‘Do not stop. Keep going while you’re out of breath. It means you’re working hard. Don’t stop!!! Nearly there’ the trainer shouted at the front of the spin class. Dutifully, I peddled harder. Determinedly, I peddled faster.
The lexis of exercise today is all about ‘pushing yourself’, ‘going beyond your limits’ and ‘breaking your boundaries’. Extreme training and extreme fitness have become the norm over the last decade, we all push ourselves harder than ever when we’re working out. You can do yoga in an underground, windowless 35 degree heated room or take part in an hour long spin session with weights in the dark.
Today we live more sedentary lives than ever, which means we need exercise more than ever. How many of our routines consists of wake up, jump on a bus/train/step into the car, get to office, sit at desk, grab lunch, jump back onto a bus/train/into the car, sit on sofa, watch Netflix and get into bed. Physical inactivity has been labelled the 'biggest public health problem of the 21st century'; in 2012 a report found that it was responsible for 5.3 million deaths worldwide, this equates to around one in ten.
More recent reports, published this year reports, have confirmed that sitting down all day at work could actually be as dangerous for our health as regular smoking. One study found that you’re up to 60% more likely to die prematurely if you’re sitting down in an office for 8 hours every day.The authors recommended that people take on hour of exercise every day to combat this.
And yet, despite the obvious necessity, benefits and importance of exercise, warnings are emerging about the dangers of so-called ‘explosive exercises’ in high-intensity workout sessions as doctors report seeing young people seek help for conditions more commonly associated with getting older.
Dr Gorav Datta has reportedly seen a fourfold increase in the number of patients under 30 with hip, knee and back problems was recently attributed to the rise in explosive workout regimes.Datta, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the University of Southampton Hospital, has warned that as our lifestyles have become busier and more sedentary our exercise regimes have become more ‘explosive’ in an attempt to offset this.
Speaking to The Debrief he said ‘I’m primarily a hip and knee surgeon and I mainly see injuries related to high intensity workouts with heavy weights, for example bar bells and very low squats.’
The point at which patients are referred to Dr Datta is when their injuries are severe, ‘I see the very extreme end of patients who physiotherapists are worried about’ he explains.
‘The problem’ he said ‘is that short and intense bursts and repetitions can wreak havoc with joints and, longer-term, lead to the need for surgery.’
He explains that if you have a predisposition to hip or knee injuries then HIT workouts could be problematic for you, ‘if you’re susceptible to hip impingement or you’re someone with underlying knee problems already and you’re doing deep squats then it will cause problems.’
‘Physiotherapists will tell you not to go too low in a squat’ Dr Datta says, ‘by overbalancing and overbending or flexing you can overload your joints, it’s important that you stay in a safe range which is specific to you.’
Dr Datta says that he sees ‘a lot of people who have sedentary life styles and want to lose weight’. There’s an irony in all of this. As our levels of inactivity reach an all-time high because of the demands of our, largely, post-industrial economy in the developed world our attempts to counteract it have become increasingly more extreme. Time, a commodity that many of us lack, is at a premium, resulting in short bursts of intense activity at expensive gyms with ‘state of the art equipment’. The onus is on using your time effectively to get results as quickly as possible.
We partake in indoor cycling while trainers bellow Instagram-style motivational aphorisms at us to the soundtrack of Tinie Tempah, we pay £14 to take part in a ‘relaxing and restorative’ Yoga classes or cram ourselves into a busy fitness studio with glass walls and do circuits with strangers who we make no further attempt to communicate with other than uttering an out of breath ‘sorry’ after our flailing sweaty limbs make contact with theirs.
How many times have you caught yourself losing concentration or misplacing a foot towards the end of a high intensity class class? ‘There’s no question that cardiovascular is an excellent way to work out’ Dr Datta says, ‘we all know that an exercise bike isn’t really doing much. The danger is that with the kind of fatigue you suffer in a high intensity workout you lose your form and you lose your technique, that’s when you are in danger of hurting yourself.’
It’s not that we shouldn’t be pushing ourselves when we exercise, far from it, the issue is that we are going harder than ever in the gym in an attempt to cut corners. Exercise is crucial for our mental and physical health, not only does it improve fitness and keep you in shape it can help to prevent heart attacks, diabetes, some cancers, dementia and it can even boost your brain function.
So how do we make sure that we are working out in the best possible way without hurting ourselves?
Sapan Seghal, founder of London Fields Fitness, agrees that high intensity or ‘extreme’ workouts are problematic and 'worrying'. ‘The word extreme gives it away’ he says, ‘anything at the extreme end of the spectrum – be it exercise or diet – cannot be sustainable and should not be done long term. It will not lead to a health future.’
He also says that in his experience people become ‘demoralised’ by high intensity workouts because they ‘are not able to keep it up long term.’
Training, Sapan says, ‘shouldn’t be extreme, it should be effective. Some people can do certain things, while others cannot. Everyone needs to focus on different areas and exercises. I think a more holistic approach to health and fitness is needed. The fitness industry has become more extreme and consumers want instant results. We also have extreme views on beauty now – everyone wants to look like an Instagram fitness blogger. There’s a sense that you’re not in shape if you don’t have a 12 pack or “ab crack”. However, if you think about it, if you’ve been eating badly and largely inactive for some time then 6 weeks of HIT training sessions can’t counteract that.’
We live in an age where many of us spend large proportions of our day staring at screens, using our fingers to type and our thumbs to scroll. We’re privileged in many ways but we aren’t designed to sit down all day. There must be better ways of moving around than paying a premium for short bursts of high intensity activity in an air conditioned room at the end of the day which, when you think about it, isn’t so different from the office.
Ultimately, Sapan says, ‘it’s worrying that today we think of walking to work as something special or unusual – to be applauded. When people say to me “I walk to work” I’m like “well, as you should!” We are all trying to cram in as much as we can because life is so busy. We have to get away from the idea that you have to be a supreme athlete to train – you just have to exercise on a regular basis in the way that’s right for you.’
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.