4 Longevity Fundamentals

I work with Everyday Athletes. People who are playing the juggling act between training hard and eating well, whilst managing the other big responsibilities in their lives like careers, families and travel. Because of this, a lot of my clients are 30/40+ and have a vested interest in the longevity of their body and the physicality.

Longevity is also a massive buzzword in the fitness industry currently. You only need to look at the latest Huberman, Rogan or Steven podcasts to know that.

And I've listened to a lot of them, and while there is a lot of good advice... there's also a lot of stuff that sounds great in a podcast, bio-hacks, optimisations and of course a boat load of products. But the reality is that the majority of them are just taking your attention away from the fundamentals of training for longevity.

If you can ignore the hype of the fads and the hacks, and focus on these 4 fundamentals of training for longevity, your future body and your future physicality will thank you.

Train For Strength and Power

I know, I'm a strength and conditioning coach so I am biased, but to improve your physical longevity you need to be training for strength and power.

That means lifting heavy weights, and moving slightly ligher weights or your own bodyweight quickly.

Things like Olympic lifts, jumps and sprints.

In masters athletics, there is a linear decline of 1.25% year on year in running throwing and jumping. In upper body biased events like the shot put and javelin the decrease is even quicker, at 1.4% per year.

And that's in an active, competitive population. Not an increasingly sedentary population like the average 30/40/50 year old in the UK.

There is also significant evidence to say that with inactivity/an absence of resistance training comes muscle and strength loss. It's literally a case of use it or lose it.

And with strength being the underpinning quality of almost all elements of performance (running, jumping, throwing and being resilient to injury), I think it is something all Everyday Athletes should be prioritising in their training.

If you want to be strong, powerful, robust, resilient and active long into your later years, maintaining your strength and power through smart resistance training is essential.

Use A Full Range Of Motion

One of the biggest fears that comes alongside resistance training as you age is the impact on your joints.

The "wear and tear" caused by lifting weights, or the "orthopaedic cost" of certain exercises (usually back squats and deadlifts).

I hate both of these terms as all they do is make us afraid of the basic, most effective types of training that we could be doing, and avoiding doing them over a full range of motion for fear of damaging your joints.

If you want to have flexibility and mobility alongside your strength and power as you age, you need to continue to load your joints over their fullest ranges of motion. It's again a case of use it or lose it. If you trade out every full range of motion squat, press or hinge for a partial or scaled back option, you make yourself stronger in your shortened ranges, and weaker in your lengthened ranges.

This make you 1) less mobile, and 2) more prone to injury when you do end up in those lengthened ranges.

Keep doing your full range Romanian deadlifts, dumbbell pullovers, dumbbell flys, rear foot elevated splits squats (even though they suck).

Your long term flexibility and mobility is going to massively benefit from these kinds of exercises.

Don't Forget Your Aerobic System

The cliché goes that aerobic training puts years on your life, and strength training puts life in your years.

I 100% agree.

Training your aerobic energy system, primarily with lower intensity, longer duration cyclical training like running, cycling and cross training will serve to increase your VO2 max, reduce your resting heart rate, and reduces blood pressure.

All of these things are linked to a increased life span, and physical activity itself reduces many major mortality factors including hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke and cancer.

So to live a long, healthy and active life, we need to be prioritising aerobic training as well as strength training into our active lifestyles.

Long slow distance training (LSD) in particular is great as it provides a great contrast to your high intensity resistance training, allows you to improve your recovery between workouts through increased fitness, and improve your recovery within workouts between each heavy set.

This all leaves you more active, and feeling better consistently while you're doing it.

Plus, this style of training is great for helping you escape the 4 walls of your gym, get some fresh air, and enjoy your fitness in the great outdoors.

2-3 strength training sessions alongside 1-2 conditioning sessions per week would work great for anyone who have longevity as one of their main training priorities.

Keep Training Like A Savage

I've saved the best for last.

The single biggest mistake most people make when it comes to training for longevity is that they hit a landmark in their life, and they strip all the intensity out of their training because of it.

It could be their 30th, 35th or 40th birthday.

It could be the birth of a child.

It could be the first injury they get in the gym.

An now they see themselves as older, weaker, more fragile, so they do lighter more "joint friendly" training.

And in the process they make themselves weaker and more fragile as they stop exposing themselves to intensity in their training sessions.

You do not get old all of a sudden.

You get older one day at a time.

Day to day, you will notice zero difference, so there is never the need to rip up your entire training plan.

If you want to be a savage in your 30s, 40s, 50s and even 60s, you need to train like one.

Sure you will gradually slow down... but if you keep training intensely, it will be VERY gradual.

If you stop training like a 20 something you'll stop moving like a 20 something.

Be a savage to stay a savage.

If you need some help finding a training system that works for you as a 30+ Everyday Athlete, just click HERE to learn more about my 1-1 coaching.