Just be sure that you're already in good shape to begin with. It is much more taxing than regular cardio.
I had my annual physical about 6 weeks ago. I explained to my doctor exactly what I do in the gym and the intensity with which I do it. He saw no reason I shouldn't continue. I have been working out pretty much my entire adult life. Gym workouts are repetitive. If it were not for the intensity and the personal challenge of going all out, I would have quit out of boredom years ago. But maybe that's just me.
Need to quantify the risk for blowing out the heart, the actual risk is small. Can't remember the actual risk in deaths but 100,000, but it is quite small.
As someone who really did come close to killing himself working out, I agree that I prefer to go all out. I learned my lesson in terms of lifting and going all out. Have precautions in place to prevent dying from dropping the weight on yourself. I'm changing how I work out, but I will continue to press. I'm 46. Seems like quite a few people get into running races as they get older, but running bores the hell out of me. I thought about getting back into golf and trying to be competitve, but that can be boring also. I actually have gone to a motorcycle dealer about how much support they could provide if I got into Supermoto, or road bike racing. They want to see the commitment first, but I like the idea so I may pursue that for the intensity buzz.
it's not small if it's you and could have been avoided by not maxing out your heart but training at a safer lower level. what's the hurry? EVERYONE even highly conditioned athletes have some measure of HEART DISEASE. pace yourself, train according to AMA guidelines
I wasn't talking about myself or most my age. For young fit men the risk is probably much less than a night out partying or any other of many things young men do. But for most I agree with you on taking a less agressive approach.
Best book on lifting? Principia Mathematica, Newton. Why the drudgery when you can use pulleys and levers.
http://www.webmd.com/heart/metabolic-syndrome/news/20080707/hard-exercise-curbs-metabolic-syndrome http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6823/9/3 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15842976 http://www.healthyexerciseworld.com/high-intensity-interval-training.html Of course, you have to work your way up to high intensity and get your doctor's clearance.
i don't care if the doc gives "clearance" or not not his life that's on the line. how can he "clear" you from having a heart attack? you don't need advanced heart disease to have a heart attack. for me i'm not going to max out my heart not worth it.