There's An "Olympic Event" YOU Can Train For!

As you know, I'm a follower of Dr Peter Attia. His podcast is a major time investment but I always learn something.

Attia was an athlete in his youth. As he got older (he's now 51) he stopped competing and started exercising for his health. He missed feeling like his exercise had a "purpose."

His epiphany occurred at his friend's mother's funeral. She was about 89 when she died but in her last decade, her life had diminished to the extent that her death was almost a formality.

She hadn't been able to do the things she'd loved like playing golf (her shoulder was too painful), garden (her knees, hips, and back couldn't take it), and playing with her grandkids.

Uninvolved in anything, she ultimately got dementia and died.

Sitting in the church pew, Attia was struck by how someone who'd been so vibrant had lost everything long before their death--and how it's not unusual!

"For the first time in 4 years, I realized the thing I wanna train for is to avoid this. I want to come up with an event--an athletic event-- that will be done at the end of my life and everything between now and then will be training for it."

The Centenarian Decathlon

That's how the idea of "The Centenarian Decathlon" began. Attia wondered:

🟦 "What are the most important activities, both activities of daily living and activities of performance that I want to be able to do at the end of my life?"

🟦 "How much can I reverse engineer what I need to be doing today to increase the probability of doing those things tomorrow to the highest level?"

He deems this approach the best model for how to train if you don't have an activity or sport-specific goal.

👉 "What people want to be training for is to be the most kick-ass versions of themselves in the last decade of their life. If you’re 80 to 90 years old and functioning like you’re a really good 70-year-old that’s a totally different experience from what most people go through." 👈

Someone training for the Centenarian Decathlon says "I wanna put all my focus into this. How do I become an athlete focused on life?"

The 4 components of training for the Centenarian Decathlon.

1) Stability is foundational. It involves coordination, good foot mechanics, balance, and the ability to control how you use your muscles. By midlife, most of us struggle with this one but we can retrain it!

2) Strength

3) Power You can’t have power without strength and stability.

4) Cardiorespiratory fitness This affects your ability to go all day long.

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What does that "kick-ass version of you" look like?

If it doesn't match the current version of you, it's not too late to start training.

You can get in the kind of shape that will make you want to brag about your age. As with any goal, visualize the result and make your habits fit your goal.

That means eating well, getting enough sleep, strength training, managing your stress, and moving more all day.

We can all bring home the gold!