Lack of relationship between performance, chronic injuries and BMI

Gudmund Grønhaug, project leader at Østfold hospital trust and Flatanger pioneer, has recently published a study showing no associations of performance, chronic injuries and BMI. The study, which includes a web-based questionnaire with 667 climber, is one of the largest epidemiological studies on climbers so far and the only to assess chronic injuries alone. Although the conclusion seems counter intuitive, the study gives a good explanation on the lack of relationship between performance, chronic injuries and BMI. For a short-term goal, losing weight might seem to be a good idea to increase the strength to weight ratio. Still, loosing weight means to put a significant stress on the body by under-eating. In this period of undernourishment, the possibility for injuries and sickness or disease raises at the same time as the ability to train as hard as possible drops. In periods of malnutrition restitution is prolonged as well. And that’s for the short-term goals! In the longer term it seems to be a far better idea to have a few kilos extra, live a happy life and train injury free rather than being skinny! The reason is simple; the body adapts to whatever stress we put to it and losing weight also means training with a lower resistance at each repetition. The full paper is to be found here.