Why strength & stability are essential for longevity | Peter Attia, M.D. & Beth Lewis
Lately, I’ve become obsessed with “longevity”. I just turned 48 years old.
I hike, jog and sprint woods and forest trails regularly. “Hiking” is a fantastic way to improve and maintain dynamic stability. I lift heavy weights, do pushups, heated and non-heated yoga, sprints, hike, run and both barbell & air squats regularly, every week. I also incorporated walking on an under-desk treadmill just to get out of my computer seat more often.
I’m getting stronger with more endurance as the years go on.
I wonder if I did in fact peak physically at 25? I wonder, did I waste my time focusing on “powerlifting”? Or did I unknowingly do something great by building all the muscle my body could build when I was young, so I could retain more as I grow older.
At one point though, at 5′ 7″ I weighed in at 212lbs. Massive but not healthy. Strong muscles but 0 flexibility, 0 endurance. I now weigh around 167.
I did no cardio, yoga, walking, hiking or any of that when I was in my 20’s. Now, at 48, I can bench 100lb dumbbells one day, do 600 air-squats the next, sustain 90 minutes of 110 degree yoga the next and a 1/2 marathon a day later! How is this possible?
I’d love to hear a scientific take on this because I’m doing something right now that I feel is amazing. Maybe it’s not. Maybe (probably) I’m just an average person who is really dedicated and seeing great results. Maybe you can do the same thing if you really wanted to. (it’s fuckin hard!)
Maybe it’s the food and my eating schedule? Here’s some of my food tips, tricks, habits:
- I mostly stopped drinking alcohol. (but still love my weed)
- I mostly cut out sugar, except for fruit & dark chocolate.
- When I eat fruit it’s usually berries, melons, bananas & small amounts of apple.
- I’ll never eat at fast food or chain restaurants ever again.
- I’ll never eat processed food ever again.
- I eat organic / Non-GMO when possible.
- 160g protein minimum every day but usually closer to 190g. (I weigh 168).
- I eat a variety of animal protein and vegan protein every week.
- I eat 2x per day most days with a 19/5 intermittent fast.
- When I do a 3rd meal, it’s usually some kind of grain free granola, bananas and almond milk at night. I usually do this if I have a rigorous weight workout planned for the am.
- I do hot Yoga fasted.
- I run up to 7 miles fasted.
- I will eat a banana, peanut butter & collagen protein 1-2 hours ahead of a 7+ mile run.
- I take a low dose of creatine daily. (with breaks every 2 or 3 months)
- I take a high dose of turmeric daily.
- I quit eating “seed oils” and only cook with avocado oil.
- I keep my calories to around 1900 with the 3rd meal days going closer to 2700.
- There’s more, I’ll really get into it in the future.
All I’m saying is I’m on to something here via the FREE education from wellness doctors and scientists like Peter Attia, Rhonda Patrick, Andrew Huberman, David Sinclair and several others. They are teaching people about longevity, for free! I’ve spent 1000’s of hours dialed in over the years.
My goal for a post like this and my whole wellness presence is to be one of the gateways from your current unhealthy feeling to a new feeling of abundant energy, strength and vitality. I became aware of these people through the Joe Rogan podcast. He was my gateway to knowing this. Bringing these doctors and scientists (and the motivational personalities) to his audience is the single most important thing he’s done with that show, in my opinion.
In my 20’s I followed guys like Mike Mentzer but the information, motivation and inspiration came from “Muscle & Fitness” or old books. It’s not like it is now. Much of it was left to intuition and much of it was just plain wrong.
For me personally, it’s not about living to be 120. It’s about being comfortable, active and vibrant for the remaining years of my life.
*I go periods of 2-4 weeks between drinks now and over time, I seek it out less and less