How To Train For a “Kick A–” Future Life, by Peter Attia MD

Because of our ingrained fear of mortality, our day-to-day health focus tends to be short-sighted. We tend to live as if we will never get older, dreading our birthdays as if our age alone is the thing keeping us young or making us “old”. Peter Attia, MD., Author

Dr Attia believes that by embracing our inevitable aging process and training for it like a decathlon, we will not only extend our chronological age, but we will extend the cognitive, emotional, and physical quality of our lives longer. Instead of spending time at the doctor’s office, leading sedentary lifestyles, and in cognitive decline, we can live more vibrant, connected, and functional lives longer.

The methods we need to train can be broken down into four key pillars: 

Stability/Balance: Attia argues strength is important, but stability/balance training should come first. Why? Stability is the secret sauce that allows you to create the most force in the safest manner possible. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to stability training because it’s about targeting your body’s individual areas of weakness.

Strength: After the age of 30, sarcopenia (or muscle loss) kicks in. Without regular strength training, we can lose as much as three to eight percent of muscle mass per decade. This slows down our metabolism and decreases our strength and functional ability to complete daily tasks with ease.

Attia says, “Think of strength training as a form of retirement savings. Just as you want to retire with enough money saved up to sustain you for the rest of your life, you want to reach older age with enough of a “reserve” of muscle to protect you from injury and allow you to continue to pursue the activities you enjoy,” says Attia. The larger reserve you build now, the better off you’ll be for the long haul.

Aerobic efficiency: According to Dr Attia, “Cardio, Zone 2 training, builds a foundation for anything else you do in life. It also plays a crucial role in preventing chronic disease by improving the health, efficiency, and flexibility of your mitochondria—which decline with age. Any aerobic activity performed at a low intensity—somewhere between 65 to 75 percent of your maximum heart rate—is good as long as it’s an activity you can maintain for well over 45 minutes. Attia suggests a total of three hours per week—or four 45-minute sessions—is the minimum dose; but, more is better.

Push your anaerobic limits: We need to be aerobically fit enough to go far at slow speeds and anaerobically fit enough to go not so far at fast speeds; strong enough to carry groceries, kids, a suitcase, or laundry; and have the stability to avoid falling (or be strong enough to brush it off when you do).

“Peak cardiorespiratory fitness, measured in terms of VO2 max, is perhaps the single most powerful marker for longevity,” says Attia. “The payoff of increasing your VO2 max is that it makes you functionally younger. After the age of 25, your VO2 max drops by 10 percent per decade—and by as much as 15 percent after the age of 50. Anything that works a large number of muscles, and can send your heart rate through the roof is ideal…and Mojo is just the ticket!

One of our friends, Lorann Woods, knows all too well how fragile life is. She is not taking it for granted and it shows. Last February, she came back to Mojo after a three-year struggle with Leukemia.  After a bit of research, she chose Mojo as her comeback workout and hasn’t looked back. 

Lorann’s progress has been slow, steady…and exciting to witness. Not only is she getting healthier. In one year, she looks exponentially more youthful.

February, 2024

“The single most powerful item in our preventive tool kit is exercise, which has a two-pronged impact on Alzheimer’s disease risk: it helps maintain glucose homeostasis, and it improves the health of our vasculature” 

When we keep having to pull people out of the river, maybe we should focus more on keeping them from falling into the river in the first place. 

One Mojo Hour = Cardio + Strength Training + De-stress + Agility Training