When we looked at the scientific literature, we found not only a lack of definition for fitness and health but also, and even more surprising, a mini- mal (at best) correlation between exercise and health. Many people have it in their minds that athletes are healthy because they are tit.
However, if you look across the board at the professional level of sport, and if you analyze the statistics and health profiles of these athletes, you will find that, while they have supranonnal levels of iitness, the means thev employ to achieve this level of fitness may actually undermine their health. Most athletes who compete at a world-class level do not achieve that level of world-class performance in a way that enhances their health, and this is sim- ply because it is not possible to do so. This is particularly’ the case if the sport in question is looking – for a level of physical performance that is not necessarily part of the natural evolutionary background of our species. A classical example is the tale of Euchidas, which comes down to us from the famed Greek historian Plutarch (c. A.D. 4 6 – A . D . 120). After a Greek victory over the Persians at the battle of Platsa in 479 B.C., Euchidas ran to Delphi and back:
. . . Euchidas of Plaaea, who promised that he would fetch fire as quickly as possible, proceeded to Delphi. There he purified his body, and having been besprinkled with holy water and crowned with laurel, took tire from the altar, set off running back to Plataza, and arrived thereabout sunset, having run a distance of a hundred and twenty-five miles in one day.
lie embraced his fellow citizens, handed the fire to them, fell down, and in a few moments died.2 after A.D. 180). 4 According to the legend, a Greek runner by the name of Pheidippides ran in excess of 145 miles (from Athens to Sparta) in roughly twenty-four hours, which was quite a display of ultraendurance athleticism. Pheidippides followed up on this feat by running an additional twenty-six miles from Marathon to Athens to announce the Greek victory.
When he reached Athens he proclaimed (depending upon which ancient historian you read) either “Nike!” (“Victory!”) or “Be happy! We have won!” Regardless, the ending to this tale is the same as that of Euchidas’s: Pheidippides then fell to the ground—dead. It’s little wonder that an athlete’s health would be gravely impaired by such an activity. According to the account of Herodotus, in that first run. from Athens to Sparta, Pheidippides completed the equivalent of back-to- back ultramarathons totaling more than two hundred kilometers.
Even more mind-boggling is the fact that, rather than being put off the notion of running such distances because of the health dangers, people instead raise monuments to the memory of Pheidippides by staging “mara- thons” and even the International Spartathlon race, which has its athletes running over purportedly the same 147.2-mile route from Athens to Sparta.
To no surprise, some modern extremists in the realm of fitness have either met the same premature end as their Grecian counterpart (such as the author and running guru Jim Fixx) or suffered a host of ailments that are not compatible with long-term health and survival. The scientific literature is filled with data that strongly make the case that long-distance runners
Unaware of the anabolic/catabolic relationship, or that the pursuit of fit- ness can result in decidedly negative health consequences, most people still associate fitness (or exercise) with health. Instead of recognizing health as a delicate balance of opposite yet interrelated processes, they believe it to be something that is expressed across a broad continuum that never caps out. They assume there are increasing degrees of “better” health, as opposed to picturing health as the absence of disease. In reality, fitness and health
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