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Cynthia Monteleone: The Dangers Of Chronic Endurance Training and the Benefits of Sprinting
Please enjoy a great conversation with my friend and sprinting mentor Cynthia Monteleone, coming to you all the way from the beautiful big island of Hawaii.
A Team USA world champion sprinter, Cynthia is also a highly trained metabolic health analytics practitioner who coaches numerous Olympic athletes and world champion masters-level athletes, and she goes deep into the nuances of what delivers peak performance and helps people overcome health challenges to reach personal goals, especially weight loss and excelling in athletic goals.
In this episode, Cynthia tells us why chronic cardio might actually be hurting your health—and how training like a sprinter can lead to better longevity, hormones, and overall energy. We discuss the important principles outlined in Born to Walk and get into the damage that can happen to the heart from excessive endurance exercise, how living in that black hole heart rate zone keeps your body in fight or flight, and why you might be storing more visceral fat or throwing off your thyroid just from overtraining. Cynthia shares some eye-opening examples, like a fit masters track athlete who started marathon training and ended up with a heart attack—and we explore how too much endurance training can lead to electrical signaling issues in the heart and chronic inflammation.
We also push back on the grind-it-out mindset that’s become so common—where suffering and pain are glorified as signs of discipline. Instead, we highlight a more empowering, intelligent approach to fitness, based on sprinting, walking, lifting heavy things, and prioritizing recovery. This conversation is all about training smarter—not harder—for the long term.
TIMESTAMPS:
Fitness people may need to rethink their idea of what is good for the body. [04:25]
Brad talks about his participation in sports as a kid and his evolution into triathlon. It took a toll on his life. [06:48]
As a parent coach for the kids, is it effective to push the kids hard to teach them life's lessons? [10:38]
What are the lessons to be learned from this crazy running boom that we've had where people think that when they turn 40, they should run a marathon? [17:22]
Why do people think it is hard to sprint? [18:52]
What is the best way to balance your exercise regimen? [25:53]
A combination of walking and sprinting is preferable to steady state cardio. [33:12]
You can exercise the heart too much. [40:10]
There's a disconnect between mental strength and hurting yourself. [47:38]
All your training and all your fitness endeavors have to factor into the same equation as all the other forms of stress in your life. [51:06]
Is your training making you feel empowered or tired? [59:48]
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