Hearing Loss from Bodybuilding?

Q

"Hello! Have you ever heard of anyone developing hearing loss from bodybuilding / weight lifting?

- Jake H."

A

No, I can't say that I have.

However with the wide plethora of supplements and steroids available to the bodybuilding industry I would not be surprised if some of the more illegal steroids have side effects that include hearing loss.

There are a lot of unknowns when it comes to drugs that have not been properly tested and have been deemed to have dangerous side effects.

However the hearing loss could just be caused by something else and falsely attributed to weightlifting.

For example the older people get the more likely they are to experience hearing loss. 33% of elderly people between the ages of 65 and 75 experience some form of hearing loss. Above the age of 75 the percentage goes up to 50%. Thus if a person at the age of 68 took up weightlifting later in life, and became really serious about it, and then started experiencing hearing loss at the same time, they might falsely think their hearing loss was somehow connected to the new love of weightlifting.

To my knowledge there is no medical connection between weightlifting and hearing loss - but that doesn't mean a person can't develop hearing loss due to another cause. It would therefore be logical to start by eliminating other possible causes before we start pointing fingers.

THE MOST COMMON CAUSES OF HEARING LOSS

#1. Genetic factors - Is there a history of hearing loss in your family? This is entirely possible when you consider 50% of people encounter hearing loss over the age of 75. Even people who have no history of hearing loss in their parents or grandparents may still have inherited a recessive gene.

#2. Excessive Exposure to Loud Noises over a Longer Period - What kind of work or home environment do you have that might expose you to loud noises? eg. If you work in a noisy factory and have been doing so for years, and you don't wear ear protection, you could suffer hearing loss.

#3. Buildup of Earwax / Medical Conditions - Some people build up earwax faster than others and it interferes with their hearing over time.

#4. High Intensity Sound - A single loud burst of sound can also cause hearing damage if its exceptionally loud.

#5. Tumor, Abnormal Bone Growth, Ear Infection - Some of these could be permanent or temporary. Depends on the precise cause. An audiologist could provide more info.

#6. Ruptured Eardrum due to Unknown Cause - Sometimes accidents just happen and we have no idea why.

#7. People who are into boxing and wrestling can sometimes suffer hearing loss. Many boxers and wrestlers also encounter other problems like blindness, mental impairments, speech difficulties, respiratory problems, and paralysis. A hard knock to the head can damage the bones inside the ear and cause some extent of hearing loss. Boxing can cause all sorts of damage to your ears.

Symptoms of hearing loss are pretty easy to spot. The muffled quality of sounds, listening to things at a higher volume that others complain, asking people to repeat themselves louder.

NOTE: If you experience complete hearing loss in one or more ears, or constant dizziness, then you should contact a doctor immediately.

Treatment really depends on the cause and severity. If its just earwax, then you can just remove the earwax - possibly by visiting a doctor and getting a medical wax removal procedure. The use of hearing aids is more for people who have severe damage.

And then there is Cochlear Implants - which is a whole other subject. CIs is a surgically implanted electronic device also referred to as bionic ears that provides a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing. Even people who are born deaf can sometimes be given a sense of sound thanks to these implants. They are not cheap however - costing anywhere from $45,000 to $125,000. A cochlear implant will not cure deafness, but is a prosthetic substitute for hearing.

If you really think you might be suffering hearing loss (regardless of whether you think it is caused by weightlifting or some other cause) then I recommend speaking to an audiologist. I know of an audiologist in Vaughan who works for Omni Hearing, who offers free hearing tests. So at least it won't cost you anything to have your hearing tested in the event you feel you are suffering hearing loss.

But with respect bodybuilding and hearing loss? I would say that is a myth until proven with some kind of scientific study.

Whey Protein Burger

It is BBQ Season in Toronto!

Someone out there (someone who is better at cooking than me) should invent a WHEY PROTEIN BURGER.

Technically its already been invented. It just isn't being mass produced and sold in restaurants or grocery stores or specialty stores catering to exercise junkies.

I found two recipes online, but the first recipe I found didn't list how much of each ingredient was needed so was rather useless. Here is the 2nd recipe, which uses ground chicken as the secret ingredient (you could also experiment with using ground pork or ground beef, but chicken breast is healthier for you).

Whey Crisp Protein Power Burger

Servings: Makes 4 Burgers

INGREDIENTS

1 16 oz. ground chicken breast
1 cup Whey Crisps
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon steak sauce
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon grill seasoning

DIRECTIONS

Mix egg whites, steak sauce, Worcestershire sauce and seasoning in a bowl. Add chicken and Whey Crisps into mixture. Make 4 small patties. Grill burgers on inside grill or frying pan until cooked through.

For fun add fat free or reduced fat cheese, tomato, red onion, and lettuce. Healthiest when served on a whole wheat roll.

Olympic Archery Equipment - Does more expensive equipment mean better shots?

Yes and No.

When it comes to archery experience, physical fitness / strength and skill matters more than equipment.

An archer who has using the same equipment for 20 years, regardless of the quality of the equipment, will be able to out-perform any amateur archer with the most expensive equipment you can find.

The experienced archer's body will be more finely tuned for the sport, they will know the power and limitations of their equipment and how to best use it, and their level of skill at aiming, controlling their breathing, being patient, etc. will all be dramatically improved over an archer who has been shooting for a year or less.

That said, what difference does more expensive equipment make?

#1. Lighter physical weight.

This means the archer will have to rely less on their endurance and strength over time as they get tired at the archery range at a slightly slower speed. The physical lower weight of the bow means they can hold their bow hand more steady while they are aiming, which means they will have a slight advantage at aiming.

However both of these drawbacks can be overcome if the archer has both a higher endurance and a higher strength. Both of which will be overcome if they train regularly.

#2. What about the poundage of the bow?

Poundage refers to the amount of torque (foot-pounds of pressure) needed to pull back the bow and aim. The poundage required to reach a full draw length varies with each bow and what is considered a full draw length depends on each person's arm length and where they anchor their arrow once fully drawn.

The amount of force used increases the arrow's speed, accuracy, distance, and even punching power.

In this respect Olympic recurve bows, traditional recurve bows and even long bows, short bows, etc all are the same. The force required to bend back a 30 lb Olympic bow is the same needed for a traditional bow of any other type.

The only difference is when it comes to compound bows. Compound bows pull back to a locking mechanism on a pulley. Once it reaches that point the amount of force needed to pull back the bow is reduced by 20 to 80% (varies depending on the type of compound bow). This means archers who use compound bows can hold their arms more steadily after it has locked into place - and it means they get a greater amount of torque going into their arrow shot, which is more important when doing hunting.

#3. More Gadgets

Olympic bows have a lot more gadgets on them. The extra gadgets basically act as crutches for people who lack the technical skill or strength to aim, hold the bow steady, and so forth. The gadgets help the inexperienced archer get a little bit more accuracy.

Example: One of the gadgets is a long rod that sticks to the front of the bow called a Stabilizer. It reduces vibrations in the bow during the time period when the arrow is being released from and passing by the arrowrest. The time period is only about 15 milliseconds, but the slight reduction in vibrations helps make the shot a little more accurate.

To the experienced archer however those gadgets are more of a nuisance however and completely unnecessary if they have honed their skill and their physical prowess.

#4. Reduced Vibrations

Having equipment that doesn't jerk around or "vibrate" as much helps when trying to aim and perform a shot. The more advanced materials used in making an Olympic recurve bow means that the bow vibrates slightly less than wood does. This means that the archer's shots will be slightly more consistent.

Sandwiched between the carbon fibre on bows' limbs is a synthetic foam core adapted from American naval submarines. This incompressible foam, made of evenly spaced glass micro-balloons, lets submarines dive further under water without getting crushed. It performs the same function in bows: When the bow is drawn, compressing the carbon skin, the foam maintains the limbs’ shape without vibrating the way wood does.

#5. Customizable Handgrips

The risers (handle region of the bow) allow you to customize the type of grip you are using. Much of this is personal preference, as some archers find they shoot better with slightly different grips. (In which case the most expensive grip is NOT necessarily the best one for you.)

#6. Lightweight Flexible Arrows

Arrows flex and vibrate as they fly towards the target 70 meters away in approx. one second. That one second is long enough for the wind to affect its flight, so arrow makers must carefully consider an arrow’s weight, stiffness, and shape.

The arrow company Easton uses a design with aluminum wrapped in carbon fiber to balance weight and stiffness with a thin narrow shaft. The smaller width size also means it is less affected by wind. The tapered end further diminishes the effect of wind, while allowing it to escape the bow more easily. The design has proven so successful, that every Olympic medalist since 1996 now uses only X10s.

Furthermore Easton makes 12 different versions of the X10, so archers can experiment with which arrows work best for them based on the weight of the arrow (which is measured in grains).

It costs between $400 and $600 for a dozen X10 arrows, depending on where you buy them. And depending on the store they only sell them by the dozen or by groups of 6.

So yes, if you're hoping to compete at the Olympics the more expensive equipment really does matter.

So how much does it cost to be an Olympic archer?

Aspiring to become an Olympic archer costs up to $25,000 annually in coaching, equipment, trips to competitions, etc. Success requires a rigorous work ethic of 250 to 1,000 shots a day, six days a week, plus a healthy diet, training in the gym and mental / breathing exercises.

Olympic archery equipment alone will cost you about $2,000 to $3,000 Canadian, depending on what you buy and where. eg. Shown below is a riser that costs $899.99.

Of course having the most expensive equipment doesn't guarantee you a spot at the Olympics. Only 64 men and 64 women compete at the Olympics every 4 years. The minimum age for an Olympic archer is 16, and there is no maximum age - and according to my research the oldest archers to ever compete at the Olympics were 48 (men's category) and 51 (women's category).

My advice?

Enjoy the activity of shooting for its own sake. Don't worry about competitions because winning competitions don't really matter in the long run.

And don't worry about how expensive your equipment is. Just shoot for the sake of enjoyment and exercise.

Age is NOT a barrier to what you can accomplish

Age is NOT a barrier to what you can accomplish

Thinking about raising my rates, demand skyrocketing

I am thinking of raising the amount I charge for my personal training services.

The reason is more of matter of time availability. Right now I am SUPER busy working my proverbial butt off for multiple clients, and while I am enjoying what I do work wise, I am discovering I have very little free time to relax, exercise on my own (without clients), and even find quality time for friends, family, etc.

eg. I want to go camping and canoeing sometime this summer but I am not sure how I am supposed to schedule a vacation when I have difficulty saying "No" to clients. (I am very customer oriented, always wanting to make sure my clients are happy.)

It really is an issue of "too many clients" so I am wondering if maybe I should raise my prices for personal training.

I don't want to raise my prices for archery, swimming, boxing lessons because I enjoy those ones too much. But I am very tempted to raise my personal training rates and see what happens.

Right now I am charging $35 per hour (but there are discounts if people buy packages of hours like 25, 50 or 100).

The other option is for me to simply stop accepting new clients. Unless its for a specific time slot I need to fill.

There are admittedly lots of other personal trainers in Toronto, and I suppose I could also turn clients away and send them to other personal trainers... But I've never seen those people work, I have no affiliation with them, and while I probably would earn a commission for every client I send someone else I just don't feel comfortable doing all that when I cannot guarantee the quality of the trainers I might be sending people to.

Another thing I suppose I could do is hire a secretary. That would lower the amount of work I need to do on the website, managing incoming requests, etc. And it would free up extra time for me to both manage my personal life and have more "me time" for exercising.

For now I think I will continue on "as is" and look into the secretary angle. I might raise my rates in August or September, but maybe by then demand may have quieted down.

Personal training is a bit of a seasonal occupation, I must admit. January is a good time to get new people who make New Years Resolutions, but it is the Springtime when people really start wanting to lose weight because they want to get ready for Summer.

For now I shall wait and see.