A controversial former sports scientist has made the wild claim that working out too much could actually contribute to heart disease.
Retired academic Bart Kay spent decades working across 10 universities around the world, teaching in the fields of human nutrition, cardiovascular pathophysiology and exercise physiology.
He has also worked as a consultant to the famed New Zealand All Blacks rugby union team, the Australian Defence Force, the New Zealand Army and NRL referees’ association.
He now runs a YouTube channel critiquing mainstream nutritional science and promoting the claims that the carnivore diet is superior and warning people fibre should be cut out.
His beliefs fly in the face of longstanding advice that a diet should consist of an equal balance of red meat, fruits, vegetables and carbohydrates.
Dietitians Australia president Dr Fiona Willer warned the carnivore diet was not ‘healthy’ and that fibre was beneficial as it was proven to lower the risk of developing certain diseases and cancers.
Now Mr Kay told Daily Mail that most Aussies trying to get fit and stay in shape are doing it all wrong.
He even suggested those who spend hours doing cardiovascular exercise are harming themselves in the long run.
‘By cardio, what we mean is moderate intensity, long-lasting endurance-style whole body exercise, and it is a waste of time unless you are an athlete competing in those types of sports, which I’d advise you to stop it,’ Professor Kay said.
When asked what was better for a person’s health – two high-intensity interval training sessions per week or going on a 5km run each morning:
Too much cardio can be harmful to long-term health
‘The first one, without any question.’
There have been many examples of professional athletes who have eventually succumbed to heart disease due to the extreme workload they put their heart under during years of training and competing.
Former world number one triathlete Emma Carney had a resting heat rate of just 21 in her heyday which would be a sign of a very fit heart.
But she was eventually diagnosed with ventricular tachycardia, the same condition that sidelined her fellow Aussie triathlete Greg Welch five years prior.
Later she was diagnosed with ventricular cardiomyopathy.
‘Too much volume of exercise absolutely is a problem. It becomes a psychological problem for many athletes. It becomes an illness,’ Mr Kay said.
‘It’s exercised-induced cardiomyopathy, which means the heart gets so big that it interferes with its own function and the heart doesn’t work anymore. Those are athletes who train for hours and hours a week.’
Mr Kay outlined a very basic three-day plan for the average Aussie to follow.
Two intense weight sessions a week can give anyone huge benefits
He said the three exercise days should consist of two weight lifting days and one cardio session, none of which should occur on consecutive days.
‘I would do two rounds of a whole-body split of 11 to 13 big compound exercises at an eight-rep maximum load and I would do two working sets,’ Mr Kay said.
‘I would do all of that as a giant super set rather than doing one exercise for two sets then moving to the next exercise for two sets.
Mr Kay said unless you are an advanced hypertrophy athlete trying to build the biggest musculature possible, to compete with other body builders, you do not need to do splits when lifting weights.
‘You can do your whole body in somewhere between 10 and 11 exercises with heavy weight, with a high intensity relative to your one rep maximum strength and get fantastic benefits,’ he said.
Mr Kay said it was important to always have at least a complete day of rest between training sessions.
And the cardio session could be done without a gym.
‘The third session would be sprint, repeat, possibly even with some hill work or dragging some weights around with you,’ he said.
‘That’s about moving as rapidly as you can with some resistance through a series of sprints over 45 minutes with a 5:1 rest to work ratio so that your actual exercise time is about seven or eight minutes.
‘No more exercise than that is required or is helpful for most people.’
Mr Kay said most people exercised the wrong way and therefore aren’t getting the health benefits they crave.
He said the key wasn’t the amount of time one exercised but how intense it was.
‘Typically, people who exercise, and who take on programmed exercise, tend to overdo it in terms of their volumes and they tend to vastly underdo it in terms of their intensity,’ he said.
‘Exercise training is an injury to your body, by pushing your body close to its performance limit.’
