Suzanne Savill: Excessive exercise is bad for your health

Is there an equivalent to anorexia when it comes to exercising?

I found myself wondering this on a blustery afternoon last week, when I was walking near Temple Meads station and saw two blokes in T-shirts.

It seemed strange that they were dressed in such a manner when everyone else was wrapped up in coats and jackets.

Then as they got closer I realised there was something else rather odd about them.

They both had enormous arm muscles, which their T-shirts were displaying to best effect.

Presumably they were on their way to do weight training at a gym, or were heading home after a body-building session.

In the gym, any second glances they received would have been because of envy at their pumped-up physiques.

But on a pavement, surrounded by people going about their business in the real world, they looked odd.

Why would anyone want to exercise in the same compulsive way that some people obsessively count calories? Do people who hyper-focus on their appearance have deeper psychological problems? Is there something missing in their lives? Or are they just incredibly vain?

These questions came to mind as I watched the musclemen in T-shirts. And they resurfaced again this week when I saw the photographs of Jane Fonda in a wheelchair.

The woman credited with helping inspire the aerobics craze in the early 1980s is now 71. She has an artificial knee and hip, and has undergone a number of back operations. Many of my relatives are now in their 70s and, thankfully, none of them have needed to undergo so much surgery.

It's hard not to wonder whether the short-term gain during those years in pursuit of a body beautiful could have left a legacy of physical problems.

Don't get me wrong, I know it's important to exercise and that there can be all sorts of health benefits.

However, while hospital cardiology departments have demands put on them by the chronically unfit, those fixated by fitness can put pressure upon orthopaedic departments.

There seems to be something rather unhealthy about those who become so obsessed with exercise and fitness that they end up with an unnatural looking body.

And while sagging flesh isn't particularly alluring, there's also something unattractive about bulging Popeye-like muscles.

Having seen the photo of Jane Fonda, I'm beginning to wonder if regularly placing unrealistic physical demands upon your body is potentially as damaging as adhering to an anorexic eating regime, or gorging upon junk food.

The woman who exhorted a generation to 'go for the burn' is still slim – but now she is, inadvertently, demonstrating that excessive exercise may not always be good for your health.