Overweight People Live Longer

[BendtheBar]

With some of the physical demands I've been put under at various jobs, and the chemicals and smells I've been forced to endure, I can see why a lot of blue collar men drop dead at earlier ages.

[J_Byrd]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

Well, take away your muscle mass and you probably weigh the same as your doctor. And I imagine he doesn't exercise much.

haha yeah Dr. Chung is not the picture of health. Doctors always think something is wrong when they check my blood pressure and heart rate. I guess they think because I weigh 300lbs I should be near death.

[Fazc]

Although I think BMI is a poor choice for determining health, I also think lifters who scoff at it while being overweight are kidding themselves. Walking around at 300lbs+ is going to be a massive strain on the heart over time, it's not particularly natural to walk around looking like Pudzianowski and if you've more bodyfat than him you'll inevitably be at an even higher risk.

There are plenty of instances of Strongmen who have dropped dead quite suddenly in their youths while enjoying great health in their primes. While I respect their accomplishments and I understand competition does neccesitate extremes, let's not kid ourselves that it's healthy.