Ben F. Hurley

Bernard (Ben) F. Hurley, Jr. is an American exercise physiology professor, serving as an emeritus professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Maryland, College Park. His research focuses on the health effects of regular exercise with particular emphasis on the effects of strength training on risk factors for age-related diseases and disability. He has published over 200 research articles, and has an h-index of 74.

Hurley has received many awards for his work, including the University of Maryland Research Leaders Award in 2008, Fellow status in the American College of Sports Medicine in 1983, Fellow status in the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education in 2001, the Keynote Speaker Award at the International Conference of Strength and Conditioning in 1997, the Research and Development Award from the College of Health and Human Performance in 1996, and the University of Maryland Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Mentor of the Year Award in 1993.

Career Hurley began his academic career as an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1983, before becoming an associate professor in 1988 and a full professor in 1995. Prior to this, in 1991, he was appointed to the medical staff of the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Baltimore and worked as a research associate for the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging until 1994. He became an affiliate professor at the Center on Aging until 2010 and maintained affiliations with the Nutrition Graduate Program, the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute, and the Greenebaum Cancer Center before becoming an emeritus professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), he was the first to find that strength-trained athletes who used anabolic steroids increased their risk for a heart attack by threefold after only 3 weeks of taking these drugs. In a second article published in the same issue of JAMA, his group studied the effects of exercise training on glucose tolerance and HDL cholesterol in older endurance athletes. Hurley's group was the first to explain the paradox for how regular endurance exercise increased the use of fat as an energy source while decreasing its level in the blood and the first to demonstrate that strength training increased the speed of gastrointestinal transit. His group found that the target heart rate cannot be used as a means of determining improved cardiovascular fitness from circuit strength training or aerobic dance. Reviewing the effectiveness of strength training in counteracting muscle decline with age and chronic diseases, he concluded that ST improves muscle function, increases bone mineral density, counteracts sarcopenia, improves muscle function, alleviates symptoms of fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis, reduces risk factors for age-related diseases, and enhances overall health and may have cognitive benefits, though its influence on Alzheimer's disease risk, abdominal obesity, and dyslipidemia, remain unclear, and it does not appear to improve maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max), lipid profiles, or flexibility.

Selected articles Hurley, B. F., Seals, D. R., Ehsani, A. A., Cartier, L. J., Dalsky, G. P., Hagberg, J. M., & Holloszy, J. O. (1984). Effects of high-intensity strength training on cardiovascular function. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 16(5), 483-488. Hurley, B. F., Seals, D. R., Hagberg, J. M., Goldberg, A. C., Ostrove, S. M., Holloszy, J. O.... & Goldberg, A. P. (1984). High-Density—Lipoprotein Cholesterol in Bodybuilders v Powerlifters: Negative Effects of Androgen Use. JAMA, 252(4), 507-513. Seals, D. R., Hagberg, J. M., Hurley, B. F., Ehsani, A. A., & Holloszy, J. O. (1984). Effects of endurance training on glucose tolerance and plasma lipid levels in older men and women. JAMA, 252(5), 645-649. Hurley, B. F., Nemeth, P. M., Martin 3rd, W. H., Hagberg, J. M., Dalsky, G. P., & Holloszy, J. O. (1986). Muscle triglyceride utilization during exercise: effect of training. Journal of Applied Physiology, 60(2), 562-567. Parker, S. B., Hurley, B. F., Hanlon, D. P., & Vaccaro, P. (1989). Failure of target heart rate to accurately monitor intensity during aerobic dance. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 21(2), 230-234. Koffler, K. H., Menkes, A., Redmond, R. A., Whitehead, W. E., Pratley, R. E., & Hurley, B. F. (1992). Strength training accelerates gastrointestinal transit in middle-aged and older men. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 24(4), 415-419. Hurley, B. F., & Roth, S. M. (2000). Strength training in the elderly: effects on risk factors for age-related diseases. Sports Medicine, 30, 249-268.