This is how we should think about fitness. Healthspan workouts (from Peter Attia’s book Outlive), focused on increasing your quality of life. This workout isn’t designed to crush you; rather it’s purpose is to vitalize.
Although a quality of life workout looks completely different for just about everyone, common threads undoubtedly exist.
What will your quality of life workout entail? Upon reflection I’ve come up with three guidelines to create workouts that increase your quality of life.
Focus on movement
To begin with, healthspan quality of life workouts are about movement, and Life doesn’t come at you in straight lines.
You’re walking on uneven surfaces, pirouetting corners and sliding through crowded hallways. This is multi-planar movement.
There are three planes of movement (as shown above) and you should be proficient in all of them. “Training all three planes of movements will not only help reduce the risk of injury, but improve balance, stability, and overall performance. Every sport requires an athlete to move efficiently through all planes of motion. Working out using machines, or in straight lines, has it’s value; but you’ve got to be ready for anything, so practice moving, lifting, stretching in every direction.
In conclusion: a quality of life workout (like yoga) moves you in every direction.
Train for Longevity
VO2 Max, which is the maximum rate of oxygen consumption attainable during exercise, is known to be a good indicator of cardiorespiratory fitness and… studies have found higher VO2 Max levels are linked to lower risks of all-cause mortality, with a particular focus on cardiovascular diseases.
Training your VO2 Max involves a mix of steady state and difficult cardio workouts.
Tough? Yes. That said, constantly being out of breath, and unhealthy is tougher.
Don’t teach yourself
There’s a saying in yoga: ‘you shouldn’t be your own teacher.’
Why?
Because when you’re teaching yourself you gravitate to what you’re good at. You’ll keep moving through the poses that feel good; meanwhile neglecting those that are uncomfortable.
Hey, it’s human nature to reaffirm your strengths. Am I right?
A healthspan workout would touch on your strengths, while addressing your weaknesses. Addressing your deficiencies is where the real breakthroughs come; not in reaffirming strengths. Sometimes you need someone to identify those weak areas. Someone with the experience to address them.
You need Someone to push you, get you out of breath, out of your comfort zone, through multiple planes of movement.
Lasting a long time is great; but staying vital for the trip, that’s priceless.