Talk to me about this topic when you are, as am I, 85 years old. One of the remodeling events for me was/is an aneurysmal section of my ascending aorta, stable as of now w/ size ranging between 45 and 48 depending upon imaging technology. It was dx’d secondary to enhanced CT imaging brought on by the need for removing my inflamed appendix.
Given the work I do I have highly variable BP measurements secondary to the psychological stress involved (working with LEO who have undergone acute episodes of encounters of the deadly force kind), and the potential forensic implications of that activity). So, I’m on 40mg of Lisinopril/day, have a remarkable presence of “white coat syndrome” yet I still maintain my BP values at median levels mid 130’s/high 80’s. One distant relative died of a heart attack at age 70 something and that after 40 plus years of shoveling coal from a tender into the firebox of a steam engine as his daily work and smoking up a storm at home.
In the three years leading up to the aneurysmal Dx, I did exclusively negatively accentuated resistance training w/ machines that were computer driven to enhance by roughly 40% the eccentric potion of the movement cycle relative to the concentric. Subsequent to the Dx, I quit all HIIT, all endurance activity, and I’m gauging my current “fitness” status via Garmin’s daily stats, mild x1/week SuperSlow (™) protocol at a maintenance resistance level, and x1/week cycling on my Wahoo KickR indoor bike. I have a self-imposed Max HR limit of 145, although previously I worked to peak HR values pre-DX of 193. FWIW, my Garmin age is 66.
Bottom line: I asked my PCP, an exquisitely smart Internal Medicine Doc, how come there is such little data on aging-athletes in my age grouping? He answered “Because at your age they’re all dead. So, unless you want to be the fittest dude in morgue, stop that shit. You got nothing to prove.”
The effects of an aneurysm are silent, that is until, you die from one. And the symptoms are easily masked or, better said, highly similar to effects of HIT strength exercises, specifically correctly performed pulldowns, pull-ups, among many others. Screening for aneurysmal effects of high endurance/HIIT training of the 80/20, especially as one ages, I think is critically important. And indeed even in youth - ya know, the 20+ year old who drops dead on the basketball court, or the 50 year old news reporter who similarly dies in Bahrain.
Now, I’m off to challenge my decision-making by fly my XPlane 12 flight simulator. Best to all of you all.
Tony