Mercolo's Peak 8 fitness

Does anyone have any experience with Dr. Mercola's Peak 8 fitness training? Basically it is a warm up followed by 8 extremely high intensity intevels. The intevels are 30 seconds of maximum effort followed by 90 seconds of active recovery. The total workout is 20 minutes and should be done no more than 3 times a week. It is suppose to increase telemore lenth and human growth factor. I've seen it demonstrated and after warm up the heart rate was 110. Each intevel the heart rate increased and didn't totally recover during the 90 second active recovery. By the last intevel the heart rate was between 160 and 170. It was Dr. Mercola demonstrating it and I'm sure not everyone's heart goes that high. The trainer mentioned that when you reach that maximum heart level that it cleans any build up out of the arteries.

I would like to hear opionions on whether this would be good or bad for a lone a fibber whose present exercise regimen involves a 30 -45 minutes of moderate weight triaining 2 - 3 times a week and a 3 mile moderate run 2 times a week.

I'm not sure how this really high intensity training, although brief, would affect the heart both short term and long term.

Debbie,

"cleans any build up out of the arteries."

Any fitness pitch that includes a statement like this should send one running for another program.

With that said, high intensity interval training is not a bad thing, but doing it if there are ANY heart issues other than lone afib could be dangerous.

I am a lone afibber that had a successful ablation 4 years ago. I am 65 and workout regularly on weights and cardio, but I don't specifically do any HIGH intensity interval training any more. I don't see a need unless you are involved in some sort of competition where you are striving for a VERY high level of conditioning. I was an Olympic swimmer in 1968 and had plenty of interval training including high intensity, but those days are over.

I have tried to do research on maximal heart rates and associated risks, but have found almost nothing. On a StairMaster, after 10 minutes, I can reach and sustain a heart rate of 170-180 for another 20 minutes or more. This is an aerobic state that is not particularly demanding for me. That's well above of what should be my maximal heart rate, plus if I pushed it, I am sure that I could get to 200, but I have decided that there is no reason to push any harder. (225-age = MHR). Mine should be 155. Another question I have is: Is "MHR" the limit that the rate CAN go or SHOULD go?

Most will likely say that I shouldn't be pushing my heart rate to this level, but I would love to see some studies on maximal heart rates and associated risks. I may be an anomaly because of my athletic history, but who knows?

Back to your question - I don't think there is much risk for you doing the program, but I am no expert either. Talk to your Dr., but many of them aren't experts when it comes to high levels of physical training either. They will likely take the conservative approach and tell you not to push too hard. You age will also play a role in this equation.

Let's see what others have to say.

Ken,
I totally agree with you. I am 66 and enjoy the gym, as well as walking and swimming. I do spend some time on a treadmill where I like to increase my heart rate up to 120 or so.
Even superb athletes run the risk of cardiac failure if they have underlying heart disease.
Remember a famous U.S. marathon runner, Jim Fixx who died of a massive heart attack at age 52. I remember reading about how his friends kept telling him to stop eating his favourite food. He loved peanut butter sandwiches layered half an inch thick.
Bill Clinton was an avid runner, unaware of his heart problems.
I also remember the most amazing pairs figure skaters from Russia. Grinkov and Gordieva. I apologize for any incorrect spelling. Sergie Grinkov was attempting to do an overhead lift with his wife and had a massive heart attack. Like Mr. Fixx, an autopsy showed both of these men with extensive coronary disease.
Lou

I recently posted the following:

An interesting book is the [www.diabetes-solution.net] Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution. Bernstein was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 12 in the 1940's. By the mid-1960's he was an engineer and his health was deteriorating. He acquired one of the first portable glucometers and designed a program to keep his blood sugar very constant, at 83 mg/dl (mmol/L = mg/dl/18). He ate very few carbs, used glucose, as necessary during exercise and determined that interval training was most efficient at clearing glucose. His exercise was mostly interval and strength training. He also injected insulin (as a type I).

The result was that many of his complications of diabetes reversed. He tried to publish, but was not listened to, as he was not a doctor. At age 45, he returned to school and got his MD. At the time his book was most recently published (2007), he was ~77. He was still in practice and had been treating diabetics (types I and II) since the early 1980's.

In his book he published his current blood test and blood lipid data. His data look better than those of an Olympic athlete, rather than someone who'd been a Type I diabetic for 65 years. He said his data are not unusual for compliant patients.

=====================================================

In his book, Bernstein writes a lot about interval training being the most efficient way to clear glucose from the system. Early on, he used himself as a subject, testing with a glucometer and came to this conclusion.

If one keeps their serum glucose within the ideal range (60--85mg/dl) all the time - including after meals - the probability of heart disease decreases significantly. This may be the source of the "clean artery" comment. I certainly would not take it literally.

If one compares endurance training with interval training. Max heart rate intervals are quite possibly a less stressful option (my opinion). However, I would be wary if I had any underlying heart disease, or if I was an adrenergic afibber.

George

Thanks for the comments Lou, Ken, and George.

January 1 and the new New Year's resolution is upon me and I am planning on trying to make some positive life style changes.

Ken, your comments about your heart rate during exercise were very interesting. Were you considered a vagal afibber before your ablation? Did your ablation make your heart rate higher at rest or during exercise. Do you think your high intensity exercise history caused your afib?. I'm happy for you that the ablation was a success.

George, your comments are really intersting. Both Mike and I have borderline high fasting blood sugar (about 100). If I am really watching my diet it is lower. I'm going to try to find the book that your referenced. It sounds like the good doctor was ahead of his time.

What's so tempting about the intevel training is the claim that it increases growth hormone and the discussion that it reduces telemore shortening and aging. Mercola says that exercise at a constant pace does not work the fast twitch muscles and doesn't provide many of these benefits. I'm wondering how high the heart rate needs to be to achieve these benefits. I think most people who have been through ablation and all the testing involved would know if they had underlying heart disease. I'm wondering if the intevel training would promote a bigger heart and more risk of afib returning.

I'm not very well read or conditioning so I also would like to know if maximum heart rate is related to resting heart rate. If your resting heart rate is very low (45) is your maxiumum heart rate still 220 minus your age. This doesn't seem right to me.

Debbie

Debbie,

I don't know if I was an vagal afibber. I didn't find this forum before my ablation, so I didn't have any discussion with my Dr. about this. My resting heart rate before the ablation was in the 50's, but I was on Toprol for 6 years so I really don't remember what it was before I started taking meds. One year after the ablation I have leveled off at 60.

When I was competing and in top shape, my heart rate was in the 40's.

I don't know if my swimming had anything to do with my afib or not, there is no way to tell. My afib started (undiagnosed) at age 50, 26 years after I stopped swimming. Initially my GP thought I had mitral valve prolapse which caused some irregular heart beats, but five years later as it got worse, I finally got on an ECG while in afib.

Back when I was swimming, taking pulse rates was not so common during training, but I do think I could push over 200 when working really hard.

I know that don't have an enlarged heart and that everything else is normal.

All swimming training is interval training. I swam for 14 years and coached for 28.

Debbie,

As I understand it, the "how high" question is individual. It is maximal exertion for 30 seconds (exerting as hard as you can), then rest for 90 for a total of 8 reps. It is the maximal effort that causes the biochemical cascade.

In my case, I generally use a Schwinn Airdyne bike to play this game. The faster you pedal, the more the resistance (from air). I've also used a jump rope and a treadmill that will go to a 30% incline.

The figures like 220-age for max heart rate are very rough guides. Your actual max heart rate is a function of your genetics, condition, age and the exercise you are performing. For example, you'd have different max heart rates swimming vs running vs biking.

For the purpose of interval training as described by Mercola, measuring your heart rate is not important - only that you exercise maximally for 30 seconds, then rest & repeat.

You can achieve good blood sugar control with diet only. In fact without diet, you are unlikely to be successful no matter how you exercise.

I started playing with blood sugar (as a non-diabetic) over 6 years ago. I researched the most accurate home glucometer I could find (Bayer Ascencia Contour), and purchased it and strips off Ebay. I did not test all the time - only to gather data as to what different foods and eating patterns would do to my blood sugar. Generally the maximum spike is 45 minutes after eating. My objective was to minimize this spike and my fasting blood sugar (without going below 60 mg/dl). I've coached friends this way and they've lost considerable amounts of weight following those rules. There may be better glucometers now, I have not looked. My first experience was the least expensive glucometer from the pharmacy. Upon investigating, I found the error band was larger than blood sugar variances I was attempting to measure.

George