavy weight.
3. This is a hypothesis not a proof. One person living into their 70s even if they did use "power breathing" does not reject volumes of research by medical professionals. There are people who live into their 90s and have smoked cigarettes all their lives. But that's not a testimonial for promoting smoking as a healthy lifestyle.
Let's consider the proof of an opposite case example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRe8BDUfzIo
"The World's Strongest Man championship began in the aluminum smelter in Straumsvík, southwest Iceland yesterday.
The 24 participants come from around the world, three are from Iceland: Benedikt Magnússon, Georg Ögmundsson and Stefán Sölvi Pétursson. Fréttabladid reports.
Currently, Zydrunas Savickas from Lithuania is the world's strongest man, who won last year's Strongman competition in Canada.
The memory of Icelandic power lifter Jón Páll Sigmarsson was honored at the beginning of the championship yesterday.
Sigmarsson won the World's Strongest Man title four times (1984, 1986, 1988, 1990) before his death at the age of 32 in 1993 caused by heart attack he suffered while performing a dead lift in his gym.
Another Icelander, Magnús Ver Magnússon, has won the title on four occasions, in 1990, 1994, 1995 and 1996.
The World's Strongest Man finals will be held in Vídidalur, Reykjavík, on Friday." Iceland Review Daily News 11/21/2006
What is the difference between this example and the George Eiferman example?
Eiferman living to a modest old age in the 70s doesn't prove that heavy weight-lifting improved his quality or quantity of life. It doesn't even prove that it didn't kill him.
However, in the Jón Páll Sigmarsson example, heavy weight-lifting definitely diminished his quantity of life, and definitely killed him at the untimely age of 32 years young. This is an important distinction.
There's been quite an uproar on the research released regarding the severe (and in some cases mortal) dangers of powerlifting (power breathing, high tension, plus heavy weight).
People are welcome to participate in the sport of powerlifting. However, when people portray it as a form of health and fitness, or worse attempt to sell it to people as a form of health and fitness, there's a major problem.
If the powerlifting pundits at least had the temerity to admit that it's potentially lethal, then I'd have zero to say. Even Greg Glassman, founder of Crossfit admits, "This can kill you. I've always been completely honest about that." (New York Times, "Getting Fit, Even if it Kills You", December 22, 2005)
What more than that needs to be said?