Full to the stairs, the Cervantes Theater in Arnedo (La Rioja) experienced on March 9, an unusual performance, never previously staged on such a solemn stage: on stage, neither more nor less than the unparalleled spectacle of the human body in full effort. A 67-year-old woman and a 33-year-old man, face to face, running on two treadmills, an almost disruptive staging, explained, analyzed, broken down by two physiologists before the open-mouthed gaze of 500 people. Isn’t human effort attractive? Yes, and it allows us to live longer and, above all, better. Sport is life, simply. And if it is not, it improves. And it is not the slogan of a manufacturer of shoes or bicycles, but a necessary conclusion that doctors and physiologists draw… even if they no longer know what to invent so that society understands the message. Recently a study revealed that 52% of the Spanish population never practices sports. The data runs parallel to the current obesity pandemic and the increasingly common cases of cancer or diabetes in young people and which can be explained by the relationship that human beings have with energy. In other words, we have excess energy in our bodies. We use it in a defective, ineffective way. Or we don’t use it, which is even worse.
Adrián Castillo, David Gutiérrez, Borja Martínez Téllez and Aitor Viribay created the METHUB laboratory, and endeavored to translate scientific knowledge related to human metabolism in the plainest and least elitist way possible. What better way to fill a theater for free? Behind such a staging, an ambition, explains Castillo: “the way our society works, exercise is an essential tool to improve health and performance. We need to expend energy so that our mitochondria, the power plants of our cells, can recover their capacity to use energy substrates and are able to convert them into energy optimally to continue fueling the cycle of life. If we don’t do it, our body collapses.”
The METHUB laboratory event at the Cervantes Theater.
What METHUB proposes is a shock therapy staged not only in Madrid and Barcelona but in Spanish cities that do not have access to cultural or scientific events. The project defends that science can be attractive and useful and even lead to significant changes in people. Only that the message is often not permeable, it does not penetrate, it is lost. “Science often uses complex codes, hence we need to be transversal, use bridges so that the message is accessible. Designers, journalists, architects… we need help to make knowledge attractive and simple,” explains Gutiérrez.
The first phase of the project, without an audience, was held in Barcelona through two metabolic tests carried out on Andreu Simón and Sara Alonso, professional ultra trail runners, with the aim of measuring their oxygen consumption, lactate production and amount of energy. that they spend during a specific test designed for their disciplines. “With this data,” reveals Castillo, “we could analyze how they spend energy and above all, how efficient two elite athletes are, machines at a metabolic level that can show us the way to improve the health of the general population. Ultimately, elite endurance athletes represent the best human version of metabolism. They have a high energy consumption, because they move a lot, but also thanks to that, a high efficiency. And therefore, of course, a greater saving of heartbeats.” Save heartbeats? So that? Apparently the human being has a limited number of heartbeats, estimated at about 3,000 million, which he must manage throughout his life expectancy. If we exercise, and if it is especially intense, we ‘spend heartbeats’ at high speed, but what may seem like a waste at first glance is, in reality, the best way to save heartbeats on a daily basis. “This allows the athlete to generate adaptations that make the rest of the day, weeks and years, his heartbeat lower than that of a person who is not trained. When performing minimal exercise such as fetching bread or climbing stairs, an untrained person can reach 130-150 beats/minute (bpm), which would be equivalent to an athlete running at 16-18km/h. Even at rest, a trained person will have a pulse close to 35-40 bpm, while an untrained person, 60-80 bpm. The mechanisms that regulate this entire process are exactly metabolism, that is, how we use energy,” Castillo reasons.
More information
With this knowledge, on the scene, the amateur athletes, Arturo de Blas, 33 years old, and Elena Ruiz, 67 years old, subjected their bodies to maximum effort while the METHUB team answered questions live and explained the data extracted from gas analyzers to measure energy production and lactate meters. The age difference between both ‘actors’ was intended to demonstrate that performance can extend to advanced ages. “Thus, Elena’s oxygen consumption values obtained in the test were 40 ml/kg/min, comparable to those of a 20-30 year old woman. Those in her age group, on average, can be around 20-25 ml/kg/min,” Castillo maintains. The live data were compared with those obtained by the two athletes in Barcelona: “we were able to compare in situ the great difference in efficiency, energy expenditure and heartbeats that exists between a metabolically almost perfect person and the rest of human beings.” Many spectators trotted out of the theater, vibrating with the electricity of the atmosphere, already thinking about how to incorporate sport into their lives. Others commented on the work over wine.
You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes on Facebook and Xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
_
2024-04-23 03:15:00
#stage #spectacle #human #metabolism #running #helps #daily #basis #Sports
