3 minute read
HEART OF AN ATHLETE
Dan Little Attorney at Law Little Law Firm, PLLC Little Oliver Gallagher, PLLC
TOGETHER, WE IMPACT QUALITY OF LIFE
Advertisement
As a non-athlete in high school and college, I admit I have to ask myself how could it possibly be that at the age of 76 I completed the World Marathon Challenge of 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days and broke the oldest finisher’s record by 9 years. The answer began in 1968 when I stumbled across the Aerobics book by an unknown guy named Dr. Kenneth Cooper. Little did I know that our paths would cross again and again and that Dr. Cooper would lead me on a life-time journey to almost endless energy for work and play, endurance beyond my imagination, and the fun and joys of eating healthy, sleeping deeply, praying daily, and loving family, friends and LIFE.
It did not happen easily or quickly. At the age of 38 when I began entering races, I first had to learn it did not matter that I would never win a race and that I would often finish in the back of the pack and sometimes last in the 202 marathons and ultra-marathons during the next 38 years.
I then learned what was by far the most important: Even though my best efforts would never win a race, my body, mind and soul benefited by competing just as much and maybe more than the winners and that in life we may all learn more through our last place finishes and failures than through our first place finishes and successes.
I continued to read Dr. Cooper’s many books. Following his research and teachings, I learned that it all came down to how I lived my daily life and how I continued to exercise, run, walk, swim or bike each and every day. Daily exercise became one of the most important foundation stones of my life and 38 years later, this foundation stone enabled me to become the oldest finisher of the World Marathon Challenge.
Citizens of the world, let me share one secret: If you exercise each and every day, seven days a week, it never becomes a question of “IF”, which takes will power, but only a question of “WHEN”, which requires almost no will power.
Thank you, Dr. Cooper. Let us hope and pray that your research, knowledge and message of preventive health will sweep through all countries and prevail over the new plagues of obesity, diabetes and related diseases and will bring health, happiness and peace to our good earth!
Dan Little World Marathon Challenge “Oldest man” - (USA), 76 years
HOW EXTREME EXERCISE AFFECTS THE HEART
Exercise is the best medicine, but can you have too much of a good thing?
Back in 1975, The Cooper Institute published the first study of elite runners, including such famous names as Jeff Galloway, Steve Prefontaine, Frank Shorter, and more. The study found that elite runners had significantly lower resting heart rates and body mass with higher aerobic capacity, maximal heart rate, left ventricle size, running efficiency, and lung function than average men.
Similarly in 2019, our biggest study of the year takes a closer look at endurance athletes, which could include marathoners, triathletes and cyclists, who exercise at high levels to assess their risk of coronary artery calcification.
Published in JAMA Cardiology with UT Southwestern, the study showed that these athletes have an 11% greater risk of clinically significant plaque buildup in their coronary arteries but no greater risk of mortality. For those with less calcification, being highly fit reduced the risk of death by 46% over their less-fit counterparts further proving that fitness is both preventive and protective.
Our long history of research continues to prove why we all need to work harder to get fitter so we can live longer.
46 % REDUCED MORTALITY
RISK IF HIGHLY FIT WITH MINIMAL CALCIFICATION
1 IN 4
AMERICANS DIE FROM CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE
PUBLISHED: JANUARY 2019
Dr. Michael Pollock observes Steve Prefontaine’s V02 max test during the 1975 Elite Runners Study.
