I recently finished reading Peter Attia’s Outlive:  The Science & Art of Longevity (click here to read my summary).  The premise of this book is brilliant & it really made me rethink my strategy for successful, healthful aging.  Quite simply you identify specific things that you want to be able to do in your 90th (or even 100th!) decade & then you implement a training program to get there.  In other words, you train NOW for your final decade…just like you would train for any athletic event.  Brilliant.  Just brilliant!

Maybe you’ve already thought about your ideal last decade of life?  Maybe you’ve already come up with a list of things you’d like to be able to do when you’re 95?  If so, you’re well ahead of me!  Oh, I definitely want to be as healthy as possible in my last 10 years, but I really hadn’t identified specific, and more importantly, measurable goals to shoot for.

Step 1:  Make Your Centenarian Decathlon List

So, here goes my 1st try at it!  In my 90th decade I want to be able to:

1. Easily get up & down off of the ground (to play with my grandchildren and/or my pets).
2. Take the stairs (go up & down 3-5 flights).
3. Swim, bike & run/walk enough to a Sprint distance triathlon.
4. Hike 2-4 hrs while carrying a 10-20lb backpack.
5. Lift a 20-25lb suitcase overhead.
6. Do fundamental movements (like squatting, lunging, crawling, deadlifting) through full range of motion.
7. Have tall, strong, great posture!
8. Move like an “athlete” rather than an “old person”.
9. Be able to cook a full Thanksgiving and/or Christmas dinner.
10. Take NO prescription meds!!

OK…it’s a big list…with some challenging stuff in there!

Step 2:  Start Training!

Now the hard part starts.  In order to achieve each of the items on your list you’ll have to train…and not just for the next few months…for years!  If you’re 40, you’ll train for the next 50-60 yrs.  If you’re 60, your plan will be 20-30 yrs long.  And if you’re 80…you just gotta get going!!

As with any training plan creation it’s best to backfill it.  In other words, start with your end goal & then work your way backwards to determine what you’ll need to do along the way in order to achieve that goal.  Easy-peasy!

Aaaahhhh…but there’s a glitch, isn’t there?!  I’m betting that your 1st question is the same as mine:  “But I can already do all of my goals!  So, what’s the point of ‘training’ for them?”  That, my friends, is a great question.  The answer takes us to the key part of Attia’s strategy – your training program needs to account for the natural declines that we experience as we age.

Step 3:  Account for the Aging Process

Yep, this is the key part.  After age 30 we all experience the degradations attributed to the aging process….and they ain’t pretty.

1. VO2 max (a predictor of aerobic capacity) declines by 10% per decade (up to 15% per decade after age 50).
2. Strength declines by 8-17% per decade.
3. Our lifestyle choices (diet, stress, sleep quality, exercise regularity) all begin to increase our risk for The Four Horsemen:  heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s & type 2 diabetes.

Although these may sound scary, now that you know you can factor them into your training program.  Here’s how.

VO2 Max

My Goal #2 is to climb 3-5 flights of stairs.  Well, to climb 4 flights of stairs, I’ll need a V02 max of approx 20 mL/k/min.  (Just FYI – Just living independently requires a Vo2 max of approx 15-18 mL/kg/min.).  So, let’s do the math.

• At age 95, I need V02 max = 20 mL/kg/min
• I’m currently 55 yrs old, so I have 40 yrs to train for this goal.
• Due to the aging process, I’ll lose 15% every decade for 4 decades.  Calculating backwards…I need a current V02 max = 33 mL/kg/min.

You can bet that I’ve already scheduled my V02 max test!!  Since I also have a goal of doing a Sprint triathlon, my V02 max will need to be higher than 20…which means it needs to be higher than 33 right now.  You can also bet that I’m making changes to my training program to boost that number up as high as possible!

Strength

My Goal #5 is to lift 20-25 lb overhead.  Frankly, I LOVE to travel & I want to keep doing it!!  When flying I’ve watched older folks struggle to put their bags into the overhead compartments.  I want to make sure I can do that on my own.  So here are the calculations.

• At age 95, I need to lift overhead = 25 lb
• I’m currently 55 yrs old, so I have 40 yrs to train for this goal.
• Due to aging, I’ll lose 10% every decade for 4 decades.  Calculating backwards…I need to currently lift overhead = 35 lb.

Whew!  All my years of weight training have paid off!  I can currently lift a lot more than 35 lb overhead!  But…that doesn’t mean that I get to take it easy going forward.  All it takes is 3 weeks.  Three weeks of injury, three weeks of illness, three weeks of not lifting weights to accelerate that muscle mass loss.  And as you can now see, once it’s gone you don’t get it back.

To close, I’d love to see your Final Decade List!  And if you need help “training” for your Centenarian Decathlon, I am happy to help!  NOW is not too late to start training…but if you wait until you’re 80 yrs old…it will be.

For a bit of inspiration, here’s a short video of 70-yr old fitness legend, Jack LaLanne pulling 70 boats filled with 70 people…while handcuffed & shackled!!  Freakin’ amazing!

Happy Training!