Dan Sydow, 62, works out seven days a week. Is it overkill?

Some people exercise hard every day — is it too much of a good thing?

Six years ago, Dan Sydow was an overweight, sedentary Midwestern guy in his mid-50s whose cholesterol numbers were so bad the hospital lab workers looking at a test tube of his blood might have thought they were analyzing a sample of mayonnaise.

Sydow’s doctor told him he needed to lose some weight. First, Sydow started to jog. He dropped 35 pounds in a matter of months. Then he started to lift weights. Pretty soon he was easily bench-pressing his own body weight — rep after rep. Next, he started to ride a  stationary bicycle. Not long after that he was teaching spinning classes at a YMCA.

So far, so good, right?

Well, Sydow went a long way past a little exercise. He now does all three things — running, lifting and cycling — six days a week. This 62-year-old works out at least three hours a day Monday through Saturday. Sunday is his easy day. He jogs home from church. The distance? About eight miles.

This Nietzschean strategy has transformed Sydow. He’s now one buff dude. Yes, he’s got the hair of a Newt Gingrich, but he’s got the body of a college wrestler.

He also has the intensity and enthusiasm of a born-again believer (which is, of course, what he is).

“I thought the best part of my life should be ahead of me, not behind me,” he says. “There are folks out there that are digging their graves with their forks and spoons…They’re huge! I don’t want to be that way. I might get hit by a truck tomorrow, but I’ll go down fighting.”

Sydow appears to be in excellent health. His triglycerides dropped nearly tenfold. He runs several road races a year. While he is not super-duper quick — he’s happy to run a half-marathon in 1:55 — he can win his age division at the right race.

The staff here at GeezerJock discussed Sydow’s workouts. Were they too extreme, we wondered? Today’s conventional wisdom about exercise counsels hard, explosive workouts balanced by less demanding workouts and even days of complete rest.

So we asked, was Sydow harming himself by doing too much of a good thing? Or was his workout representative of what was possible at age 62? Could he get enough rest and recovery to rebuild his muscles after his workouts? The bottom line: How much is too much?

To get some help, I called Dr. Harvey Simon, a recently retired professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Simon is the founding editor of Harvard Men’s Health Watch and the author of The Harvard Medical School Guide to Men’s Health. Dr. Simon is also, well, a bit of an exercise nut himself. On the day we talked, Dr. Simon had completed his 10,000th straight day
of going for a run. I asked him, ‘How much is too much for geezerjocks?”

“From a medical perspective, I don’t think there is an answer,” he said. “The calendar is
just one metric. People who exercise regularly stay physiologically a lot younger and can do a
lot more…If you ask me what kind of a workout can someone do at 40, 50, 60, 70 and beyond, it really depends on what they could do at their genetic peak at 30.”

I then called another fellow, Stephen DeBoer. DeBoer, 51, is a dietitian in the department of endocrinology, diabetes, metabolism and nutrition at the Mayo Clinic. Like Dr. Simon, Mr. DeBoer has compiled an amazing running streak — he’s gone past 25 years without a single missed day. I asked him the same question: How much is too much?

“I don’t think we really know,” said DeBoer. “If someone has trouble sleeping, trouble with injuries or fighting fatigue, then they’re most likely overtraining.” But, he added: “If people are
doing two or three hours a day (and they’re not having these issues) that’s fine. Don’t forget Jack La Lanne. He’s an exercise fanatic and he’s 92.”