Elite athletes sometimes get a bad rep when it comes to the performance-health continuum.
And, to some degree, with good reason.
Some studies suggest that marathon runners, endurance cyclists, and triathletes might be putting too much stress on their hearts, which could cause long-term damage and possibly lead to early death.
Further, it’s well known that elite gymnastics, figure skaters, lightweight rowers — and other sports where women need to be super lean to perform at an elite level — often lose their menstrual periods. And let’s not even get started on contact sports and the long-term health impact of concussions.
As for CrossFit, it might be too young of a sport to really understand the impact training at an elite level has on the body 50 years from now.
But now, there’s some good news for elite athletes: A study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in May suggests that elite runners, namely those who were able to run a mile in less than four minutes, live longer than the general population.
The details: The research team, made up of Canadians and Australians, looked at the first 200 athletes who achieved the sub-four-minute mile in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s and found that, on average, they lived five years longer than the average person.
Worth noting: This isn’t the only science of its kind. A 2022 study out of Harvard University found that people who exercise more than the national guidelines reduce their risk of death by 30 percent.
Further, another study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2020 looked at 8,124 U.S. Olympians from the past and also found they live longer than the general population.
Finally, a 2015 research published in the journal Sports Medicine found that participation in all kinds of elite sports, including baseball, football, soccer, basketball, and cycling, among others, “is generally favorable to lifespan longevity.”
The big picture: There’s always going to be a balance between performance and health, but this research gives a bit more hope that training at an elite level might be OK for long-term health and longevity. In fact, it might even yield longevity advantages.
Time will tell what this means for the elite CrossFit athlete, as the sport is only 20 years old.
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