Last week I mentioned a longevity doctor that I follow named Peter Attia. As I get older longevity is something I have become more interested in, go figure.
Longevity is not just about living longer. It’s about living well as you live longer. For me, I’d rather live an active and full lifestyle until 75 rather than to a decrepit 90.
We certainly don’t have much control over our genes which is an important factor in aging. However, there are a number of things we can and should control.
Peter discusses four pillars of exercise: Strength, Stability, Aerobic Training, and Anaerobic Training. Below is how I address all of these in my own training.
STRENGTH
This one is pretty obvious. If you are coming here, you probably know how to strength train. If you are new to the game you can find plenty of programs in the coaching pages and articles. Elitefts gives away so much incredible free information it is mind-boggling.
For the past decade, my strength training has been based on Wendler’s 5/3/1 program. Although I may switch things around a bit, that has been my foundation.
STABILITY
In my 50’s it’s crazy to think how much things have changed. Back when I played football I never thought twice about throwing my body around. Now when I see a good hit in football I think that it would probably kill me, or at the very least, leave me crippled.
I address stability in a number of ways. I will do a lot of single-leg movements, jumps, and throws through my training warm-ups and during my actual training.
Also, I like to participate in numerous outdoor activities. Hiking, skiing, and paddle boarding to name a few keep me sharp. Through these, I move in a lot of unexpected ways which is what stability is all aobut.
As great as gym training is, we are usually pretty grounded in our movements. A way to offset that is to add exercises that force you to get up and down off the ground. Between pushups, ab exercises, and inverted rows I am getting up and down off the ground a lot.
When I have exercises on the ground I don’t stay there and wait. I’m usually doing circuits, but even if I’m not, I’ll get up between sets. In addition, I make sure to use purpose in getting up and down. The movements are crisp, not lazy and sloppy.
AEROBIC TRAINING
There is plenty of information out there on the importance of aerobic training. This is the zone 2 work I do. That’s basically where you are going at a steady rate in which it’s just difficult enough where you can’t hold a conversation. There are specific heart rates you can follow based on age and other factors, but I go by the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) Method.
For my aerobic training, I run 3x a week for an hour each. It sucks, but I imagine withering away in a hospital bed sucks far worse. When my legs are spent I ruck. I love this option because it sucks less.
ANAEROBIC TRAINING
This is when you get your heart all out pumping. This gets done through high-intensity work. I do interval sprint training on my Airdyne. I don’t care how you do your anaerobic training, but if you aren’t sucking wind and miserable at the end of it, you're not doing it right.
Let me put it this way. There are times when I don’t hate my runs. There are even a few times I have enjoyed it. I never EVER look forward to my Airdyne intervals. In fact, I have to convince myself every time I do it.
Regarding how much anaerobic training you do, I have seen differing opinions. For me, I make sure to get it in at least one heart-pounding session in a week. Sometimes I’ll even convince myself to do two, but that depends on my recovery.
To put it simply, if you looked at your conditioning like a pyramid, the base would be the zone 2 aerobic training and the tip would be the anaerobic zone 5 work.
PUTTING IT TOGETHER
As I just mentioned recovery, that has a lot to do with how you should set up your program. Unlike pure bodybuilding or powerlifting where you are pretty much focusing on one aspect, this longevity training is more like being a jack of all trades, but a master of none.
It’s a difficult concept for me to not single-mindedly focus on strength or hypertrophy. I often find myself sliding too deep worrying about one or the other. When that happens I find my aerobic and anaerobic training slipping.
The body can only handle so much. That will depend on you. How your body adapts, how focused you are on recovery, your age, mindset, etc. I’ll post up my weekly training schedule next week. Until then, Dizenzo out!
My strength sucks. I really want to focus on getting stronger and even a little bigger. I don’t want to get morbidly obese but I don’t mind carrying around a few extra pounds.
Unfortunately I’m starting to realize I have to do more cardio. My cardio is not bad but I need to do it to keep my blood pressure, fasting glucose, LDL, and triglycerides within normal limits. Even with a blood pressure med, a statin, plenty of fish oil, and a Coq10 supplement.
Cardio is boring and I wish I could just focus on strength and size. But I guess I don’t have much of a choice as I’m not getting any younger. I’m starting to lose motivation for training. I hate doing anything except compound movements for heavy sets of 1-4 reps.
Enjoy compound lifts as long as your body can. Allow the conditioning and pretty solid eating to take care of the rest. For conditioning find some things you don't hate. Maybe it's a bike, doing stairs, hills, wearing a ruck, rowing, etc. Find the least suck.