Might be a stupid question, but doesn’t cardio HIIT or LISS cause a lot of oxidative stress? If so, why shouldn’t we worry about it?
What is your understanding of what “oxidative stress” is and how it works?
From what I understand, oxidative stress is the imbalance of free radicals and antioxidants in the body. I’m taking an aging psychology course, and just learned how it can contribute to apoptosis in the brain of normal +60 year olds.
Somehow I related it to something Rippetoe talked about marathon running causing oxidative stress from taking in excessive amount of oxygen.
Anything that increases the flux of oxygen through the mitochondrial system (i.e., the process of aerobic metabolism) has the potential to release reactive oxygen species. Fortunately, we have our own endogenous antioxidant capacity to deal with this; additionally, these systems adapt to the stressors they are exposed to just like anything else.
You don’t take in “excessive” oxygen during aerobic training. While I’m not sure what exactly Rippetoe said on this matter, he tends to cherry pick and make things up, so I would not listen to his opinions on physiology in general.
The benefits of aerobic activity far outweigh the risks, including any concern regarding oxidative stress.
Excessive amounts of endurance activity can, and almost always does produce adverse physical effects. Look at competitive marathon runners: the people who win the big races are skinny, just like the typical 80-year-old. High-volume low-intensity work involves the processing of huge amounts of oxygen, which produces lots of metabolic by-products that must be removed from the system – this is what “anti-oxidants” are for. If you’re running 75 miles a week, it’s hard to take enough Vitamin C.
Not sure if it is oxidative stress he was referring to, but this is what he wrote in his article “why you should not be running”.
This is made up patische science.
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Nice word I had to look that one up