This Is What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

[Rex Sanders]

Kyle Boette did before and after metabolic tests for a 29-day thru-hike of the Colorado Trail.

What he discovered might surprise you.

https://www.outsideonline.com/2125031/what-happens-your-body-thru-hike

— Rex

[john hansford]

Kyle Boelte must be a lot stronger willed than me. I did a thru hike this summer of 510 miles and 125,000 feet of ascent over 35 days, and lost 10 pounds. Two months later I’d put it all back on again!

[John S.]

While I am sure a month long hike would produce similar results in most, the last paragraph before the conclusions is bit silly. It doesn’t take a long hike to now eat more fat in your meal. I think the whole metabolic efficiency thing is a gimmick.

[Anonymous]

“I think the whole metabolic efficiency thing is a gimmick.”

As a doctor, you are a man steeped in science, John. I would sincerely love to hear a more rigorous argument to support your conclusion, which seems to fly in the face of most published scientific literature on the subject. I’m not trying to be adversarial here, because the only thing that matters to me is the truth. If you have evidence to refute
mainstream thinking on the subject, I would be very much interested in having access to it.

[jscott]

A 40 bpm resting heart rate is…astonishing. Obviously the op has a highly functional heart. For many, this would be cause for alarm.

[Anonymous]

“A 40 bpm resting heart rate is…astonishing.”

It is not that uncommon among endurance athletes, competitive cyclists, etc. Lance Armstrong’s resting HR was reportedly 32-34 bpm in his racing days, Miguel Indurain’s has been measured at 28, and no doubt others far less famous have RHRs in the high 30s to low 40s. Even my own was measured at 46 on a recent doctor visit, and I’m an old man. In my running days it once measured 38, and I was far from unique. It just seems uncommon to those unfamiliar with people who train rigorously.

Here is a link to an article that will give you a better sense of heart rate variance.
If you click on the heart rate chart link and scroll down to the comments section you will find a bit of anecdotal information that correlates with my own. There is a lot more information out there on the subject if you want to dig deeper.

http://www.topendsports.com/testing/records/heart-rate.htm

[Kattt]

Yeah…my heart rate is between 42 and 55. When I did a stress test last year it was very hard for the docs  to get mine near 180, no matter how fast and hard they had me run. I got close (160) but by the time I got off the treadmill and hooked up had dropped to 120 . So to me that 40 does not seem unusual.

[jscott]

n

[Kattt]

“I was told that 80 bpm is the median.”

Resting? I don’t think so. Not the median. I think 60 is more like it.

 

But yes, you are correct, it is not a contest. Just numbers.

[jscott]

Here’s from the Heart Rythm Society:

Slow heartbeat (heart rate), called bradycardia, is an arrhythmia, or disorder of the heart’s rhythm. Each day, a normal heart beats about 100,000 times, at a rate any­where from 60 to 100 times a minute. Changes in heart rate caused by activity, diet, medications, and age are normal and common.
What is considered slow?

Abnormally slow heart rates are usually those below 60 beats a minute and can be either harmless or life threatening. At certain times, though, such as during sleep, heart rate will be slow and still be normal. What counts as an abnormally slow heartbeat for one person may not be the same for another. For example, a young, strong, healthy athlete may have a resting heart rate of 30-40 beats per minute, but may easily increase his heart rate to 180 beats per minute with exercise. This is normal. Another person may have a heart rate of 30-40 beats per minute while climbing the steps, but he feels weak and tired. This is abnormal.

Here’s from Web Med:

Having bradycardia (say “bray-dee-KAR-dee-uh”) means that your heart beats very slowly. For most people, a heart rate of 60 to 100 beats a minute while at rest is considered normal. If your heart beats less than 60 times a minute, it is slower than normal.

A slow heart rate can be normal and healthy. Or it could be a sign of a problem with the heart’s electrical system .”

These are the first two hits that I got. I don’t have the time or interest to go further.

this is all I’m saying: a resting heart rate of 40 bpm is remarkable. Perhaps I shouldn’t have said astonishing. But you quibble. So I’ll be more precise: it’s far below the average. In some people, it would be a sign of trouble. I specified that it was not for the op. It is not for Tom or Kat.

[Kattt]

@ Jeffrey

I stand corrected then.

[jscott]

No, I mis-remembered what a nurse said as she took my ecg. She said that 70 was the median. So we were both half off.

[Anonymous]

“Perhaps I shouldn’t have said astonishing. But you quibble. So I’ll be more precise: it’s far below the average. In some people, it would be a sign of trouble. I specified that it was not for the op. It is not for Tom or Kat.”

I think it is probably a matter of perspective, experience, or whatever, Jeffrey. For the majority of people in an increasingly sedentary population, along with the docs who treat them, 40 bpm might well be astonishing, abnormal, even threatening. For those of who have spent most of our lives highly active, in the company of other highly active people, it is in the normal range. I meant nothing pejorative in my response, which was a result of the environment that has formed my views on all things cardio vascular. If it came across as offensive, you have my apologies.

[Kattt]

 

I read up a little more, I learned something and you are being gracious Jeffrey. Thank you

[jscott]

Thanks, Kat.

Tom I think that also genetics has a lot to do with it. Umm, I’ve spent most of my life highly active. But whatever. There are poets, doctors, Nobel Laureates, scientists, saints for whom chasing a lower resting heart rate isn’t the end all of existence.

[D M]

Jeffry you might be right on the genetics thing. My Grandfather had a low resting heart rate. He was a doctor, a polo player but not particularly over active and lived to be 99. I have a low resting rate and am a retired endurance athlete. I always thought I’d inherited it from him, at least my Mom thought so. I’m not sure what it is now but when I do my yearly exam the nurses are always amazed my resting heart rate is so low.

[Anonymous]

“But whatever. There are poets, doctors, “Nobel Laureates, scientists, saints for whom chasing a lower resting heart rate isn’t the end all of existence.”

Nor is it the end all of existence for anybody I have ever met, either, among them doctors, scientists, and even a poet. Sorry, no Nobel Laureates or saints. ;0) Rather it is a natural result of a highly active way of life, an indicator of a heart that, as one cardiologist remarked to me, “pumps a lot of blood”.

“Tom I think that also genetics has a lot to do with it.”

+3 My primary care doc said the same thing.

“Umm, I’ve spent most of my life highly active.”

Then I’m surprised you should find a HR of 40 unusual. Perhaps a bit lower than yours, from the tenor of your posts, but not particularly unusual.

[Nick Gatel]

“A 40 bpm resting heart rate is…astonishing.”

It is not that uncommon among endurance athletes, competitive cyclists, etc. Lance Armstrong’s resting HR was reportedly 32-34 bpm in his racing days, Miguel Indurain’s has been measured at 28, and no doubt others far less famous have RHRs in the high 30s to low 40s. Even my own was measured at 46 on a recent doctor visit, and I’m an old man. In my running days it once measured 38, and I was far from unique. It just seems uncommon to those unfamiliar with people who train rigorously.

Ha! So can we call the “Average” first world person’s blood pressure “average” and somehow equate that as being normal? No. Average is no longer normal for our species.

During my 30’s I ran about 50 miles per week. In my late 30’s I started donating blood. Because I have O Negative blood (universal donor type) the blood bank would call me the first day I was eligible to donate after my last donation. After a few trips and the same nurse was taking my vitals, we had this conversation:

“You’re a distance runner, aren’t you?”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because your blood pressure and heart rate are really low. Every time I see that the patient is a distance runner.”

My son was a pretty good distance runner in high school and college. When he did interval workouts, his recovery period was finished when his resting rate hit 50 bpm or lower, which didn’t take long. Different training than I did, we would run a 440 yd, then jog one, run one, jog one, etc.

It is pretty common for good college distance runners to have resting rates under 40 bpm.

The Australian runner, Ron Clake, had a verified resting rate of 26 – 28.

[Anonymous]

Lots of different ways to approach intervals. I used several when I was racing, with varying degrees of success. In the end, it all boils down to increasing maximum heart rate and stroke volume, i.e. training a heart to pump a lot of blood. The downstream, literally, effects of that, denser capillary networks and larger, more numerous mitochondria, will deliver maximum O2(for the individual) to the working muscle cells. A natural side effect will be a lower RHR. Pretty much the same principles apply to backpacking, climbing, etc. It’s just a matter of how you approach your training to achieve the same results, if you’re not a runner.

[Author]

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