Can you be Fat and Fit?

Slaving away in the gym isn't the answer to reducing blood pressure.

I was browsing some headlines on the interwebs today and I found an interesting report about a study about fatness vs fitness and risk of high blood pressure.

In general the study showed that fatness was linked to high blood pressure even if those people scored well on ‘fitness’ tests.

The more interesting part was the fact that a higher level of ‘fitness’ only seemed to matter for people who had lower/normal bodyfat levels.

This just reminds me how sad it is to see people wasting their money on personal trainers in big fitness clubs trying to lose weight by exercising (assuming they’re not changing their diet, which it is obvious that many of them aren’t).

The worst part is, not only are they not losing weight, they’re not even reducing their risk of heart disease or their blood pressure.

So the morals of this very short story are:

1) Losing weight will have a much bigger impact on decreasing your blood pressure.

2) Staying overweight and trying to build up your ‘fitness’ level by doing cardio isn’t going to help you reduce your blood pressure (and therefore will have little impact on reducing risks of heart disease).

3) Becoming more ‘fit’ only seems to help further improve blood pressure in those people who already have normal bodyfat levels (as measured by BMI)

Focus on reducing weight to reduce your blood pressure and risk of heart disease. Once you’ve got the weight down you can start thinking about improving your ‘fitness’.

John

Posted by johnbarban in Fat Loss, fitness

Tags: blood pressure, fatness, Fitness, heart disease |5 Comments

5 Responses to “Can You Be Fat and Fit?”

usernametooshortnowitstoolon Says:
August 3rd, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Well said.

The worst though is when you see an obese person who is trying but is at the gym under the instruction of a personal trainer lifting weights AND eating some “energy bar” at the same time. I mean, seriously.
usernametooshortnowitstoolon Says:
August 3rd, 2010 at 1:39 pm
Rant time:

Most personal trainers don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. Last night at the gym, a personal trainer started talking to me (even though I kept looking at my watch to indicate I was under timed rest periods) and asked how my workouts were going. He then proceeded to ask me (1) if I’ve gained any weight and (2) if I take any supplements. I told him I don’t really weigh myself but I did get bigger in my shoulders and he gave me a strange look. Then I told him I don’t take any supplements (actually I do take creatine, but he was annoying me lol) and started to lecture me on how I would DOUBLE (yes, he said “DOUBLE”) my gains if I took whey and a PWO shake.

I hate to say it, but most personal trainers are nothing but industry parrots.
usernametooshortnowitstoolon Says:
August 4th, 2010 at 8:44 pm
John, what are your thoughts on sumo wrestlers, native Alaskan ekimos and the Inuit, and Samoans who are always fat? Are these people exceptions or are they also really unhealthy?
Fat sumo wrestlers, eskimos, Inuits, and Samoans - unhealthy or exceptions? Says:
August 4th, 2010 at 9:17 pm
[...] Entries14 Fair enough. Here's the blog that inspired this question: Can you be Fat and Fit? | JohnBarban.com I agree with JB – belly fat is the biggest link to health problems (don't know if it creates [...]
chadz Says:
August 4th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
Dont no about the sumo wrestlers,eskimos and inuit but im from New Zealand and alot/most of the samoan people are overweight and they also have the highest rates for diabetes and heart disease.